BENEATH THE ICE

I remember the first time I saw it quite clearly. The night was freezing. We had a foot of snow on the ground from falls over the last couple of days but this night we had crystal clear skies. Of course, that’s why it was so, so cold.

I was standing at my kitchen sink, rubber gloves on, sponge in hand, daydreaming as I gazed out the window at the beautiful stars when I thought I saw a flash of green light actually drop out of the sky.

I blinked and looked again but saw nothing. I gave myself a mental shake and carried on washing up.

John came into the kitchen and picked up a tea towel and started wiping up. I liked this time together. No other distractions; no TV, no computers. We would just chat and enjoy each other’s company; planning things we wanted to do.

We had a five-acre lot about 20 kilometres from town. We loved it here. When we came home after work, it was like leaving all the troubles of the world at our gate.

We had our chook run, which we called ‘The Palace’; we had quite a vegie patch going, though the only things safe at the moment were the things we had growing in the hot house; we had started a small orchard with a pear tree, which was my favourite fruit, and a couple of apples, mandarins and lemons too.

The pear tree just wasn’t thriving at all. I had placed it on the slope between the back of the house and our pond, but after three years it was still a stunted, scrawny stick in the ground. I decided that if it didn’t start to grow this year, I would need to admit defeat and pull it out.

John and I considered ourselves very fortunate to have this property. Mind you, it wouldn’t be ‘ours’ for at least another 20 years. Like most people our age, the bank owned most of it.

We had been married for eight years and only started trying for children about two years ago. So far, no joy on that front.

When I got home from work the next day, I thought I saw a green light down near the pond.

I walked down the path and past the pear tree. I was sure that was where I had seen it but there was nothing there. I turned to retrace my steps back towards the house when, just for a split second, a green light flashed near the pond. I blinked and squinted into the dark.

I stood there in the darkening evening, just watching and waiting, for about 10 minutes. Nothing. Zilch. Zero!

The cold got the better of me and I gave up and went back to the house.

When John got home, I told him about the green light I thought I saw the night before and then what had happened tonight. He agreed with me that it seemed a bit odd.

The next morning, while I looked after the chooks, John went down to the pond. When he came back up, he just shook his head and said he had found nothing, but that he was greeted by a frozen pond. I hadn’t seen that in the dark last night.

I was surprised. It had never happened in the time since we had been here. I really hadn’t thought it was cold enough for that.

When I came home that night, John’s car was already in the garage. I walked towards the house but as I stepped up on the back verandah, a green light reflected off the glass in the door. I spun around and saw a glow down at the pond.

I called to John but there was no answer. When I turned back, the light had gone.

I walked down, using the light on my phone.

As I walked past the pear tree, I gave it a pat. The poor tree was still looking poorly.

I was half way around the pond when the green light appeared again. The problem was – it was under the ice!

What the hell!

It started to dart around the pond. What on earth could it be? Then, just as suddenly, it went out.

I raced back to the house to tell John but when I went in and called to him, there was still no answer. Now I was really worried. Searching the house, I found John passed out on the bathroom floor.

I rushed to check his pulse and breathing, thankfully, both seemed fine. He started to move and I felt a flood of relief. He opened his eyes and looked around and seemed a bit confused as to where he was. I said I wanted to call an ambulance.

“I’m fine”, he said, “I just don’t remember getting back to the house. The last thing I remember was looking at a green light in our frozen pond and wondering what the hell it was. It came right over near me under the ice. I leant over and tried to see through the ice and work out what it was. That’s the last thing I remember”.

I was still worried about John and convinced him to make an appointment to see the doctor and get checked over.

John did see his doctor who ordered blood tests and a stress test for his heart.

*************

When the weekend came around, John was up and at it very early. He seemed like a man on a mission. He had drawn up a list of jobs he wanted to do which included the lighting on the path to the pond and by Sunday night we had the lighting installed.

John had drawn up ideas for an entertainment area with decking too and when he showed me, I agreed immediately. He wanted it on the opposite side of the path from the pear tree. He felt the pear tree would give lovely shade during the peak of summer and it would help frame the view of our pond from the house. I felt I should remind him that our pear tree wasn’t going to frame anything at the rate it was going. It still looked skeletal.

He smiled, shook his head and just said “Oh yea of little faith”, and laughed.

The following week, John returned to his doctor for his test results.

“For a forty-year-old, you should be extremely happy. Your tests would be exceptional for a 20-year-old!” the doctor said. “You are as fit as a fiddle”.

John was happy to hear that, but asked, “any idea what caused the collapse?”

“None whatsoever,” said the doctor. “But you must be doing something right because even your blood tests, compared to those I did three years ago, are perfect”.

When John got home, he was like a kid given a high score on his school report card. He bragged about it all night. I had to laugh; he was acting like a kid too. He had me in stitches with his antics. When we went to bed that night, he made love to me like he had when we first got married

*************

When I got home a couple of weeks later, I went in, put everything down and went through to the kitchen. I went to the sink to fill the kettle and as I stood there, the green light appeared. I raced out the door.

As it wasn’t as dark, I was hoping to get a look at what it was.

By the time I got to the pond, the green light had gone. I went and sat on the platform that we had started building. It gave a great view of the pond, the poor pear tree, the house and what was left of the sunset on the horizon.

Just as the last of the sun went, the green light glowed from the pond. I quietly walked over and tried to see what it was. It slowly moved around the pond then suddenly it darted straight over to where I was standing.

*************

I could hear a voice calling me.

“Sienna, Sienna, wake up. Come on darl, wake up. You’re scaring me”.

I was back in the house on the lounge room floor, with John leaning over me. I felt a bit dazed and confused. How did I get back here?

John was relieved to see me open my eyes. I told him what had happened was the same thing that happened to him.

I felt fine. I felt great. Now I knew what John had meant. He convinced me though to make an appointment with our doctor for a check-up too.

A couple of weeks went by with no further sighting of the green light.

My results from the doctor’s tests all seemed fine though he did ask me to have another blood test in a few weeks.

The next weeks went quickly and the days were getting longer but our pond was still frozen!

*************

It was the last official week of winter and John and I both arrived home at the same time and had decided to go for a walk to the pond. As we approached, the green light appeared. We both stopped. We sat on the platform and watched. There appeared to be cracks in the ice. Finally, it was starting to melt.

The green light was moving around under the ice. Suddenly it popped up out of one of the cracks. John and I both jumped. We still couldn’t tell what it was though. It hovered over the ice for a minute then darted straight towards us. It stopped about two feet from us and then shot towards the pear tree and just disappear into it.

*************

I felt dazed. Where was I?

John was laying on the floor of the kitchen next to me. He looked around and saw me.

“Well, that was interesting”, he said.

“Yes”, I said. “Here we are again”.

*************

A few days later, we went down to the pond and the ice had all melted. The pear tree, amazingly, had green shoots sprouting from the previously bare branches. It looked like it had grown a couple of feet in a few days too.

We sat on our deck admiring the tree and the view and my phone rang. It was the doctor’s office. That’s unusual, I thought. I was due to go back for my blood test results in a few days. Maybe they had to change my appointment.

It was Doctor Philips and he asked if John was with me, and if so, he suggested I put the phone on ‘speaker’, so he could talk to us both. I did as he said and with a sinking heart, I gripped John’s hand for support. Obviously, something was wrong with my blood test.

“Well,” he said. “I have the results back on your tests. It is good news, Sienna, you are about six weeks pregnant”. Between the relief at there being nothing wrong and the joy at the wonderful news, I was just stunned into silence.

That spring and summer was amazing. Our garden produced so much we were supplying half of the neighbourhood; we had more pears than we knew what to do with. Everything just thrived, including me.

At my three-month scan, we found out we were having twins. There had been no twins on either side of our family as far as anyone could remember.

I still don’t know what the green light was or what, if any, effect it had on us and our property, but I like to think it was some kind of ball of good energy, sent from the heavens, that zapped into our lives at just the right moment.

I sometimes feel it is still here. I can't see it anymore but I definitely feel it, especially, under the pear tree.