The Ice Box

Only a select few braved a chilled New York City on a day like that. These New Yorkers came in two hours earlier to beat the normal in and out crowd, and felt it was well worth it. This was a special breed of worker, who would not call themselves workers, they would say producers, entrepreneurs, innovators, or game changers. What they labored for would change humanity and that alone made them stand above the rest.

The BeTogether building was the premiere co-working space in New York. Offices were various sizes. Oversized colorful portraits lined the walls. A huge color portrait of Jean- Michel Basquiat, an obvious photo lifted off the internet, hung on the south wall of the elevator bank, where there were four elevators. Along with the kitchen, bathroom and hang out nooks, the elevator was one of the shared spaces.

This was the time of the pandemic, and social distancing caused social dilemmas. Only four were allowed in an elevator at a time. Ten very sophisticated people lingered spatially in the elevator bank, not too close but close enough to be one of the four to get in. They waited for the one up arrow elevator car slowly ascending.

Everyone wanted to appear chill. This co-working space prided itself on promoting the new social values. They worked together on their own thing knowing that eventually all came together for the common good. People at BeTogether felt tapped in. They believed in the ability to ride the wave of the current economy and redirect the flow of funds from the old guard to the new generation, that had new inclusive values.

The elevator bell sounded. The door opened. Sook got in first.

Sook had created a mental health startup. He had long black shoulder-length hair rolled into a bun on the top of his head with tendrils and shaved sides. The tattoo on his neck was that of a seductive monarch butterfly. The amber wings made girls fall in love with his black marble eyes. He wore charcoal denim jeans, a white long sleeved thermal sweater, and black combat-like boots. In his grey laptop backpack he carried few possessions. He liked to travel on a whim, and had friends from all over the world. He consistently dated three or four girls at once who got into terrible fights once they found out about each other.

Sook was ready. He had a shuffle and a slight build that made his body multidimensional. He slid his shoulders in first and passed by two people whom he had come after. They did not even sense him. They looked up and he was inside the elevator.

Chantelle got in second. She had created a food delivery startup. She looked sleek in a grey jumpsuit, grey knee-high boots, and hair in a twisted bun with gold leaf ornamentation around it and a tan messenger bag. Her gold stem earrings, smokey eye makeup, plum lipstick, and plum nail polish told people she was well put together.

She looked everyone in the eye and smiled as best as she could with a mask on. She earned it. She belonged here in this elevator just like everyone else. Her husband’s band was about to go on tour, and they had just bought a brownstone in Harlem.

Chantelle maneuvered her way into the elevator. She had stood to the side of the elevator car door but in front, refusing to be a discourteous door blocker but ready to slide into the elevator by hugging her back to the open door.

Manuel got in third. He had created a not-for-profit that connected children to classical music. He was a physically fit concert pianist, who was determined to use his music to educate the youth. Shows for his ten-month international tour had sold out at medium sized concert venues of 1000 to 3000 seats. In terms of the entertainment industry, he was in the top one percent. No one he knew had ever been this successful and in music at that. His wife stood by him, his two sons were very proud of him.

Manuel stood far back enough to let people out, but close enough up front to let people know he was there first, and would be getting in. Anyone who cared to join him was more than welcome.

Willow was the last to get in. She had created a consignment startup. She sent a signal to the world dressed in navy blue espadrilles, navy blue maxi wrap dress, a mock turtleneck, and a long oatmeal colored sweater. It was risky to wear this outfit at this time of year, but she wore it as a status symbol for those whom the change of weather did not affect. She simply did not feel the cold or warmth as other people did. She could hop in a cab and go the distance without regard for the fare. She always looked like she was hopping onto a plane into first class, going to wherever the climate suited her choice of clothing.

Willow had the intention to get in and just knew that she would. She was small and unassuming, classic passive aggressive type personality, according to all of the mental coding tests she had taken ten years ago.

The four of them shared the elevator. Another man almost got in with them. His head was down and when he picked it up to glance inside of the elevator car, the four angry faces commanded him to say, I’ll take the next one, and so he did.

Just as soon as they got in, the elevator got stuck and no one’s cell phone worked. They called out at first. After two hours they stopped yelling and decided to wait. They knew someone would come for them soon. After a brief round of introductions and some tricky coordinating to empty the morning coffee from their bowels, they decided to entertain themselves by telling horror stories.

Manuel told his first.

It was a beautiful day possessed by a sky lined with silver clouds. Jay walked home across the frozen pond whose trail was lined with Winterberries. As he walked, he saw slender human hands dancing under the ice, attached to the shapely body of a mermaid. In a trance he followed it as it danced. He slipped, fell, and laughed. With his cheek on the ice, he tapped on it to get the mermaid’s attention. Nothing there. He waited, tapped again. It appeared, a human head with three wide blowfish eyes, lizard tongue and wolf teeth. He was horrified.

It was a demon sent from Hell. He ran. It followed. He heard a crack in the ice. He screamed then turned around. The hand was reaching out of the ice. He ran, looked back. The snake-like body slithered towards him. His feet slipped and slid. The demon gave chase. The ice cracked under his feet. He fell in but was near the edge. He grabbed a branch of a Winterberry bush and pulled himself up. Terrified, he ran back to the train station. The next day he came back with the forest rangers. No footprints in the snow. No breaks in the ice.

“I know what I saw,” he said.

“Maybe it was someone playing a prank,” the rangers said.

The eyes of the demon embedded in the ice, watched them as they walked away.

The other three agreed, this was an excellent story.

Chantelle told hers next.

Tandy stood at the edge of the frozen pond admiring the ruby stone ring she inherited from her grandmother. They would walk around the pond together. Three trips to cure the hips, her Nana would say. The worst of the winter was over, but it still felt bad for Tandy. Blue Spruces and Pine trees filled the forest but could not penetrate her heart, there was too much missing in her life now. She looked at a fallen pinecone and bent down to pick up but changed her mind. She began her lonely walk. Could she make it around three times without breaking down, she was not sure.

One last time and that would be three. She looked for the pinecone that had become her marker. She noticed that it was frozen in the ice pond, then saw the Pine bush she was sitting under frozen beneath the surface. The pond had grown. The ground beneath her feet trembled, sounding like crackling glass. Ice moved like groping fingers digging into the land. Everything in its path turned to ice, bark crystallized, and leaves turned into ice sculptures. She ran from the pond. It ran after her. She could not keep her breath. The ice was a hungry and unforgiving hunter. Tandy looked ahead but could see nothing. Her home seemed a thousand miles away. She called for her Nana.

A centennial drone flew over the town of Hastage. Commissioned to photograph the relics of the New Ice Age, it flew over the new Artic Poles of Northern America. In one of those photos, the skeletal remains of a young woman with the clear imagine of a finger wearing a ruby stone ring was seen beneath the ice.

The other three agreed, this was an excellent story.

Willow was the third to tell hers.

Sarah and Sam Tymsin decided that divorce was for adults. The sister and brother were happy teens who wanted to enjoy life. This winter they ice skated on the frozen pond every Saturday night at nine-thirty pm. Nude trees posed like a sketcher’s model, as the moon’s glow reflected on the ice surface. Sam did a double axel into a figure eight as Sarah did a series of spins; upright, to a sit spin into a camel. Suddenly a storm came in like a frightened cat. Low brush and trees blew wildly in the hail and wind. Thunder frighteningly dared them. Lightning bullied them in a deadly game of tag.

Frustrated by their speed, the lightning cracked the ice. Sarah fell in first. Sam heard her cry and turned back to pull her out. He lay on his belly on a slither of ice and threw his arms in, rummaging through the water. He searched for her. Cold kicked him. He called for her. Finally, he felt her hands, grabbed for them, but he slid off the slither of ice into her arms. They tried to pull themselves up. Each time they reached the surface, lightning struck down at the sight of their faces, starting a new game, hide and seek. The ice closed up around them. Trapped beneath the ice, they clung to each other, the best friends, and siblings.

At the funeral their mother sobbed, and their father looked to the heavens.

“Why?” They cried.

The other three agreed, this was an excellent story.

And then Sook told his.

There is a box. On the four walls of this box are painted pictures of four figures. Each figure represents a different element: sun, water, wind, and love. The box is undiscovered so the world cannot cherish the gift inside. It sits and sits for centuries, waiting to be discovered. One day it will be discovered, and the world will ask, why didn’t we discover this before? This box when revealed to the world will unlock the cold hearts, that are hardened more than a frozen pond and will restore the love of humanity.

The other three were speechless.

Everything went dark, and the passage of time was innumerable.

Suddenly a sound. People were excavating the old city. The clunking sound of heavy artillery was followed by the light persistent buzz of drones and lasers. The noise stops, a revelation.

“Why did you stop?” A voice said.

“We’ve found something,” another said.

“What?”

“A box, with four figures inside.”