some cold weather bits, in the heat of summer

December 8

The kids are excited.  It’s Saturday morning and finally the lake is safe for skating.  Tim has put out the green flag, this time where everyone can see it.

They are standing around the kitchen table, all bundled up, waiting for Ethel to finish.  She has been growing her toenails a little long for this day and sits with one foot up against the table edge, carefully filing serrations into the nail of her big toe.  “You can wait a little bit,” she says.  Mark, jiggling the car keys, smiles.  This has to be done carefully.  The kids watch, impatiently.  They exhale with relief as Ethel brings up both feet and spreads all ten toes, checking the sawtooth pattern.  Now they sigh with frustration as she gives some more attention to the fourth toe of her right foot, deepening one of the serrations.

Once out on the ice she skates with everyone else.  Half the town is out there today.  She leans on the hard outstep of one foot, then the other, starting or stopping by pushing or pulling with toes scraping underneath.  She’s been doing this since she was a little girl.  Of course she can’t stay out the whole two hours.  She goes to the car to warm up, the motor running, watching Sam and the Kissinger boys playing hockey on the far side, Rebecca practicing her twirls, Mark helping Abigail learn to skate backwards.  Then she goes out again.