The dense clouds swirled as Audy’s plane soared majestically over them, and with each passing second, they turned grayer and more full-bodied.

“Please fasten your seatbelts,” came the voice from the cockpit, “we will be beginning our descent into Logan International Airport in just a few minutes. Thank you for flying with American Airlines, nonstop from the Dominican Republic.”

Not only was Audy about to descend into Boston, he was about to descend into a new life, in a distant and foreign land, and his tensions mounted and spun feverishly throughout his mind.

Audy heard the whirl of the plane's engines as it dropped gear and prepared to make it’s final approach. The plane ever so slightly, began to dip through the thick and blackening clouds, obscuring the vision of the passengers. He began to think of what this fresh world would bring, and he harbored an insatiable enthusiasm as he waited for the plane to sink through the low-lying cloud cover, so he could see the first glimpse of his new home. Audy leaned over and pressed his head against the window. The cool touch of the glass on his forehead helped to alleviate some of the nervousness that swelled in his stomach, much like a cold wash cloth from a loving mother does. With this thought he began to feel reassured, though he longed to see his mother's smiling face at the airport, a face he’d not laid eyes upon in over a year. As he reclined there in his window seat with his brothers Melvin and Willy to his left, smiling and laughing, he knew everything would be just fine in America. Soon his family would be reunited with a new-found chance, a further opportunity, and all would be right with the world.

“Wrrrrrrr,” the landing gear sounded out, and just at that moment the clouds started to lift and gave way to an illustrious winter wonderland.

“Whooooa, you guys, look at this,” Audy yelled out with an unbridled excitement to his brothers. “That’s incredible.” The two boys hastily unfastened their seatbelts and jumped over Audy to gain a closer peek.

“Wow, that’s crazy,” Melvin screamed out.

“Cool,” let out Willy, “that’s unbelievable.”

All their faces filled with awe as if God himself lingered outside the window. They all pressed their faces up against the glass, jockeying for position to get a better view.

“I am going to hit you with so many snowballs,” Audy taunted Willy, “You’re going down.”

“Sure, Audy, we’ll see.”

“You’re both going down,” came Melvin’s voice, the oldest and strongest of the three.

“Boys, take your seats,” a stewardess demanded from the aisle next to their seats, “the plane's about to land.” The boys looked at her with curious eyes as none of the three spoke any English.

“No hablamos ingles senorita,” Melvin responded.

“Take your seats, the planes about to land,” she repeated, growing more intolerable, “ah ah, sientence por favor.” The boys turned from the window like sleazy men at the twenty-five cent peep show when the glass comes down, disheartened to remove their eyes.

“The snow is beautiful,” Audy said, as the plane soared closer and closer to the ground. “It’s like a giant white blanket, as far as my eyes can see. It covers everything. It’s magnificent.”

“I wish I took the window seat,” whined Willy, no doubt cranky from the four-hour flight. “I want to see,” he whined as he lurched as close as his seatbelt would permit.

“Too bad it never snowed in Santo Domingo,” chimed in Melvin, as he pie-faced Willy back into his seat. “I’ve only seen it on television, and it does this snow no justice. Look at all those snowflakes, there must be billions of them.”

The plane dropped another gear while the Caribbean boys grew increasingly fascinated by the climate of their new home. They watched out the window as the plane inched nearer toward the white covered tarmac. The plane dropped one more gear, and touched down hard on the runway, jostling the passengers forward and knocking a few items loose from the overhead compartments.

“Sorry about that landing folks. We’re battling the tail-end of a classic Nor'easter, and we only had a five minute window to land this thing. There's another band of snow right behind us. If we chose not to land, we would have been circling for an hour. Once again I apologize, and on behalf of American Airlines, thanks for flying with us.”

“I wonder what he said,” Melvin asked Audy.

“I have no idea.”

The plane came to a screeching halt at the end of the runway, took a left, and began to taxi toward their gate. Willy and Melvin again unbuckled their seatbelts and crowded around the window.

“Look at it swirl by the light post. That is too cool. It’s so relaxing and peaceful.” Melvin exalted.

“This is such a great day,” Audy remarked. “We get to see Mom, and we get to see snow for the first time. I think we’re going to like it here.” The plane pulled up to the terminal and the flight attendant popped the latch, letting in three seconds of the frigid New England air. The icy blast rushed to the end of the cabin where it hit Audy, raising the hair on the back of his neck.

“Wow, I didn’t like that, that was very cold. I’ve never felt anything quite like that,” he said to Melvin. “I hope it’s not always like this.”

As the terminal got hooked up to the plane, the boys made their way to the door, pushing and shoving, unable to wait another minute without their mother. They squeezed out the door and immediately broke into a full sprint, their carry-on luggage swinging like pendulums with every stride. They made their way around the final bend of the corridor to see their mother with open arms awaiting her children. They all ran right into her arms, and they stood there, laughing and crying in a warm embrace.

“Let's go home,” she said.