by BobA. Troutt
*****
Leftover from the Holidays
Flakes the Snowman
Many years ago in the land north of the North Pole, the story is told among the Eskimos that still live today. It happened one long, cold winter day when the sun shined down on a new fallen snow from the night before. It is said that the Eskimo children were outside playing in the snow when they decided to build a snowman. The story is told that the children built the snowman with their hands and hearts. Each single snowflake and pat of snow was put together with love. As the children danced around the snowman, singing and playing, a woman and her child came out of nowhere. The child started crying because he wanted to hug the snowman. It is rumored, to this day among the Eskimo people, that the woman was an angel. They believe when the child hugged the snowman’s neck, a tiny tear fell from the child’s eyes onto the snowman and he came to life. The children stopped everything they were doing; they couldn’t believe their eyes.
“He’s alive!” they all shouted. “He’s alive!”
As the woman and child stepped back in amazement, she whispered, “Flakes.”
That is what the children call him to this day because he was made by many hands and many hearts. By being made by many hands and many hearts, Flakes was blessed with a special gift.
It all happened north of the North Pole in the little community of Frozen Valley. That is where Flakes, the snowman, and his best friend, Ice Cube the penguin, lived. They were the best of friends and all their friends also lived there. Frozen Valley was the place to be. Sledding, snowball fights, ice-skating, homemade snow cream, fishing and just plain laying back and enjoying the arctic sun were the happening things to do.
“What a life!” exclaimed Ice Cube.
“This is the best,” replied Flakes as the two sat out in the sun and watched the children play.
“Look out,” cried one as a snowball flew through the air.
“Be careful, kids,” yelled Flakes as Ice Cube picked himself up off the ground.
Flakes was everyone’s friend. The children loved him and they loved Ice Cube, too. The two were inseparable. When you saw one, you saw the other. Then suddenly it happened.
“Out of the blue, Ice Cube cried, “I have a bright idea.”
“What is it?” questioned Flakes.
“I know what we can do,” said Ice Cube, “to earn some money to buy that deep freezer we want to store our fish in.”
“What’s that?” asked Flakes.
“We can open up a lemonade stand,” said Ice Cube. “Now think about it, Flakes, there’s not one around here for miles. Everybody loves lemonade, especially fresh lemonade.”
“Do you think it will work?” asked Flakes.
“It’s got to work,” replied Ice Cube.
“I don’t know,” Flakes hesitated. “Where are we going to get fresh lemons?”
“That’s no problem,” replied Ice Cube. “Mr. William over at the trading post has a plane that flies his products in every day. We can ask him to bring us some fresh lemons from Florida.”
“I sure would like to have that deep freezer from the trading post,” replied Flakes.
“You can!” yelled Ice Cube. “Just leave everything to me.”
“Well, okay,” smiled Flakes, “let’s go for it.”
It wasn’t before until you heard the bang, bang, banging of the hammer and the buzz, buzz, buzzing of the saw; Ice Cube and Flakes were building their lemonade stand in front of their igloo.
“Well, Flakes, what do you think about it?” asked Ice Cube when they finished.
“It looks great,” replied Flakes. “When are we going to have our grand opening?”
“What about tomorrow?” asked Ice Cube. “Our fresh lemons will be coming in this evening.”
“Alright!” yelled Flakes.
It was a long winter night that night as they tried to sleep. They tossed, turned and twisted until finally morning arrived. Hurriedly, they headed outside to open up their lemonade stand. They put their price list right above the opening of the lemonade stand.
Ice Cold Fresh Lemonade - 25¢
Pink Lemonade - 30¢
Slice of Lemon - 5¢
They also had icicle pops for ten cents, slushes for fifteen cents and frozen snow bars for ten cents.
“Do you know how hard it is to find a lemon in the North Pole?” asked Ice Cube.
“I have been around here all my life and have never seen one,” replied Flakes.
“That’s what I’m trying to say; we have a monopoly here. We’ll be able to buy thousands of deep freezers.”
The news of the lemonade stand spread quickly across the countryside. People from all around came to buy ice cold fresh lemonade. People stood in line and eagerly waited for their cup of lemonade. Their dog teams lay around and waited as they sipped and slurped their ice cold fresh lemonade. Flakes and Ice Cube were the talk of every village around, especially since they also had takeout and home delivery. Everything was peaches, or do I need to say lemons, until one day a little girl came up to the stand to buy some lemonade.
“I would like a small cup of ice cold fresh lemonade,” she said as she placed some loose change up on the stand.
“One cup of ice cold fresh lemonade coming right up,” replied Flakes. “Here you go, little girl.”
“Thank you, Mr. Flakes,” she said as she took a big drink of the lemonade.
Flakes just watched as little tears filled her big, dark eyes.
“Can I have just a little more sugar?” she asked as she wiped her mouth.
“Why, sure,” replied Flakes. “What is your name?”
She reached for the cup, sipped it down and took off. As the little girl disappeared into the crowd, Flakes sensed there was something about her. But, he just couldn’t put his finger on it. She was different, but how, he thought. Day after day, the little girl came and bought a cup of lemonade with extra sugar. Each day, Flakes looked forward to seeing her. He knew she would always order her usual, lemonade with extra sugar. She never ordered anything else.
“Good morning, Mr. Flakes,” she said. “I’ll take my usual.”
“Why, here you go,” replied Flakes. “Oh, by the way, you can call me Flakes. And what’s your name?”
She grinned, giggled a little and said, “Weak!”
“Weak,” replied Flakes.
“Weak, that’s my name,” she said. “Everyone calls me Weak.”
“Weak, it is,” replied Flakes. “Is that Miss Weak or just Weak?”
“Just Weak,” she said as she slipped off into the crowd.
“Strange little girl,” said Flakes. “But, I believe she kinda likes me,” he chuckled.
As time passed, Weak and Flakes became good friends. Flakes, Ice Cube and Weak did everything together. The threesome was inseparable. She started helping them make and sell lemonade. They had snowball fights, sledded and even fished together.
“I like you, Flakes and Ice Cube, a lot. You’re my very best friends in the world,” she said.
“We like you a lot, too,” Flakes and Ice Cube replied.
Have you ever seen a snowman blush? Well, believe it or not, Flakes did. Then one day Weak stopped coming, Flakes and Ice Cube didn’t know what had happened to her and they couldn’t find out anything either. It was like she had disappeared off the face of the earth. They asked everyone, but no one seemed to know. They wondered what was wrong and what could be the matter. Days later, word came down from the mountains, by a traveling dog team, that a little girl was stricken with the fever. As soon as Flakes heard, he knew in his heart it was Weak.
“We have to go see her,” said Flakes. “I have to make sure she is alright.”
Flakes and Ice Cube closed their lemonade stand immediately and headed up the mountain.
“You can’t go up there now!” yelled the stranger. “There’s a storm headed that way.”
“But we have to,�
� cried Flakes. “We have no choice.”
Flakes and Ice Cube disappeared over the ridge; they rushed to get to Weak’s house. For hours and hours they climbed. They were already slipping, sliding and struggling to walk in the deep snow when, out of nowhere, the storm hit.
“What are we going to do?” asked Ice Cube.
“We have to keep going!” yelled Flakes.
“But how?” replied Ice Cube. “We can’t see; the snow is coming down too hard.”
“Follow me,” instructed Flakes.
As they pressed forward, the storm raged on. The drifts got deeper and deeper. It was almost impossible for them to get through.
“I don’t think we are going to make it!” yelled Ice Cube.
“We’ve got to,” replied Flakes, “or Weak has no chance.”
Even though the storm kept driving them back, they pressed onward. Finally, they spotted a glimmer of light.
“What’s that?” asked Ice Cube.
“I don’t know,” replied Flakes. “But, let’s follow it.”
They turned toward the light in the night and they followed it through the storm until the storm broke.
“Where’s the light?” asked Flakes.
“I don’t know,” replied Ice Cube. “It was here a moment ago, but now it’s gone.”
“Shhh, listen,” said Flakes. “I heard something.”
In the black of the night they could hear a faint cough.
“It’s Weak,” said Flakes. “She’s over there.”
They rushed over and dug out the snow covered igloo. When they entered the igloo, they saw Weak in her mama’s arms; she was sick with the fever. Her dad had gone to get the doctor in the next village and hadn’t got back yet. As Weak lifted her little head, she softly called Flakes’ name and went back to sleep. She was awfully sick; the fever had a bad hold on her.
“Can you help my baby?” asked her mama.
“I don’t know,” replied Flakes. “But, I am willing to try.”
Carefully, Flakes took her out of her mama’s arms and laid her down on some animal skins. He bent over her and gently blew across her face.
“What is he doing?” asked her mama.
“She will be alright,” replied Ice Cube. “Flakes has a special gift. He can blow the fire out of fever.”
“He can,” she said. “I have heard of that before but I was a child and didn’t know what it meant.”
Softly, he blew again and waited. Unfortunately, there was no change. The gift was not working and she was still burning up with the fever. Flakes tried to figure out what was wrong; then it came to him.
“Quickly wrap her in this blanket,” he told her mama and Ice Cube, “and place her in my arms.”
They wrapped her in the blanket and placed her in his arms.
“Now, we must wait,” he said. “I’m afraid it’s going to be a long night.”
As the night slipped by, Flakes held Weak tightly in his arms. Her mama and Ice Cube had fallen asleep and Flakes struggled to stay awake. As the night went on, Weak lay asleep in his arms and Flakes slowly melted. He knew her fever would melt him but he also knew it was the only way to get her fever to break. The hours slowly passed and finally she awoke. Her fever had broken, but Flakes was nothing but an empty ice crystal shell.
“I love you, Flakes,” she said.
“And I love you, too, Weak,” he replied.
Then the big hollow hunk of snow collapsed to the floor awaking Ice Cube and her mama.
“Oh, no,” Ice Cub cried when he saw Flakes. “Do you have a bucket?”
“Here’s one!” yelled her mama.
Quickly, Ice Cube mopped up Flakes and put him into the bucket.
“I have to get him home,” cried Ice Cube.
Ice Cube dashed out the door and rushed down the mountain. When he reached home, he poured Flakes out in the snow and started putting him back together. He cried for his old friend as he frantically patted the ice and snow. As the children gathered around to see what was going on, they jumped in and helped. Shortly, he was done. Sadly, Flakes the snowman was not alive. For days, Ice Cube sat out in the weather with his friend, Flakes. The crowd slowly dwindled away but Ice Cube stayed by Flakes’ side. He thought and thought of what to do. He tried everything he could think of. Unfortunately, nothing worked. Flakes just sat outside lifeless. He stayed quiet and still until one day when Weak came by.
“What is this I hear about you, Flakes?” she scolded him. “Do you think you’re going to take the easy way out and just sit out in this yard and do nothing? Why, we have lemonade to sell and what about filling the freezer up with those fish you like to catch?”
Ice Cube just dropped his head and giggled as Weak pranced around with her hands on her hips and fussed at him. She really let him have it, telling him this and telling him that.
“Now you listen to me, Mr. Flakes the snowman,” she said. “You are going to have to snap out of it and get a life. I miss you, Flakes,” she whispered when she reached up and gave him a big hug and kissed him on the cheek. Weak started crying and just like years ago, one of her tears fell onto Flakes. Suddenly, he was alive.
“Oh, excuse me,” he said to Weak as he opened his eyes. “I have missed you, too,” he whispered in her ear.
“Hurray!” shouted Ice Cube and Weak. “He’s back.”
“Flakes, don’t you ever do that again,” said Weak. “You scared me.”
“Look,” cried Ice Cube pointing up at the trading post, “it’s our deep freezer.”
“Whoopee!” yelled Flakes. “Let’s go fishing!”
