Fighting Fire With Fire

8.

"Oh, there are so many fun things to do. I don't know." Mrs. Cortés bit her lip, flipping through pamphlet after pamphlet. 

Mr. Cortés placed a hand on his wife's shoulder. "Why don't we let the boys pick something?" He glanced at his son Axel, and then Max. 

"Good idea!" Max's mom agreed. "What do you boys want to do the rest of the afternoon?" 

That was a good question. Max scanned the tourist information point they were standing in for some tips. They'd already made the Golden Circle nature trip yesterday, which was absolutely more impressive than he'd anticipated. Something about watching the gigantic Gullfoss waterfall while in a snowstorm and being warned not to step outside the ropes because you could legit slip and die, had him in awe. Max had also learned Icelanders were very proud of their heritage - at least seemed to be. The tour guide had given them history of Iceland 101 during the ride, and he could add extensive knowledge of trolls and elves to his resume now. Today, they spent their morning in a ship museum. 

Max pressed his lips together in thought. Since Axel wasn't offering any suggestions either, he piped up first. 

"Something active," he said. 

He still needed to exercise. He'd honestly tried going jogging yesterday evening, but it'd been impossible for him without slipping on the ice on the pavement. Hell, he'd nearly fallen on his ass while getting out of the car and onto the sidewalk a few times. Like these people had never heard of using salt. Then again, the Iceland natives themselves didn't seem to have any problems moving without slipping. 

"Something active..." Mr. Cortés repeated. "You probably want that as well mm?" he asked Axel. 

"Yes," Axel replied, although unlike Max, Axel had gone to that gym he talked about every evening so far. 

"Okay..." Leo said, moving to another stand holding even more pamphlets. "We've got swimming at the Blue Lagoon. But there's also a swimming pool in the city called Lau-- uh Lauda..." he trailed off, giving up on pronouncing the word. 

"And also an ice rink," Max's mom added, snuggling up to her husband who promptly put an arm around her.

Max perked up. "An ice rink?"

His mom smiled. "I thought that might appeal to you. I remember you were always so into watching ice skating when you were little. Always parked in front of a TV screen, looking at the Olympics on tape. You even accidentally recorded over the tape we'd taken of you walking for the first time." 

"Yeah, that I did," Max said. He could muster only a small smile while both his parents and the Cortés' laughed. 

"Hey, bet you've inherited part of my Dutch genes." Leo winked. "They skate fast."  

Max hadn't necessarily wanted to skate fast, though. He'd wanted to skate pretty. He wondered whether Leo remembered that part too. Not that it mattered. Those winter Olympics video-tape watching days were far past. 

"Sure, I could skate," Max offered with a shrug. "The ice rink sounds good." 

Leo's eyes went wide, and he gasped dramatically. "Max showing interest in doing something?"  

"Leo," Max sighed. It wasn't that exceptional he wanted to do something, was it? Granted, he hadn't offered much input during the Iceland holiday yet, but that was mostly because all the parents were so enthusiastic about everything. It was their holiday anyway, and it was much simpler to tag along with whatever they wanted to do. 

"Those steam baths at the swimming pool look great too though," Max's mom said.  

"And it's already so cold." Mrs. Cortés shot Max a doubtful look. "You really want to be at an ice rink?"