Zach shut the door and stared at the pictures stuck haphazardly to the fridge He saw a scattered timeline of his life An old picture of Zach missing his two front teeth from the Boy Scout trip where he had first learned how to fish A wrinkled copy of Zach’s freshman year football picture A shot of him sitting behind the wheel of the old tan family car right after he had gotten his driver’s license A picture of him in the dorky uniform he wore to his first job All of these achievements had been followed quickly by a father-son trip up to the cabin to celebrate with a weekend of fishing They had planned this ice-fishing trip as soon as Zach got his college acceptance letter It was supposed to be a last hurrah before Zach went away to college next year He wouldn’t have been surprised if his dad brought up a copy of the acceptance letter to stick on the fridge next to the picture with his childish toothless smile Nothing had ever stopped them from celebrating with a fishing trip so when 3
his dad had called and said the weather forecasters predicted a blizzard Zach insisted they go on the trip as planned They had been there in storms before Why should this one be a big deal There was a scratch on the cabin door I’m coming I’m coming Zach opened the door and shivered as the cold hit him Normally he sweated through anything more than a t-shirt but this storm was brutal He was glad that he had put on a second pair of pants He thought briefly about going out to the car to grab the spare sweatshirt he kept in the trunk but decided he’d just wait until his dad showed up Skye Zach’s dog bounded past him into the cabin Her fur was covered in a layer of snow She sneezed and shook out her fur the same way she shook off after having a bath Snow sprinkled all over the entry to the cabin She nudged his hands Her wet snowy fur was freezing against his already numb fingers 4
Skye you look more like a white husky than a golden retriever Zach said as he dodged the spray Skye had loved coming up to the cabin ever since she was a puppy She loved being outdoors and riding on the boat with them His dad had said that since Skye was getting older maybe she should sit this trip out But as Zach was loading up the car with his fishing supplies Skye hopped into the back seat He took it as a sign that he should bring her I hope Dad gets here soon Zach thought aloud What was taking him so long The cabin was lonely without all three of them there together Zach was glad he had brought Skye along Zach shivered He thought he had turned the heat on as soon as he got to the cabin but it didn’t seem any warmer than when he arrived He crossed the cabin and knelt down to check the knob next to the baseboard He rapped his knuckles on the metal The whole unit was ice cold He turned the knob but 5
there was no satisfying hiiisssssss telling him the heat had been adjusted or even turned on He knocked his fist against the side of the heater The heater started clanking but didn’t seem to be heating up Skye wandered over and stood over Zach’s shoulder breathing warm air into his ear Zach laughed Skye you need a mint He held his hands over the heater vent Still nothing He stood up and looked around the room The old cabin had electrical heaters running along the baseboards The small space had a combined living room and kitchen that held an outdated stove and a refrigerator with a broken handle Everything inside the cabin was old and breaking down including the heater Zach’s dad had often made small adjustments in the heater to get things going again Maybe it just needed some tightening up Zach grabbed the toolbox they kept by the cabin door and lugged it over to the heater He dug through it until he felt the flathead 6
