Winter Story. This is a short workshop assignment that would be a nice read for anyone who is sweltering today in the hot weather! For you...served up on ice!

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Winter Story

Icicles hung low, testing the strength of pine tree limbs in the yard as he walked to the street. Going slowly, he tested each step on the packed snow, now solid and slick after being frozen, rained upon, and frozen again. Pulling up his coat collar, the man regretted the vanity that kept him from wearing a hat. Zero degrees Fahrenheit was a temperature to be reckoned with.

His nose felt hard inside, as his wild imagination wondered if the membranes were freezing. The skin on his face stung as a wicked wind blasted from the north, turning his delicate white complexion a troublesome red. A breeze cut through the thin wool coat and sent shivers up his spine. His feet, ever-moving, deadened despite his best efforts. The ice underfoot radiated such cold it reached all the way up his legs. His ears felt like chunks of ice on each side of his head, while the tips of his fingers lost their feeling. 

All around, everything was encased in ice, frozen silvery in a quick freeze after the pelting rain. Windows became  thickened with frozen lacy patterns reminiscent of Jack Frost, pretty in a way, but deadly in their implications. One could only hope the people inside had found enough warmth.

His body begged for heat. Numbness crept in from all four extremities. Would he soon be like one of those silvery icicles, straight and stiff and purely for decoration?

But the man had to get where he was going. There was no turning back. The building finally came into view. Warm yellow lights glowed from the windows, and people rushed toward the entrance. Yes, he had made it to work. The good doctor had arrived to save more lives and heal the sick. No wonder his own discomfort mattered little.