Patchwork

Ice Palace

Ohio-1955, December.

Icicles are so beautiful. The young girl stretched on the floor and yawned. The sun had barely risen, but her room was shining as if it were already midday. Huge icicles hung outside the three walls of glass, almost like the ancient stalactites of a cave. She knew this already of course, as they had hung like that for over three weeks now. But she still wasn't tired of waking up to glimmers on everything. She never would be, as far as she was concerned.

And today they were all going out to the Ice Palace! She and her friends would have all day to play all they wanted.

She snapped her eyes open and leaped up, rushing to get dressed and out the door as fast as possible. She wanted to leave as soon as she could, to avoid any complications at home. Dad was still here.

As she stepped out of the sun porch and closed the door gently behind her, she remembered a very important fact. It was Judy's birthday today. She wouldn't have anything to give her. She needed something to give. Judy was new. They might think she's mean if she didn't get something! This was not good.

Abandoning her quiet walk, she hurried through the living room-

"Georgia Jeanne, you still need to shovel the snow before you go," her mother reminded her gently.

She hurried through the living room and to the kitchen as she whispered, "I need a present for Judy! I forgot about it!"

"You don't need to whisper. Your father is gone." Unacknowledged tension escaped from both their bodies as the mother recognized the statement and the daughter discovered it.

Momentary calm and relief made Georgia forget her tasks as she soaked in the information. No more hiding at the ice palace to avoid the arguments and hitting at home, no more stopping herself from running into the room to try to help her mom fend off her dad, knowing it would only cause them both to be hurt worse. Best of all, no more fear. Well, for now. They never knew if he was coming back or not.

The family of two shook out of the moment as a boisterous knock came from the door.

Kathy. Now she was really in trouble.

Her mother's knitting needles clicked as they resumed their before unnoticed work of combining the scrap strings form the mail into yarn for a blanket.

"Don't forget about that snow Georgia Jeanne, and make sure the walkway hasn't frozen over."

Honestly, walkway was a generous term. As she snatched a piece of bread and rushed to open the door, she looked down. The barely twenty inches of dirt and cracked cement between the doorstep and the meager road was more of a little gap between the outside world and the inside world of the remade barn that they lived in.

Making sure to face her friend as she was speaking, and enunciating clearly, she asked, "Do you mind waiting a few minutes? I need to shovel the snow." Knowing what the answer would be before the nod came, she had already grabbed the shovel and was busily shoving snow off the porch and the walkway, taking care to get every last bit.

-----

The walk to the forest was quiet, but both the girls were practically bouncing on their feet. Shocking white on dark green and brown greeted them at every turn as they neared the circle of trees that they had named their own. Even though Georgia came here alone almost every day in winter to avoid going home, it still held the magnificence and awe that never failed to amaze her.

As they neared the haven, daring laughter and the sounds of crunching snow met Georgia's ears. She pulled her hand from the folds of her threadbare dress to nudge her best friend's shoulder, whose head whipped to her and scanned the surrounding area, trying to see what she had been listening to. Kathy's attentive eyes returned to her face.