“We’re going into town.”

Edward looked up at the sound of his wife’s voice. Her expression was strained, and her voice was too. His eyes flicked to the little boy who had been running circles around the cabin’s common room for hours. His toy aeroplane had crashed four times, and there had been three rescue missions. The fourth crash had been in the middle of a frozen lake, and there had been no survivors. He wasn’t sure how his son had managed to haul in a frozen bird bath to serve as a frozen pond, but the puddles of water on the floor told him everything he needed to know.

He carefully noted the page number before setting down his well-worn copy of The Odyssey and cleared his throat, “I’ll take the birdbath outside. Jeffrey, help your mother clean up all this water. When it’s clean and dry in here, we’ll go down to the pond.”

The inspiration for the frozen lake/birdbath, the pond was a two mile trek through the forest. Adding snowshoes to that expedition should wear the boy out, and give Cassie a much-needed break. Jeffrey’s eyes went wide with excitement, “The pond! Yippee!” He ran to the kitchen, presumably for rags.

Cassie caught his hand in hers, “Thank you.”

He couldn’t help but smile, “You’re welcome. Maybe tonight we can go into North Hatley for dinner.”

“That would be very nice.”

Jeffrey ran into the room, holding a bundle of dish towels. Edward carefully picked up the bird bath, and carried it outside. He stopped for a smoke on the porch before going back in.

The first snow of the year had revealed an unexpected weakness in the living room skylight of their home, and it had seemed like the perfect idea to come up to his cabin for Jeffrey’s winter break while workers made their home a little less full of winter magic. Now, he wasn’t so sure. With only one bedroom, one common room, and a rustic kitchen, there wasn’t much space for Jeffrey to burn energy. And at 8 years old, he was much too young to be allowed outside too far from the house.

He went back inside to find Cassie and Jeffrey finishing the cleaning. Edward helped his son put on snowshoes while seated in one of the chairs on the porch, then he put on his own while the boy wandered. Not to far. The nearby howling of wolves last night had made Jeffrey wary of his surroundings.

He and Jeffrey made their way through the woods in record time. Jeffrey loved the pond. He loved the idea that he could walk across it so easily, and he loved the thought that there were fish under all that ice, hibernating. Although Virginia had lots of ice and snow, this area was so pristine and unpeopled that seemed extra special to the boy. And to his father.

After investigating the pond’s edges, and its middle, several times, Edward looked up at the sky, “I think we’d better get back.”

Jeffrey looked up at the sun, imitating his father. They first day he’d been here, he’d realized how much earlier the sun set, and how much darker it was when it did. “We’d better get back.”

Edward watched his son walk alongside him on the way back. Cassie would be happy - the boy looked tired. Suddenly, a sound made them both stop. They looked around, but Edward spotted it first. He slowly knelt beside his son and whispered, “Don’t move.”

Jeffrey followed his gaze, and his eyes widened. Edward was impressed - his son didn’t panic. He did reach for his father’s hand, and Edward allowed the boy to grasp tightly. They watched the great white bear lumber past, not 50 feet away. Jeffrey started to walk forward, but Edward shook his head, holding him tight to the spot where they stood.

They waited. The sun set, but he wasn’t convinced the bear was gone. Finally, he looked around, and spoke quietly, “We’re going to walk home as quickly as we can. Okay?”

“Okay.” The sky was bright with the light of an almost full moon, but that was over the trees. Not much of that light filtered down to them, but they made it back in record time.

Inside, Jeffrey told his mother excitedly about the polar bear they’d seen. Edward inhaled the warm scent of something cooking in the oven, “Did you make dinner, Cassie?”

She watched him unlacing Jeffrey’s snowshoes, “I did. I wasn't sure when you two would be back. And the radio says there’s a storm coming in. I didn’t want to be on the road.”

He looked up at her, “So what are we having?”

“Baked potatoes with chili. Something warm for my two frozen men.”

Step 1. Serve
Step 2. Resist from Within