The Last Winter Icicle

The lazy winter sun rose into the sky. It opened its arms and looked down at the small wooden house. There was a waterspout on the house and an icicle had just woken up on it.

“Good morning,” the icicle called out cheerfully when it opened its eyes.

The waterspout shook a little at the sound and whispered sleepily: “What’s going on? How did you get here?”

“I’m finally here! Weren’t you looking forward to seeing me?” the icicle asked, insulted, as it blinked in the morning sunlight.

“Well, I can see you're here,” said the waterspout, yawning, “but don’t you know winter is almost over? You came too late. And you’ve missed winter.”

“That can’t be true!” the icicle cried as it tried to dig deeper into the cold metal. “I’ve just arrived! Why didn’t you call me earlier? I was so looking forward to it!”

“You overslept, sleepyhead. You just overslept,” said the sun’s voice from the sky. “Today, I’m still a bit tired and don’t feel like shining. But tomorrow I’ll show you what proper heat is. Enjoy the last winter day!” And the sun grinned.

The worried icicle felt two drops run down its forehead. And now what? It’d been looking forward to the winter so much, and it slept in! And then it suddenly occurred to the icicle!

The icicle wasn’t gloomy anymore. It smiled, focusing all of the strength it had into its body, and began to grow. The more sunlight shone on it, the more it stretched.

“Look, mom! An icicle!” a child’s voice called, and then a snowball hit it. And then another. And another. Because of the children's laughter, no one could hear the icicle’s soft giggles.

It clung to the waterspout with all of its…