Bergfors Family Forces

       Drip. Drip. A tin-pan sound was drilling right into Jonne’s brain. What did those two calamities do this time? Quietly he put a knife and half-peeled potato aside and tiptoed from the kitchen to the living room. The sound grew louder there, and its source came into view, though at first Jonne didn’t get what it was. The twins, eight-year-old Johannes and Johanna, were definitely the cause but not the source. They were squatting and staring at something knee-high between them and an electric heater. Its indicator light was glowing orange. Then Johannes probably grew tired of squatting and plopped on his bottom, and Jonne recognised the object of their interest. It was a zinc bucket with a barbeque grill over it, and the grill held… some carrot-long, dark silvery items. Johanna leaned to breathe on them, and dripping got faster. And then it dawned on Jonne. It was icicles. Icicles from the attic window. Yesterday, when he was taking the twins home from after-school hours, they had pleaded, begged, and demanded him to buy ice cream, which was a taboo in winter. And he had said they’d get their ice cream after the icicles above the window of their attic room melt. That attic faced north, so the icicles were safe from occasional windless sunny days amidst winter till early April. Well, he underestimated the little rascals. He didn’t need to go upstairs to make sure that the blasted icicles were broken off. Unnoticed, Jonne slipped back to the kitchen and potatoes. Machinations or not, lunch wouldn’t get prepared by itself. and He needed to draft a contingency plan.       *** After eating up mashed potatoes with sausages and milk with oatmeal cookies, the evil twins demanded ice cream and presented a bucket with a tad bit of water as proof. “Okay,” Jonne smirked. “I will. Next time we go shopping. But I will also bring it home and leave on the working heater for an hour, like you did. Deal?” “No-o!” Of course, Johanna and Johannes started protests and called him names after that. Jonne gloated but made a mental note to use exact dates next time he promised anything.