OUT ON THE ICE (fiction)

Mom: "No you can't! How many times do I have to say it?"
Jeremy: "But,Mom..."
Mom: "Not once more, Jeremy. Go to your room."
Jeremy: "But, Mom..."
Mom: "Jeremy, I'm spilling the hot butterscotch."
Jeremy: "In 'Little House in the Big Woods' they even drove their horses
across the ice."

Mom: "It was really cold there. That was Wisconsin, not Ohio. Besides,
that was 200 years ago."
Jeremy: "Jimmy and I did last year."
Mom: "That was when it was really cold, below zero. The ice was thick and safe.
Besides, there were grownups there, too."
Jeremy: "Can we move to Wisconsin?"
Mom: "Jeremy, you are really getting onmy nerves, didn't I say go to your room?.
Oh, here comes Dad. Go wash your hands for supper."

Dad: "Hi, honey. Smells good. Butterscoth?"
Mom: "And hot coffee too. Did you say it's cold out there?" (laughs)

Jed: "Mom,mom, it's great! Jimmy and I built the greatest snow fort.
Want to come see?"
Mom: "You're great! Where's Jimmy?"
Jed: "Oh... coming"
Dad: "Time for supper. Where's Jeremy?"
Mom: "Sulking. I told him he couldn't go out on the ice."
Jed: "Why not? We did."
Mom: "You did? You and Jimmy? What in blazes - you know it's dangerous.
Not like last year. This is snow cold, not ice cold. And who was
with you?"
Jed: "Oh, it was mostly just around the edges, really."
Mom: "Who was with you?"

Jed: "Oh... nobody."

Learn more about this author, Nora Chalfont.
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