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  Bitterly Cold

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Just before I went upstairs to my bedroom I checked to see whether the old kitchen range was banked up with coal to last the night. I blew out the welcoming candle in my front room window and switched off various electric lights in the downstairs rooms. Making sure that the front and back door were locked and bolted I made my way upstairs to my bedroom. For some reason or other the bedroom felt very cold. It was a coldness that I could feel. I am not a nervous person and shrugged my shoulders got undressed and put on my pyjamas. I got quickly into my bed and waited for my body to warm up the bedclothes.

I could not get warm; the bedroom was like an ice cellar. Getting from my cold bed I put my dressing gown around my shoulders and made my way down to the kitchen. Opening the dampers on the old kitchen range I soon had a warm fire burning. I made myself comfortable in my old armchair and managed to drop off into a light sleep. The coldness was now in my kitchen and I awoke and quickly placed more coal onto the old kitchen range. Pulling my old armchair closer to the range. It was no good the cold was getting worse and I decided to dress myself in my day clothing including my thick warm overcoat my scarf and a thick warm pair of gloves

As soon as it was light enough I opened the back door and went into the garden. I got quite a shock the top of my house was covered in ice that before my eyes slowly made its way down to the ground floor. Just looking at the ice made me shudder and I was thinking of going to the Fairy Queen Feeanna for help. Suddenly my old friend Shamus appeared in my back garden. We exchanged greetings and Shamus asked me where all of the ice is coming from. Shamus knew that my house and garden are protected by Her Majesty Queen Feeanna’s magic. We stood for a while watching the ice getting thicker and thicker it was now down to the ground floor windows. Soon I would not be able to get into the house at all for ice.

Shamus spoke a few words in the Irish language to his shillelagh. The shillelagh attacked the ice but it was hopeless the shillelagh made no impact on the ice at all. Then a bright blue flash and Her Majesty stood before Shamus and myself. Who is using magic in my protected garden and house? Shamus and I pointed to the thick coating of ice. Her Majesty stared hard and long at the ice. This is the work of Jack Frost only he could make such ice coverings without using water. Queen Feeanna put in a call to Mother Nature.

 Soon Mother Nature arrived. The Queen and Mother Nature agreed that this could only be the work of Jack Frost.

Mother Nature smiled and soon the Sun was shining it became a very hot day. For the first time in hours I began to feel a little warmer. As the Sun rose, its heat slowly melted the ice. Soon there was water running down the walls. Mother Nature and Queen Feeanna spoke to each other for a while. Shamus and I with the help of Shamus’s shillelagh made small channels to drain the water out into my garden. It took six hours to free the house from ice. In the meantime Mother Nature and the Fairy Queen decided how to punish Jack Frost.

A noise worse than heavy thunder and suddenly Jack Frost was standing a few feet away from Mother Nature and Queen Feeanna. Both Ladies looked him over and Mother Nature asked why he had picked the house protected by Queen Feeanna to cause me so much discomfort and trouble. Jack Frost laughed out loud. “He never writes about me in his stories and I knowing that his house is protected did the only thing I know how to do well, I froze in his house knowing that you Mother Nature and Her Majesty Queen Feeanna would quickly come to his rescue. Then he would have enough material to write about me Jack Frost that only gets mentioned when I freeze the countries such as Russia and the Arctic and the Antarctic. During spring and summer, even autumn no one mentions Jack Frost. It is not fair.

“Jack Frost,” Her Majesty was very angry. “Mother Nature and I have decided that for this year in winter you will not be allowed to have your fun by freezing in huge territories of land it will be a very mild winter. If Mr. Shaw does decide to write about you that is his business we have no say in what he writes; he is an independent Human Being. I decided to Humour Jack Frost and have written this little story. My house has never been frozen again. Bern.