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The Snowman Who Would Not Melt
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Dennyk
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Synopsis
This is a story about an artistic young woman living in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, USA.
She decided to play a trick on her unfriendly neighbours by building a snowman that would not melt.
On a day in March, after a heavy snowstorm, the sun came out and warmed up the snow enough for Sheila to build a snowman.
First, she made a snowball and rolled it slowly across her lawn in a criss-cross pattern so that it could grow into a giant round ball made up of layers of fresh snow.
She rolled up two more balls of snow; a medium one for the body and a small one for the head.
She rolled the large ball in front of her house and did the same for the medium one before lifting it to place it on top. She then placed the small one on top of both to serve as the head.
She got some coal pieces for his eyes, mouth and buttons; a carrot for his nose; a hat and scarf; and 2 tree branches for his arms.
It was cold by the evening, and the snowman was frozen solid.
The next day, the snowploughs came through and cleared her street; she went out and shovelled her driveway.
It remained cold for several more days and many people with their children would stop their cars to see the smiling snowman.
Her nasty neighbours would also often sneak a peek at the attraction it created in the neighbourhood and get jealous.
Secretly, inside her house, this artistic woman, Sheila, had built a replica of the snowman.
She fabricated 3 metal balls of the same sizes as those used for the snowman.
She covered the balls together with a heavy, waterproof fabric and sewed it around.
She carefully punched small holes for his eyes, nose, and mouth in the head-sized ball and holes for his arms in the body-sized ball.
Next, she mixed up a batch of customised, white, outdoor paint that looked exactly like snow.
She applied several coats of this thick, white paint to make it appear like snow.
That evening, while her snowman's paint was drying, she went outside and removed the body parts from the real snowman, including the branches for his arms, the carrot for his nose, and the coal pieces for his eyes.
She then knocked down the snowman and broke up the packed balls of snow by stomping up and down on them.
She went back in and welded the medium and the large metal balls for the replica snowman together and rolled them outside as they were too heavy for her to lift.
She blocked the largest ball to the ground with stones so it would not move in the high winds of Wisconsin.
She stuck the arms outwards in the upper part of the body ball and went back inside.
She attached the head ball to the body and inserted the carrot in the hole in the middle of the head and glued it in place; she also fixed the coal pieces for his eyes and mouth.
This all resulted in a complete replica snowman, and she was pleased with her work.
The next day was April Fool's Day.
The sun came out and the snow began to melt; the weather stayed warm for several days until all of the snow was melted.
However, her snowman did not melt.
She had a picket fence around her property so no one could enter onto her lawn.
She posted a sign on it that read, 'Beware of the Dog.'
Then she went to the dog rescue centre and adopted a stray dog, whom she named "Roisin."
Sheila's neighbours came out of their houses and walked on the side-walk by her house. They were amazed to see the snowman still standing tall and refusing to melt.
The townspeople noticed that the snowman was still in her yard and many started to drive by and stop with their children to wave at the snowman.
They remembered seeing this same snowman back when there was snow on the ground.
They were amazed that he wasn't showing any sign of melting in the warmer weather.
The nasty neighbours grew weary of all the attention their next-door neighbour was receiving and decided to move away.
A nice young man purchased their house and Sheila was very happy as her trickery to get nice neighbours had finally paid off.
Then on Memorial Day evening, Roisin went outside to pee on the base of the snowman, his favourite place to do this, and he dislodged the stones.
The snowman fell over on his side and rolled and crashed against the fence.
Sheila heard the noise and came running out of the house, wondering if Roisin had been injured.
Then, a miracle followed.
The snowman was transformed into a human and was alive.
He had a bump on his head, but the tall black hat cushioned the blow against the fence.
His face still had a carrot nose but his coal eyes and mouth had transformed into a human one.
He now had eyes, nose, and mouth and also developed ears.
According to him, his name was 'Fritz,' born in 1868, and he had a famous dancing son named 'Fred.'
He vanished suddenly after giving them this information.
There was nothing left of the snowman except for his red scarf.
Sheila took it back into the house as a memento.
When she looked at the scarf in the light, she noticed it was decorated with snowflakes and this made her cry.
The next few days, when the townspeople came by Sheila's home to view the snowman, they saw that there was nothing there and believed that he had finally melted.
Roisin continued to go outside and do his dog's mess on top of the stones where his friend, the snowman, had once stood.
The End
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