Laced Up Skates by C. Z., Palmer, MA

She laced her skates up tight and went out onto the ice-covered pond to join her waiting friends. They all laughed as one of them lay on the ice after a tumble. It was a cold night just like the other nights they went skating but the cold did not seem to bother them. There were many people skating and it was the usual crowd; hockey players at one corner and the other skaters drifting around the rest of the ice at a reasonable distance from the flying hockey puck.

This group of friends were inseparable but they knew that it would soon come to an end. They were all seniors and had gone through all the ups and downs of high school at each others' sides. At the end of this year they would go their separate ways, still not knowing where they would end up in the years to come. This winter they did as much as they could together; ice skating being one of their favorite activities.

The winter left as fast as it came and spring flowers that pushed their way through from their winter slumber were a joyful welcome. Graduation - the beginning of a new life for them and an end to another. They said their good-byes and the tears rushed down. They each promised that they would get together at least once every winter to skate if that was all they could fit into their soon-to-become busy lives.

The years raced by and no skates were laced up. They each tried to remember their promise but it was soon forgotten as each winter passed by. Until one winter many years later when a phone call was made like many before, but this one with a message, "Find your skates. We're going skating!" They all met at the pond where they once skated the winter away. They all sat on the bench where they used to lace up their skates as fast as they could and dart out onto the ice.

This year was different; they laced up their children's skates before their own and watched them race out onto the ice and fall down one after another. As they watched their children skate, the memories flowed and the tears ran down their cheeks. "Why did we wait so long?" raced through all their minds. But soon those tears dried and laughter took over while watching each other fall with their children on the ice-covered pond.