Discovering Ice I had intended to make this an entry in the first and last categories, but my perennial problem is writing anything that succinct.  So into the 1000-words it goes. (LOL!  And it was hard work getting it into that too :-)

It's M/m, and see Winks, I toldya it could be done :-)

Enjoy
love
domino

Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice…

For all of the 8 years of his life, Aureliano lived in Buenos Aires. He had never seen ice, except in his imagination, listening to his father's stories of explorations on the Patagonian ice-field.

"One day," his father promised, "I will take you to discover ice."

And now was the time.  First was the long journey by train, bus and donkey to San-Carlos-de-Bariloche, the excitement of meeting grandparents aunts cousins for the first time.  Then the thrill of the fishing expedition to Lake Guttierrez.

They wrapped up well - layers of clothing to protect against the freezing weather.  Rel knew what the sea looked like, moving water and balmy breezes.  Nothing had prepared him for this silent, chilled sheet of ice.  He had not expected to walk on water, even if it was frozen.

The men began breaking the ice - forcing their way into the water, where they settled on stools to catch their fish.  His cousins, as boys will, slid around on the ice, laughing, ignoring the warning to stay close by the men.

The uncles, and Father, huddled around their hole in the ice paid no attention to the boys. The cousins, no strangers to this environment slid around the edge of the lake.  Relio, not knowing better,  not hearing his cousins calling him, transported into this new frozen world, struck out towards the far shore.

The creaking sound of an old, old door opening, in this place where there were no doors, slowly penetrated the boy's consciousness.  As the eerie sound enveloped him, it grew louder, until it was echoing around the lake.  In a panic the boy turned to reach the safety of his father.

He could see the uncles and cousins, waving and calling to him, and he began to make his way to them as fast as he could, but still the awful creaking.

As fast as the boy slid towards the adults, they were heading gingerly out towards him.  They had fanned out into a semi-circle, and Tio Ernesto was frantically unwinding a length of rope from around his waist.  With the skill learnt in his youthful gaucho days, he threw an end of the rope.  "Quick," he cried, "Relio, grab it"

The boy, more through his uncle's accuracy than anything, grasped at the rope as an end of it fell across his shoulder, gasping at the weight and sting of it. Not a second too soon, did the rope land, for even as Aureliano clutched at it, the creaking and groaning of the ice gave way to a gun-shot crack, as the ice finally gave way.

The cold of the water was stunning.  Unable to catch his breath, or cry out, only knowing that his one lifeline was the rope in his freezing hands, the boy tried vainly to leap forward.

His father, one hand on the rope, flung himself flat and slid across the ice to the hole where his son fought for his life.  With no thought to his own safety, Senor Buendia plunged his arms into the freezing water, grasping his son and dragging him back onto the ice.

The uncles, taking their cue from him, pulled with a will on the rope, dragging father and son back to the hard, safe ice.  The cousins were back on shore, building a fire as best they could, and having reached the men, clothes were being stripped off Aureliano, until he was as bare as the day he was born.

They carried him along, to the warmth of the fire, and at first he did not feel the slaps.  They all slapped him, every part of his body, to bring the warmth and life back into him. As they reached the fire, Tio Miguel rummaged in his backpack for a poncho to wrap the boy in, and as feeling came back into his limbs, his father, who had until now been hugging him close, sat down.

"If you are born to be hanged, you will never drown, my son," he said, moving the child so that he was now across his lap.  He scolded, with tears running down his face, thanking the good god for saving his oldest son, and with every word, he slapped and smacked the boy, making sure that a fire was lit in his backside the like of which he had never experienced before.

Aureliano too wept, both from the pain, and from the knowledge that he had nearly died, and still his father chastised him, until they could both bear it no longer and raising his precious son to enfold him in his arms, together they wept.

He had learnt many lessons that day, not least that he seemed to have the gift of a charmed life.  Since then he had been in more tight situations than any man should, and always had managed a miraculous escape.

With a wry smile, he thought "Ah Father, you got it wrong… I may not have drowned but I am not to hang either."

But so many years later, as he faced the firing squad, remembering that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice, as the ragamuffin squad were haphazardly and languidly getting themselves organised, Colonel Aureliano Buendia could hear, getting louder and louder, the shots and explosions which told him that his counter-revolutionary freedom fighters had miraculously come to his rescue

References/Research :
www.liveleak.com/view?i=520_1187802477 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Hundred_Years_of_Solitude chezphil.org/rtw/Argentina.html www.wordtravels.com/Travelguide/Countries/Argentina/Climate/ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ushuaia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Fuegian_Railway www.enjoy-argentina.org/argentina-pictures/english/album_lagos-de-argentina_1.php en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guti%C3%A9rrez_Lake
www.enjoy-patagonia.org/bariloche-destinations-bariloche-gutierrez-lake.php