Bestefar tells stories

I have a guest writer today, this will make it clear to everybody why I made my brother run home after he fell into the crick in Olympia:

I was about 10 years old or less. My older brothers did not want to go ice skating on the river with me. I was not "old enough yet" was the "excuse". So I decided to check out the ice for myself. I found that the ice at the shore was frozen onto the rocks and it was a little higher than the ice on the river, so I looked for a place where I could easily get onto the ice without jumping. Eventually I climbed onto a rock and sat down on its frozen icy surface and slid down to where the ice was level, then I stood up. I walked along the shore and felt quite comfortable. I was dressed in trousers, long wool underwear, heavy shoes, a wool sweater and mittens. The sky was clear and the temperature well below freezing, there was no wind but it was biting cold. I walked toward the other shore and knew that I should not try to cross the river, because the ice would be very thin in the area where the water was still flowing, which it was because... suddenly
the
ice
broke
under
my
feet
and
I
went
down!





I reached my arms out to the sides,and finally stopped falling when I had
water up to my armpits. I thought of the scolding I would get coming home all wet, and started kicking without realizing it. Then I hit something solid and got my chest onto thicker ice; I kept kicking until I managed to completely roll on to the surface of the frozen river. I crawled on all fours until I got to the shore I had started from, then I got onto my feet and ran in a straight line for home across the frozen fields. When I got home I quickly undressed and built a fire in the "Jøtul". My mother brought dry underwear and asked why I was so wet. "I just fell through the ice.", I answered nonchalantly, like it was a common thing to do, and there was no scolding. Just “what are you going to wear for school
tomorrow?”.

It took a long time before we got permission to skate on the river that year.

Takk far!