The Missing Ice

Derek brought the family’s horse, Ranger, out of the small barn, got out the thickest horse blanket, and began to bridle him. “C’mon, lemme finish. Once I put the reins on ya, we’ll be ready to go.”

Peter sat in the cart, taking inventory of the ice harvesting tools. As Derek was just finishing with Ranger, Peter jumped out of the cart. “It’s all there. Let’s go!”

“Great! Go around back, and make a starting push. I’ll get Ranger goin’,” Derek told his brother Peter.

The cart lurched forward, and they began to walk down Winsom Road. They kept going for almost two miles, their boots crunching the thick January snow. They turned right onto the driveway of Tulun Place.

As soon as he had seen them from afar, Elias had begun putting on his winter gear. Now, he came running out. “I’ve gotta hitch up Willow. Lemme bring ‘er out.”

“I got extra gear here for ‘er, if you’d like.”

“Same as Ranger’s got?” Elias asked.

“Yeah,” Derek confirmed.

“I’ll take it. Thanks.”

With amazing speed, Elias and Willow were back, Willow with a horse blanket. “Could you gear ‘er up, while I get some food for ‘er?”

“Sure. Peter, gimme a hand. Hold my mittens. And... maybe you could get ‘er hooked up to the cart.”

“Okay!” Peter said enthusiastically. He got on the job, and once Elias was back, they were ready to go.

“So, Derek, why’d you choose today to start this?”

“The ice is finally ripe, you don’t have anywhere to be for a while, and... well that was about it. Why?”

“Well I don’t know; just thought your thought process might be fun to hear.”

“It wasn’t, was it?” 

“Can’t say that. You’re always interesting.”

“Ha, thanks. I guess if you’re busy all day keeping food on the table you’ve got a lot to be interesting about.”

“I don’t know, Derek, I think you’ve always been a pretty fascinating boy,” Peter said. “Before Mom and Dad went missing, you were extremely interesting, too. In different ways, shore, but still quite fun to listen to and the likes.”

“Aw thanks, Peter. Glad I’ve managed to give you such a good view of me. Ah, here’s the pond. Elias, have you got the right shoes on Willow?” Derek asked.

“Yup. I did it the other day with the shoes you brought by.”

“Great, let’s begin.”

The boys hitched the plow onto the horses, and cleared all the snow from the ice. As early as he could remember, Derek had joined his parents harvesting ice on this pond. He cherished the memories and friendships made over the hours spent on the ice. People always crowded to watch and participate. Today, Peter kept busy, giving anyone who wanted to help jobs. Soon, the snow was cleared and the ice could be cut.

“Peter, you guide Ranger,” Derek said. “I’ll handle the saw.”

“I can handle the saw on Willow,” Elias offered.

“Shore. Find someone to lead ‘er, and you’ll be good.”

“That shouldn’t be too hard!” said Elias.

“No, it shouldn’t,” Peter said, laughing.

Elias found someone more than willing to help, and they got going. Back and forth, back and forth over the ice they went. In the town, only Derek and Peter’s family used ice for refrigeration, but harvesting ice was fun for everyone. They only needed to harvest a little ice, and the cutting was done within two hours. They still had to saw the last inch or so of ice, a task which requires lots of labor, one of the things Derek was not missing in the least!

“This is warm... er excuse me hot work!” one of the neighbors commented.

“Right you are,” Derek said. “Perfect job for cold weather, don’t you think?”

“S’pose so. Derek, have ya’ ever considered just buyin’ a new fridgerator?”

“Shore I’ve considered it. But I’ve always done this. And it’s fun! Real fun! Plus, I never have a shortage of volunteers. Besides that, why should I believe a new fridgerator wouldn’t break down itself.”

“Well, ya can certainly count on volunteers!”

Derek laughed, and thought back to when his parents would be by his side, and when they would be leading the harvesting, not him. 

The sawing took the rest of the day. Derek and Peter ate a lot of dinner and fell straight to sleep.

The next morning they were on the ice by nine o’clock. There was a thin layer to saw through again, but it only took until noon. Derek had brought a lunch his grandmama and his sister Jenny had made for the three of them. They took off their mittens and sat down to eat.

Delicious sandwiches lay before them — three per boy. They divvied them up by type, and then sat on the ice to eat, washing it down with some milk. After eating, they were ready to make a canal through the ice.

As soon as they finished making the canal, the sun was beginning to set. Derek consulted the other boys as to what to do.

“Don’t you think we should take at least a small load back home to the ice house?”

“I think so,” Peter said. “It’ll freeze over somethin’, we shouldn’t waste that much work.”

“Would you consider working overnight,” Elias asked.

“I doubt it,” Peter said.

“You’ve got somethin’ to say, I can tell. What is it?” Derek asked his brother.

“We’re all dead tired, and we’re the only people who could oversee the work.”

“True. I think it could be a good idea, though. Elias, how long do you reckon it’ll take for this to freeze over?”

“Well it’s about twenty, right?”

“That’d be my guess,” Derek said.

“I’m not sure, but we’d certainly have to break it up in the morning. Want to make shifts of two throughout the night, to keep it from freezin’?”

“Peter, you’ve got something to add?” Derek said.

“I think we should eat dinner and ask Jenny and Grandmama what they think.”

The boys agreed that that would be the best course of action. Elias stopped by Tulun Place on the way to Winsom Road. He came out with a shining face.

“Ma says we can stay here between our shifts, because it’s a lot closer to the pond.”

“Now that’s a good idea!” Peter said.

“Shore is!” Derek said.

“Derek, did you have a plan for shifts?” Elias asked.

“No, I didn’t,” he said. “Peter, you’ve had some pretty good ideas recently. Do you have one ‘bout this?”

“Yes, I do. How about we have two hour shifts per pair. Then we each work four hours and sleep two.”

Grandmama and Jenny had made a delicious soup, perfect for the cold boys. As they ate, the boys proposed shifts throughout the night. 

“I don’t know,” Jenny said first. “I don’t want you to hurt yourselves or… get stuck in the ice or… have anything go wrong.”

“We stayed overnight last year,” Peter said. “Nothing went wrong.”

“Don’t trust your luck.”

“She isn’t protesting,” Derek said, nudging Elias. Peter smiled at his left. 

“I heard that.”

The boys looked at Jenny. 

“Fine. You have my okay. Grandmama?”

Grandmama took a deep breath. She exhaled. “I don’t like the idea,” she said bluntly. 

“Could we convince you?” Derek asked. 

“You can try.”

“Dad stayed out ever since I can remember.”

“Yeah, and he went missing.”

“Not while staying on the ice. You can’t understand how much I want to stay here for you all.”

“I believe I can understand.”

Finally, the Derek managed to convince Grandmama to allow them to stay out. She sent them with lots of food and hand warmers to Tulun Place, and the boys went off on their nighttime adventure.

Elias set an alarm on his phone, which would stay at his house. Every two hours it rang, waking whoever was off shift at the time.

Slowly, the ice house on Winsom Road began to fill. Finally, at 10 the next morning, the last cart-full of ice was being slid down the ramp into the ice house. The boys put in the last layer of insulating sawdust (which they had gathered the summer before), ate another round of hot soup, and slept like rocks for eight hours.

⁂

That June, a big storm came, felling a tree near Derek’s home with a big and dramatic “crack”. That tree was at least a century and a half old, for it was fully grown when his great great Grandparents had moved as a young couple. The big tree fell straight on the ice house, making the roof fall completely on top of itself.

The tree fell in the middle of the night, waking even Derek up. The next afternoon, the fridge door broke. With Peter’s help, Derek hauled out the ice (for the fridge operated as an icebox). He examined the door hinge.

“I don’t think we can get a replacement for this just anywhere,” he told Jenny, who was standing in the kitchen.

“No? Well, try to find it online. The internet might be working okay today.”

“You know it won’t be. But it’ll load eventually, anyhow.”

He pulled up the web browser and found out what he would need to fix the fridge. “We have none o’ this!” he exclaimed.

“How much does it cost?”

“Haven’t looked.”

“Whatever it costs,” Jenny said, “getting it will be cheaper than a new fridge!”

“True. I’ll get it. The hinge is odd, too.”

“Do you think you could use another hinge?”

“We don’t have any on hand, do we?”

“Nah, you’re right. Any idea where the old hinge went?”

“Nope. I’ll just get everything. Hope the tools prove useful for more than this.”

“I’d think they should!”

Derek ordered the goods, but expected them to take at least a week to arrive. He found a couple of big storage containers and put the perishable food in them. He put the boxes in the ice house, and underneath them he put towels, to keep the food from freezing.

The next day, Aunt Ruthie arrived with her crew: Jared, Sally, and Chris. Derek, Jenny, and Peter were waiting outside to greet them. They had come through the town twenty miles over, which, although small, was significantly larger than the nearest town. They began to unload the car, including lots of groceries they had bought for their stay. Luckily, they had brought a cooler with them, which Derek asked that they keep their food in for the time being.

After lunch, Derek went with Peter and Jared to the hardwood store in town. They took Ranger and the cart and walked beside it, because Jared didn’t want to drive any more! He’d had enough on the trip over. 

Derek chose wood he believed would last a long time, purchased it, and the boys made the return journey.

“Say,” Jared said to Derek, “would you mind some help fixing the roof?”

“Now, I don’t believe I would!”

“Can I help too?” Peter asked.

“Course you can! You help with ‘most everything, already, right? It’s not something you’ve gotta ask. It’s something I tell you to do regardless!”

“Now, that is true,” Peter said, upon a bit of reflecting.

When Derek put forward the prospect of helping with the project at dinner, all of his cousins agreed without any hesitation. Jenny said she would help as well. “Why wouldn’t I join the party?”

The cousins were out working on the roof whenever the sun was with them. Of the first week of the project, one day was overcast and another rainy. They worked on the first but not the second.

The fridge tools arrived in only four days. After the sun had set and the work on the roof was done for the day, Derek worked on it. A few of his cousins always seemed to be around, handing him tools or talking with him. He enjoyed their company very much, and welcomed them to join him in the kitchen, although not so much to help. The broken door was annoying, but the kids by his side helped him remember why he tried to deal with an icebox.

Installing the hinge took a while to figure out, but once he understood how to do it, the work took almost no time at all. The roof, on the other hand, was a simple project, but building it took over a week, even with the extra hands to help. (Elias pitched in a few times, too.) In the end, it was strong and beautiful. Derek was extremely proud of his cousins and himself.

The fridge back in order, with somewhere to store the catch, Derek was enthusiastic to begin fishing. It was at lunch he suggested they do that.

“That’s a wonderful idea, sweetie pie,” Grandmama said. “Who’d like to participate and go get us some delicious fish?”

Everyone was eager to come.

“I could make sandwiches!” Jenny offered.

“Should we bring the boat?” Peter asked.

“Ooh, yeah!” Sally said, excited over the prospect of a boat.

“We can gather and carry tackle,” Jared and Chris volunteered.

“So we’re all coming,” Derek said.

“Looks like it,” said Aunt Ruthie. “I’ll stay home and, oh I don’t know, would filling the fridge be a helpful job?”

“Yes, please,” Jenny said.

“Well then I’ll do that, while you’re off on your adventure! When do you plan on going?”

“Well, I was thinking right after lunch,” Derek said, “and the sandwiches could be for snack. We’re sure to get hungry!”

All of the children stood up and ran, excited, out of the room. “Put your dishes in the dishwasher!” Aunt Ruthie called after them.

With so many hands helping, the boat, gear, and food was soon in the cart. Derek hooked Ranger up, and the cousins were ready to go. Aunt Ruthie and Grandmama stood together at the doorstep, watching them run around, acting busy. 

When they were about to leave, Derek came up to the women. “Aunt Ruthie, are you sure you don’t want to come?”

“Thank you for thinking of me. I spent so many hours and days of so many summers at that pond with your Mama. I don’t think I could handle any more.”

Derek nodded, turned, and the children started to go. Grandmama turned towards Aunt Ruthie and held her in a tight, heartfelt hug, as they watched the children grow smaller in the distance.