Ice in the Desert

Despite the heat engulfing them, she was determined to bring her ice sculpture to the desert. Returning to her hometown, she imagined a school for the next generation of sculptors, where she could share her beloved art form.

“Boss, this won’t work.”

“Not with that attitude.”

Surrounded by sand and cacti, they lifted the sculpted phoenix from the truck. After lots of grunts and straining, they set down the masterpiece in front of the unfiltered sun.

“Boss --”

“Don’t start.”

She ran back to their wheeled freezer and dragged out their generator and fans. As the first droplets of water fell and puddled in the sand, she hustled and arranged the cool-air-generating machines to hold up the melting bird.

“Penny!” She hollered, despite her and her assistant being the only people for twenty miles.

“Yes, boss?”

“Start building the canopy.”

“Aye aye, captain.” She saluted and then proceeded to kick up the sand with each step she took. She yanked and pulled the canopy out of the truck and began to assemble the shelter.

“Hurry up!” She yelled, while fanning the ice bird with her hat.

“Boss, I’m moving as fast as I can,” she lied, tugging on the tent legs with the effort of an annoyed teenager.

“Penny!”

“Yes, boss!”

“I’ll put together the canopy. You go into town and get some ice blocks.”

“Boss, I don’t think they sell ice blocks here.”

“Try anyway.”

Penny locked up the truck, plopped onto the driver’s seat, and drove off. With no speed limit signs to hold her back, she took advantage of the open roads. After the third local had no idea where she could find ice blocks, she settled for the bagged ice cubes from the gas station. Once she finished lugging the bags into the truck, she dusted off her hands and looked around.

She had never been to the desert before. Dry heat was a myth to her, but now she understood the worsened thirst for water and humidity. That was when she saw the pet store across the street with fish tanks in the window. Those poor fish deserved a pond or lake of their own, an aquatic oasis. With that, her internal light bulb flicked on.

***

“Boss! I have an idea!” Penny jumped out of the car and ran to her employer who, if she was paying attention, would’ve been startled by her assistant’s hustle.

“Did you get the ice blocks?” She asked, without her eyes leaving the sculpture.

“No. Surprise, surprise. This desert town doesn’t sell chunks of ice.”

“Really? They still don’t? They need to get with the times.”

“But I have a plan for what we could do, how we can still make something beautiful from your melting masterpiece.”

“It’s not melting!”

“Boss.” She pointed to the wet sand pooling at the phoenix’s base.

“That was there before the canopy was up. Now, with the new shade, we’ll be fine.”

While the boss ran around to crank up all the fans to their highest settings, Penny started on her own project. She grabbed the shovel and tarp from the truck and started digging next to the sculpture. With her boss immersed by the ice’s wellbeing, she was able to mess around. Every day at work, she was only needed when called on. As long as she could hear and be near, she could do whatever she wanted.

Hours went by, and she had sweat through her hat and clothes. When she checked the water storage, she found no more than a liter left.

“Boss, I need to go into town again.”

“Yeah, yeah. Sure.” 

With the lazy permission, she skipped off to town. She returned to the pet store she saw before and asked the clerk lots of questions. “How much for the fish? How big do they grow? Where can I get water in this town? What kind of water do they need? What kind of food do they need? Can they survive in the desert? Do they need all the accessories? The pebbles? The plants?”

One question at a time, she gained all the knowledge and tools she needed, thanked the clerk, and headed back to work.

“Where were you?” Her boss yelled and waved their arms around, as she swore under her breath behind the windshield.

“You said I could go into town again. We needed water.”

“Where’s the ice you bought?”

“In the back of the truck.”

Her boss rushed and flung the doors open. Despite the abundance of fish, she didn’t notice them. She only had eyes for ice. With a bag of ice in hand, she found a square plastic box.

“How cool is this truck?”

“The back is 30 degrees Fahrenheit, boss.”

“Splendid.” She proceeded to dump the entire bag of ice cubes into the container. Then, like a kid watching the fireplace on Christmas Eve night, she sat and watched it.

“Boss?”

“I’m making my own ice blocks.”

With the boss entertained, Penny got to work on her project. It was at this time when she noticed that the phoenix had lost half its beak and a quarter of its wing. The wet sand at its feet grew and grew. It was time to whip out the tarp. She fanned it out like a freshly laundered sheet. With some nifty engineering, she manufactured a canal to feed the phoenix’s droplets into her wannabe pond. Then, it was a waiting game. Penny celebrated each bead dribbling down, while her boss winced. Hours passed, and they agreed to sleep in the truck.

As the sun rose, they squinted at the rude awakening. Within a few thoughts, Penny jumped out of the car and dashed to her pond. Although the phoenix stood at two percent, her pond only had enough water for a baby goldfish.

When her shoulders slumped forward, her boss was there to pat her on the back. “It’s alright, Penny.”

“But it didn’t work.”

“That is an accurate observation. However, we learned something new.”

“And what would that be?”

“Ice can’t live in the desert.”