Glare Ice by Mary Logue

Author:Mary Logue [Logue, Mary]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Mystery, Fiction
Publisher: F+W Media
Published: 2001-02-13T05:00:00+00:00

Sven loaded his snowblower into the back of the truck and brought it down to the end of the park. His wife used to tease him that he’d be out blowing the snow off the sidewalk before it had even quit coming down. He did like his machines. Gave him something to do now that he was retired. He couldn’t shovel—too much strain on his heart. But he could run the snowblower and watch it do all the work.

Near the shore the water had frozen into smooth glare ice. He knew this because he had been down checking on the ice every day. He had decided the town skating rink would be his project this year. But now the ice was covered with about a half a foot of snow. It would be a pleasure to clear it off—like watching his wife iron a tablecloth smooth of any wrinkles.

Sven stopped the truck close to the lake, walked around the back, dropped the tailgate, and pulled out his ramp. Then he climbed up into the truck and carefully pushed his snowblower down.

The wind was picking up across the lake. If it started blowing this snow around, he could be at this job all day long.

He could make out the shoveled outlines of the rink from when he had done it before. Pushing the snowblower in front of him, he aimed it at the far western corner. He’d start there and blow all the snow out of the rink. It took some strategy not to make this too much work.

Starting up the machine, he felt tired suddenly. He hadn’t slept at all well last night. The face of that young girl, Stephanie, kept coming to him. She could be such a nice girl when she wanted to be. There was a rough side to her sometimes too—he knew she went drinking at the local bars and hung out with a tougher crowd—but she had always been real nice to him.

He had done a couple of rows when he stopped to take a breather. The sun was just glinting through the skim-milk-colored sky. Getting close to the shortest day of the year. Boy, he’d be glad when they got over that hump. He didn’t mind cold, and he liked the snow, but he hated the darkness. It seemed to make it harder to get up everyday and easier to climb into bed on the early side.

He was getting ready to start the snowblower again when he heard a car coming down into the park. He turned to see, and recognized the car right away—the deputy sheriff’s car.

He walked up the shore to greet her. Maybe she had news on Stephanie. She stopped the car next to his truck and rolled down her window.

“What do you know, Mrs. Watkins?”

“Sven, you’ve picked a cold one.”

“I didn’t pick it. You can’t let the weather stop you from doing things. I’ve lived through many a winter, and you gotta keep moving.”

“That is the secret, isn’t it? Keep moving.

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