Frost Free

Story by: Ben Bowman

At Joe's Supermarket, the aisles overflowed with food. Truly, it was a melting pot of all cultures. In the same aisle, you could find Chinese, Mexican and Italian foods, sitting in harmony. Cans and boxes stood row on row, their labels facing out, proudly.

Near the entrance, an old cooler was filled with bags of ice. Shoppers headed to the cooler almost always had smiles on their faces. They were the hosts of parties, families headed to the beach, members of happy gatherings.

But it was a difficult life for the ice cubes within. Unlike the food stocking Joe's shelves, the ice was never fully appreciated. Each cube would be subjected to intense heat, melting away, little by little, until it was little more than a puddle. Then, it would likely suffer the indignity of being tossed into someone's backyard.

The cubes often envied the ice cream at Joe's. Ice cream didn't come wrapped in a flimsy plastic bag. It had shiny, colorful packaging. Though ice cream could melt, none of the shoppers would let that happen. And unlike the ice cubes, the ice cream would be savored - loved - before it vanished from existence.

Within the cooler, a cube sat atop his brothers in one of the newer bags of ice.

"It's not fair," he said. "Why doesn't anyone care about us the way they care about everything else in this place?"

An older cube lower in the bag spoke up. "It's not our place to be loved. Be cool. Do your job."

But the young cube sat there, seething as the day wore on. He didn't want to do his job. He wanted to live. He wanted to be appreciated.

Just before closing time, Joe's florist walked past the cooler with an armful of new arrivals. And the cube watched in awe as the florist gently placed a bouquet of lovely stems into a vase across the aisle.

The cube's gaze became fixed on a sunflower in the back. She radiated warmth and beauty not seen in Joe's Supermarket since Miss Pawtucket stopped by to cut the ribbon opening the store.

The cube held his breath, hoping no one would take that sunflower before the doors were locked.

Promptly at 10 p.m., Joe turned the key. The cube exhaled.

"I'm getting out of here," said the cube.

"Are you crazy?" shouted the old cube. "You'll melt! Without cooling anything! You can't do that!"

"I don't care."

With that, the young cube pushed his way out of the bag and threw himself against the cooler door until it opened just enough to let him out.

He fell to the ground with a horrible crash. It hurt, but he wasn't phased. His eyes were fixed on that sunflower.

Slowly, but surely, the cube slid his way toward her vase. With every inch, the heat seemed to increase. He was sweating, faster than he'd expected.

When he finally reached the floral case, he shouted upward. "Hey, Sunflower!"

She leaned forward. "Yes?"

"I saw you from the cooler and I wanted to introduce myself. I'm an ice cube."

"Nice to meet you," she said, her voice just as bright as her petals.

"Would you mind spending some time with me?" the cube asked, sweat
pouring down his forehead.

"Sure," she said. "I'd love to get some sun."

The ice cube gulped.

The flower jumped out of her vase and fell to the floor. "Let's go!"

The cube spent the next several hours sliding along with the sunflower, staying close to the refrigerated sections to keep cool. He sometimes became so stricken with her beauty, he forgot how fast he was melting.

At 6 o'clock, the ice cube and the sunflower finally made their way to
the roof. Darkness was breaking.

The flower smiled brightly as the sun rose. "It's beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yes," said the ice cube, looking straight at her.

"Oh!" she said. "You'll melt!"

"It doesn't matter," he said.

"Yes it does!" she said. "I don't want you to melt!"

The cube smiled. "I melted the moment I laid eyes on you."

Blinding sunlight burst from the horizon. The flower looked more
radiant than ever.

"I'm so sorry," said the sunflower. "I should have never brought you
into the light!"

But as her words entered the air, the ice had already melted.

And for the first time in the history of ice cubes, the end was beautiful.