No. 7 Iceman

ONE FRAME SCENARIOS

7. The Iceman goeth

The galaxy named Boomerang has a temperature of 272 degrees below freezing. Only microbes can live there.

On one of its planets the microbes stay alive by dancing. They got the idea from a remote planet called earth.

Earthlings had developed a technique called sean-nós dancing. It was their way of keeping dry in a damp climate.

The microbes on Boomerang held a dancing competition. First prize was a trip to earth.

The winning microbe made his own way to earth. All he had to do was imagine himself there. In two seconds he landed on a partly-frozen lake in a place called Muiceanach-idir-dhá-shá¡ile.

The earth was in the middle of a mini-ice age. He found no sean-nós dancers. The mini-ice age had driven them away. He found a family of swans.

He noted their deft underwater footwork and thought they were dancers. In particular he noticed one beautiful cygnet. When her parents saw this they hissed him away.

From the edge of the lake he kept watch over the cygnet.

Ice age or not, the earth was still milder than that of Boomerang. The stranger's feet began melting. He could easily have imagined himself back to Boomerang and saved his life.

He could not leave the cygnet.

The cygnet saw him shrink until he was becoming part of the ice. She began to sing. Swans sing before they die.

When her family left for Norway, she stayed behind.

Gradually she froze.

The lovers are united in the ice of Muiceanach-idir-dhá-shá¡ile.