Icebreaker

On a cold cloudy afternoon Tommy had awoken to a snowy wonderland waiting for him outside. The winters in Wisconsin can be pretty brutal. His mother had fed and milked the cows before sunrise. Tommy gets away with sleeping in from time to time. For a single mother you have to pick your battles with teenage boys. Early mornings are at 5am and spent helping his father with chores on the farm. Everyone pitched in. But, all that changed since the Great War began. Tommy became the man of the house very quickly, attending to most of the physical labor and anything that needed fixing and mainly being extra hands for his Mother. Today was special, for his birthday, Tommy gets to be a fourteen year old boy. With life on the farm there’s really never a true day off. He’s lucky to have such a mom who looks out for him and teaches him that sometimes growing up too fast can make you forget how to enjoy being a kid.

Life hasn’t been the same since his father left for Germany 3 years ago. One thing father and son used to do was grab a pair of skates and head to the pond. Located in the back yard not too far from where Mary could enjoy watching them both skate while she would be busy preparing hot cocoa for them with fresh milk from the cows. She enjoys the pond herself, but she prefers swimming over skating any day! For the most part she’d rather sit back and watch as her two favorite men share such precious moments together, for a mother it’s not too long till your children grow up and leave the nest.

Tommy grabs his skates from the hook by the back door, kisses his Mother on the cheek and heads towards the frozen water awaiting him. After tying his laces he looks at a picture of his father from his pocket for a moment then sticks it back in rather quickly as he feels a rush of sadness flooding his body. Stepping onto the ice every memory floods his mind. Losing himself at the moment just gliding in circles around the pond. Moments pass and without realizing it, a black car suddenly comes up the driveway, two men in uniform make their way to the porch on the side of the house where they meet Mary with news of her husband. Some words are exchanged that leave her hiding her face in the palms of her hands. She looks up at Tommy just happily skating as he would any other time. The two men then leave and Mary moves to sit on the porch swing just watching her boy skate. Wondering how she will break the news to her boy on top of processing the news, leaves her terrified. She will have to break it to him eventually, but on his birthday? Many challenges have been placed upon them both for the past three years. Finding the money to keep their farm operating was one of the biggest challenges they overcame and they did it together as she thinks to herself. They can get through anything. She tries to hold it together. Watching Tommy skate is easy too. It’s easy to let problems float away even for a second while inside she is screaming, this nothing that prepares anyone for the death of a spouse. After her husband was drafted it was an adjustment as well, but this was a million times worse. This time for sure he was never coming back. Many questions racing through her head and why he had not written to the family over Christmas. But, not today, today she is going to let Tommy have his moment and enjoy his birthday.