On Thin Ice (Carrot Ranch Flash Fiction Challenge)

The Carrot Ranch Literary Community, hosted by Charli Mills, is HERE.

On Thin Ice

“Wait here,” I said skating backwards away from her. 

“Bobby, what are—”

I smiled and skated until I reached the bench where we’d stashed our jackets. I turned, stepped over the snow berm and reached into the pocket of my jacket pulling out the box with the ring.

Yes, THE ring.

Hotdogging back to her; bent at the waist, left leg extended out behind me, right arm extended in front. I didn’t see the tight crack and tripped.

The ring dropped and we both slid across the ice, stopping at her feet.

Red-faced, I looked up. “Will you?” 

###

I pretty much dislike winter about as much as a person can dislike winter but I have a certain admiration for people who embrace it. “Just dress for it,” they say, which to me is impossible. Anyway, you can’t turn around here in Minnesota without meeting someone who snowmobiles, downhill skis, cross-country skis, snowshoes, ice fishes, toboggans, or like the hero of my story, ice skates. We have a winter carnival here complete with three parades, a good king and a evil king who fight over the weather (or something like that), ice sculptures, a treasure hunt and a woman named Klondike Kate. And over in one of the oldest cities in Minnesota, Stillwater, they have ice castles. I have to admit they look really cool and I might think about going to see them if they were in the summer.

Here’s a song about a guy that’s almost tougher than the cold.