by Chris McGinty
The snowman knew this was unfair. The temperature was well below freezing still; but sometimes, even though this wasn’t backed up by science, the sun was just hotter. He needed to get somewhere cold.
His first thought was to try to find a good amount of shade under a copse somewhere, but being built in Texas, in the city, he wasn’t going to find that many trees in time. He supposed he could get in a bus destined for New York, but aside from panicking the bus driver by trying to board without a ticket, they tend to climatize transportation to keep the humans inside comfortable.
He walked, sweating, which would be the equivalent of a human walking while bleeding out. Then he saw it. It was a truck for frozen chicken and the rear door was open. He had to be careful not to be seen, humans hated stowaways. He managed to get through the gate by throwing a snowball in the guard’s face. He expected chase after that, but the guard just stared after him like he’d never seen a snowman before. Lazy security guards. He got into the truck and it was tense for a little while until they finally closed the door and were on their way. Everything was going to be alright. The shipment was going to a cold part of the country, and he could find some other snow people to live amongst.
It was barely an hour or two into the trip when disaster struck. The refrigeration broke in the trailer. The driver was unaware, and who knew if there was a scheduled check. It took a few hours, but the rise in temperature was soon apparent. It was hard to say what was worse, feeling his body drip away or the smell of the chicken thawing.
He was all but depleted by the time they opened the back to check the merchandise. Even if they were to get the refrigeration going again, there wasn’t enough of him left to make his escape. The humans were more worried about the food anyway; and unfortunately, getting into a snowball fight while they waited for a technician…
Chris McGinty is a flash fiction writer who may need to go talk to someone to see if he has a deep seated hatred towards snowmen.