Richard Hale - Frozen Past

Ellie peeked through the hole in the fence and then slipped through. The rest of them followed and they squished through the snow toward the pool about a hundred yards away. The empty and quiet tennis courts were to their left, and not a single footstep, or animal track, marred the new snow as far as the eye could see. The heavy snowfall had wiped everything clean.

They came up to the fence that encircled the pool and peered through the chinks at the iced over water.

Ellie suddenly smiled and said, “Let’s try to walk on the ice.”

“I don’t know,” Jimmy said. “Could be too thin.”

“Let’s see,” she said and started climbing the fence.

Luke shrugged at John and Jimmy, and then followed her over the fence onto the deck. All the pool furniture was covered in snow and the ice in the pool had a ghostly layer over top of it.

Ellie stood at the edge and said, “Hold me.”

Luke grabbed her arm and John held onto her coat. She put one foot on the snow covered ice and slowly put more weight down. Luke kept expecting to hear a loud crack and watch as Ellie slipped from his grasp, sinking into the freezing water. She had all her weight on one foot now and she lifted the other leg off the ground, standing solely on the ice. She looked up and grinned. That’s when the ice broke and her leg slid into the water. She let out a little cry as Luke and John held her tight, but not before her right leg went into the icy water up to her thigh. They quickly pulled her up and onto the pool deck. She was laughing as she fell onto Luke who had tripped trying to pull her out. He didn’t think it was so funny.

“That didn’t work,” she said.

“No crap,” Jimmy said.

“If you had fallen in, I don’t know if we could have even seen you,” Luke said.

“You wouldn’t jump in after me?” she teased.

“You know I would,” Luke said. “I wouldn’t like it, but I’d jump in.”

She leaned over and gave him a peck on the cheek. “Thanks for saving me.”

“Hey!” John said. “What about me?”

“Thank you, John,” and she kissed him on the cheek too. Luke felt a little twinge of jealousy, and it bothered him that he would feel that way toward his best friend.

Jimmy was studying the pool, lost in thought, when he said, “You know, if somebody fell in this thing, I don’t think anybody would find them ‘til spring.”

“Nah-somebody would see,” John said.

“Wanna bet?”

“How’re you going to prove it?” John asked.

“I got an idea.” And Jimmy explained his plan. They all grinned.

That evening, at dusk, they met together on the side of Luke’s house with the items they had collected. Jimmy had his dad’s giant MagLite flashlight, and John had an ice pick along with some old clothes. Luke and Ellie had brought old clothes too. They sat in the snow and put together a stuffed dummy with the clothes and rags. The only things missing were shoes and hands. Luke didn’t think it would matter.

Ellie held the stuffed dummy up and said, “He needs a name.”

“How ‘bout George,” John said.

“George it is,” Ellie said. “Come on George, let’s go swimming.”

It was full dark now, no moon, and Jimmy led the way through the wooded backyard with the flashlight shining the way. It was very quiet and Luke kept thinking he would hear the voice again, but nothing made a sound.

When they got to the pool fence, they tossed ‘George’ over and climbed after him. Jimmy doused the flashlight and they worked in the dark. John took the ice pick and chipped the ice around the hole Ellie had made earlier until it was big enough for ‘George’ to fit through.

“Get the lifeguard pole, John,” Jimmy whispered.

John grabbed the pole that was hanging by brackets on the fence and brought it over. Jimmy used it to stuff the dummy up under the ice and push it out deeper into the pool. He then took the hook end and pushed the snow around on top of the ice, clearing an area so they could see the dummy through the murky thin ice. From their point of view, ‘George’ looked exactly like a body that was trapped under the ice.

“Come on,” Luke said and giggled at the sight. “Let’s go!”

They all quickly climbed back over the fence, laughing nervously and trying not to make too much noise. Luke got stuck at the top of the fence for a minute, his coat snagging on the chain link. He panicked and pulled it hard, ripping it as it tore free. He almost fell when it came loose.

They ran back to the hole in the fence, worked their way back up through Luke’s backyard, and stood in his driveway, proud of themselves.

“Now we wait and see how long it takes for someone to find him,” Jimmy said. “I give it ‘til spring.”

“I say two weeks,” John said.

“Three weeks,” Luke said.

“A month,” Ellie said.

They were all wrong.

After they made bets with Jimmy and John on when ‘George’ would be found, Luke and Ellie said goodnight to the brothers and then went to his house.

“Mom?! Ellie’s here.”

“Ok,” Luke’s mom yelled back. “What happened to kick the can?”

“It’s too cold.”

“Alright, don’t keep her here too late. Her mom will be worried.”

“I’ll call her, Mrs. Harrison,” Ellie yelled.

Luke’s mom came to the door of the kitchen and looked them both over. “Ok, Honey. That would probably be good. Are you doing ok? We haven’t seen you here in a while. So sorry about Bentley.”

“Thank you, ma’am. And yes I’m doing better.” She looked at Luke and smiled.

“That’s good. You guys gonna watch some TV? I could bring you some cookies and milk.”

“Thanks, Mom. That would be great. Come on, Ellie.” Luke led her down into the basement where the Harrison’s had a game room of sorts. Luke found the TV remote while Ellie called her mom. He grabbed a blanket, since it was a little chilly in the basement, and waited until she finished with her mom.

“I have to be home at 9:00,” Ellie said.

“Ok, that’s cool.” He turned the TV on and found an old movie to watch. Luke’s mom came down with the cookies and two glasses of milk on a tray and set it on the coffee table in front of them.

“It’s freezing,” she said. “Are you sure you guys want to stay down here? You can watch upstairs in the living room.”

“We’ll be fine, Mom. We have a blanket. Thanks for the cookies.”

“Thank you Mrs. Harrison,” Ellie said, grabbing a cookie and taking a big bite.

“You’re welcome, Sweetheart. Ok. If you guys change your mind…” and she turned and went back upstairs.

They ate a few cookies in silence and then she snuggled up next to him, pulling the blanket over them both. Her head was resting on his shoulder with his arm around her and he could smell the shampoo she used. He put his hand on her head and gently stroked her blonde hair, feeling the fine softness of it as his fingers ran through it.

She hummed softly and said, “That feels so good. Is that weird?”

“Not to me,” he said. “I’ve wanted to do this for a long time now. Is that weird?”

“You should have done it sooner.”

“I told you, I was too scared.”

“You don’t seem scared now.”

“You promised not to hate me.”

She looked up at him. “I did, didn’t I?” She kissed him shyly and then more confidently. He felt he could get lost in those lips.

She broke the kiss and touched his face. “So, are we boyfriend and girlfriend now?”

He hadn’t thought about it. “Well, I’m a boy and you’re a girl, so…”

“Really?” and she punched him playfully. “I suppose you’re going to say ‘And we’re friends…so…’”