in the afternoon

My six year-old sister and her best friend are in our backyard, sledding together down the thin scrim of muddy snow. She has a hat with a cat on it. Her friend's has an owl. I can watch them through the kitchen window, and hear the giggling and high-spirited shouts. They start at the top of our hill, one in front and one behind, and they blaze off into the wood line together. I wonder if they'll remember this later, years from now. If they'll remember their happiness. I wonder if I will.