Devonne Brown

“Mom, where are the boots you got me for Christmas?” asked Charlie. He tore the living room upside down looking for them. Couch cushions went flying, followed by blankets, and newspapers, he made an unholy mess. 

“Stop it! Stop throwing stuff around and straighten this room up right now,” Alice was livid. “You know better than to throw things around in here. You’re not an animal, quit acting like one. Here are your boots. They were in the hall where you left them.” 

Charlie straightened the cushions and picked up the papers, sort of, like eleven year old boys do. His mother harumphed, but let him live. He pulled his boots on, and went outside to meet Jack and Toby. 

It was fifty-seven degrees outside and snow was piled six feet high, in grey and black drifts. What started out as sparkling wonders were melting pyramids of muck and mud. Dripping, oozing mounds of crystalline dirt filled the street, creating puddles of dirty black water for cars to spray walkers with their mist. 

It was great for games of ice pounding King of the Mountain. Charlie was the reigning champion. Jack and Toby were his minions. They ran up the ice mounds, and if they didn’t sink, would pound them with croquet mallets. It was a perfect sport. The ice mounds got slicker and slicker as the day wore on. 

With each mound the rules changed. Sometimes Charlie was king, sometimes Jack or Toby would mutiny. The croquet mallets often became battle axes. The grey mounds often didn’t survive their advances and were reduced to blocks of black ice. No ice mound was too big, too small or sacred. All would fall prey to the trio.

In the middle of the street was the largest of the ice pyramids. Mount Ice More the trio dubbed it, and they climbed to its pinnacle. Charlie lost his footing and slid to the bottom. “Help me,” he wailed, as he tumbled head over heels down the side of the makeshift mountain.

Jack and Toby slid to his rescue.

Charlie’s arm seemed a bit out of kilter, and the look on his face wasn’t right. Jack and Toby took him home immediately. Alice took one look at him, sent the two boys home, yelled at Charlie for climbing on the ice, and rushed him to the emergency room for, of course, a broken arm.