Wright’s Pond
by Terry Brinkman

 

 

The last week of October, the mountains east and west of my house are covered with snow. The green grass, is all but covered with red and yellow leaves blown from my neighbors’ Aspen Trees. This time of year with winter just around the corner, brings memories of past winters.   

 

I remember a time back over Forty years ago, Thanksgiving morning. Mom said go and find something to do, before we have dinner. Dad had gone with my younger brother to Orem to pick-up my Grand-Dad. Who knows where my sister is, she’s ten years older than I am, so we are not in the same group of friends. My older brother has gone hunting with his real dad, that’s a story for later.

I dug through my closet and pulled out an old pair of Ice Skates. Tried them on. I just got my feet in, last year for these skates. I got them at a yard sale a couple years ago, Girl skates two sizes too big. Putting toilet paper in the toes for the past two years now, I can just pull them over my ankles to squeeze them on.

I put my jacket on, tie the skates together, throw them over my shoulder. I run down the stairs jumping the last four, headed for the front door, hear my mother call out “USE THE BACK DOOR!”

Short hike to Spring Pond, cutting through the neighbor’s yard, and climb on the Back-hoe they are tearing down the house with, to build Condos. Snake along the fence between the vacant lot and Rhonda’s house.

The pond sits below a small hill, a stream from the Cottonwood's runs west and enters the pond. All summer we fish and skinny dip in the pond; now with snow and the pond frozen we can tube down the hill and Ice Skate the pond. This is my first time to the pond this fall, the pond is not always frozen enough to skate by Thanksgiving. Hope it is, if I go back home to soon I will be stuck helping cook.

When I get to the pond I can see someone sledding down the hill but can’t tell who it is. They’re using one of those old wood sleds with the metal runners. I stop and watch them slide down the hill a couple times, then go down to check the ice.

As I reached the pond I could hear a yell. I was unable to see anything until I got down to the pond, I could not see the sled kid, but saw a hole in the ice. I ran down to the pond, grabbed an old branch put on my skates. Jumped on the ice, skating to the hole in the ice hearing the ice crack all the way. The closer to the hole I get I can hear the cracking getting worse. This time of year the water is only about Five or Six feet deep, I start to break through when I get about ten feet from the hole I can see part of the sled and a hand through the hole. I pull off my left skate start breaking through the ice, I keep chipping away a few minutes seems like hours, everything is in slow motion. I get close enough to push the branch in the hole, a hand grabs it, and a head pokes up. It’s my friend Shane, I pull him half-frozen from the water using the branch.

He says “hey don’t forget the sled, I can’t lose it”. So I put my skate back on fish the branch through the sled runners and pull it out. Both soaking wet we say at the same time “I got to get home”. We walk together to the corner and then each go our own way; “see you at school Monday”, I reply “okay”.

      

Rate this story.

Copyright is reserved by the author. Please do not reproduce any part of this article without consent.