MELTING

Harold Stone (Wild Bill Stone) is ready to make the trip he has always wanted. From Anchorage, Alaska, where she lives, to Keflavik, Iceland, visit her sister, whom she has not seen for ten years, in her two-seat single-engine airplane. The autonomy of flight of the airplane is of 1200 kilometers in the cruising speed of 300 km / h. Then he will have to make five stopovers to reach Keflavik 5,234 kilometers from Anchorage.

Harold is physically resembling the legendary Wild Bill Hickok and also enjoys playing poker, just as a hobby, hence the nickname Wild Bill; but it is not wild. He adores and is adored by the family: Frank, his son; Marie, your daughter-in-law; Suzy, 10, his granddaughter and Roy, 8, his grandson.

Suzy and Roy also love their grandfather and would love to take part in the trip, but they can not miss classes for so long and there is also no place for both of them on the small plane.

When they leave, Suzy and Roy are very sad. Wild Bill embraces them and comforts them:

_Little Princess, I promise that when we return we will make a sled trip to Spenard. My Boy, you're the one who's going to drive, huh! So, get ready. Keep the Huskies trained.

Wild Bill Stone hugs everyone, one by one; a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek. Stroke each of your six Huskies. He gave them Russian names according to the personality of each one. The males: Sasha, defender; Arman, protector; Rahil, little lamb; Leo, lion. The females: Irina, peace; Ninochka, funny.

Wipes the tears with the backs of his fingers, enters the plane, waves with his hand and takes off. He will make contact with family members at the end of each scale. The penultimate scale will be in Nuuk, capital of Greenland. From Nuuk you will cross the south of Greenland and arrive at Keflavik.

Each scale has the time of 4 hours. Wild Bill was scheduled to do two stops a day; overnight stay on the second stop, and the following morning would follow the trip. With that, he would arrive in Keflavik on the afternoon of the third day, if there were no setbacks.

On the morning of the third day he awoke in Nuuk. Everything had gone as expected. He called the family, commented the arrival in Nuuk, the stay and the beauty of the city. He said goodbye with kisses and hugs and told them he would take off in thirty minutes; would reach Keflavik at approximately 2 pm local time.

Wild Bill took off and in a short time he did not see the houses of the city. All she could see was an immense white sheet that stretched in all directions. It's your world. He was born and always lived in this environment of perpetual snow. He loves to ride a sleigh pulled by the best Huskies in the world (his Huskies, of course), skiing on the mountain slopes, skating on frozen lakes and simply enjoying the snow falling smoothly. He thought, amusingly, that it should be called Wild Bill Snow and not Stone.

Suddenly the plane blew out: an electric cord. But at Nuuk airport he had gone through a review and the technicians ensured he was in top condition. He hit the key several times, but no signal. I should have dropped some wire.

The plane slid smoothly to the snow sheet. On impact, the plane was partially covered by snow. Wild Bill was left unscathed, with no scratches. This was of little use, considering that he would die frozen if he were not rescued in a short time.

Decided to check the device. If he discovered the defect could use the radio and communicate with the nearest base. The plane was hopelessly lost; even if he fixed the fault, he would not be able to fly. He removed the snow, bad and bad, from the front of the plane, opened the lid as far as he could, and searched for some loose wire or something that had caused the crash. He reviewed everything and discovered nothing according to his technical knowledge, which is not many.

All he had left now was to wait for some plane to pass by and rescue him. As he informed his relatives that he would arrive in Keflavik at 2:00 p.m., it would be only on the evening of that day that he would be missed. Then the searches would only begin the next morning.

Wild Bill survived hunger and cold for 40 days. Water he could get with the snow melting in his mouth. If there were searches for his search he did not know, nor could know. But surely there was and did not find him.

In those 40 days of useless waiting, he made snowmen of all his loved ones, including his Huskies. In moments of longing, which were constant, he sat among them and talked to each one.

He died sitting next to the snowmen; two tears that ran from her eyes remained frozen at the side of her nose.

But the story of Wild Bill does not end here.

Wild Bill's soul, as it sublimed from his body, noticed that there was someone there at his side. She was a beautiful, white woman, who was confused with the snow white. Her long, rounded dress had a diameter of 3 meters and was totally white with ice blue reflections. A silver crown studded with diamonds hung on his head. It was as if it were made of endless snowflakes.

He smiled at Wild Bill, showing very white and sparkling teeth, and said,

_Wild Bill, you are noble in feelings and your heart is full of love. You never hurt people, animals, and nature. Then you will be rewarded. You will have a special life offered by me. You and your snowmen that you did with love and that represent the beings you love the most. You will not be flesh and blood. You will be of snow and ice and you will have life as perpetual as the ice and snow of Greenland.

_Wild Bill, complemented the wonderful lady after a brief pause, I will be your godmother and you will receive my name. You'll be called Wild Bill Snow and you'll be the protector of all the animals that live in the snow and the humans that eventually get lost.

Saying this, he touched his magic wand in the frozen Wild Bill's head. His soul returned to the body transformed into snow and ice, exhaled the breath of life and moved in amazement to be alive again, even as a snowman. The two frozen tears rolled down her face like a snowflake. He also touched the head of each of the snowmen. All of them came to life and became happy fraternities.

The powerful woman was the fairy Elsa, the queen of the snow. She smiled at them, turned the magic wand in the air, heard a spotlight, and it fell apart; a shower of snow fell on them.

For dozens of years they lived happily in the immensity of Greenland snow, supportive and protective of animals. Polar bears, Arctic foxes, wolves, deer, seals, sea lions, walruses, coexisted with them in peace and harmony. Several times, they have saved lost humans in the snows of frozen death, bringing them back to the cities.

But the greed of men was destroying the planet. The average temperature of the planet rose every year and more and more. The Arctic pole and Greenland that holds the largest amount of ice in the world are melting absurdly.

Greenland, which had 80 percent of its territory covered in ice and snow, is now only 50 percent. From the space can be seen extensive areas of land where once they were covered with ice and snow. Even the single-engine airplane from Wild Bill Snow is seen abandoned, far from the present white border.

Corrupt governments and greedy entrepreneurs, little concerned about the environmental catastrophe, see it as an economic opportunity. Companies vie for concessions to exploit the wealth of the Greenland subsoil. Without the ice, they can now explore the region (rich in gold, oil, uranium and other minerals) at a very low financial cost.

The level of the oceans has increased so much that it has already covered all coastal cities. Storms, typhoons, tornadoes, in turn, sweep the inner cities. Human civilization is nearing its end.

Wild Bill Snow, his family and his Huskies, were little by little pushed into the vicinity of Mount Gunnbjorn, the highest point in Greenland - 3,700 meters, the last place where there is ice and snow. The snow of Greenland, seen from space, is a minuscule point in its vast territory. A ball in the center of the football field.

Most of the animals had died. Only a few Wild Bill Snow managed to save. But he does not know until when, because he runs the risk of extinction.

Arman, protector, can not do anything, because those who offend them are distant.

Sasha, defender, could not defend them from something that has no power. It even runs the risk of melting.

Leo, haughty, remained silent, with his tail between his legs, like an undernourished canine.

Ninochka, gracious, lost the charm. It had the look of a hyena.

Irina, peace, lost her instinct and wanted to destroy the infamous.

Rahil, little lamb, was depressed. He carried the guilt of human civilization, which, like him, lamb, was passive before the ruin of corrupt and greedy men.

Elsa, the snow queen, was helpless. His magical powers were only active in a snow world. She herself is at risk of extinction: if there is no snow for that queen.

But here comes a character who says he can save the planet. He has an idea that at first glance may seem absurd, but he thinks it is effective.

The reporters, still active, will be the ones who will turn off the lights, interview him and ask him what idea this is, so formidable, that he preaches.

Harold Frank Stone, grandson of Wild Bill Snow, stammering, and somewhat fumbled with so many microphones in his face, reveals his idea.

We must remove the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and turn it into dry ice. Then deposit the frozen blocks at the poles as much as necessary to lower the planet's average temperature. This will make the poles frozen again.

"We'd kill two rabbits with one shot," one of the reporters joked.

_No! He shouted at Harold Frank Stone. No killing animals. Do not you think we killed too much already?

_Excuse me. I just wanted to make an analogy.

_Yes, do it, but do not kill animals.

_Resolve two problems ...

"Not so either," Harold snapped again. We do not have two problems, only one: global warming, the other are consequences.

Scientists, environmental technicians, physicists, found this impractical. The blocks of dry ice would sublimate and the carbon dioxide would return to the atmosphere. It would be like drying ice, Harold scoffed at the pun.

But some influential men, although laymen or so, bet on the idea, also as the only option, they argued skeptics.

The whole world mobilized in the task. The countries were divided into groups and decided where each would deposit the blocks of dry ice.

Frozen carbon dioxide would be deposited at poles where the temperature was less than or equal to minus 78 degrees Celsius to avoid sublimation. And it would have to be soon because there were only two places at the poles where the temperature was still close.

All dry ice carbon dioxide converters worked day and night in mass production. Refrigerated cargo airplanes transported the huge blocks of tens of tons of dry ice and deposited in the determined places. The countries of the northern hemisphere would deposit in Greenland, Siberia, Alaska and the southern hemisphere in Antarctica and Patagonia.

Even after weeks of dry ice loading global warming did not subside. Some blocks really sublimated. Skeptics criticized such a feat for nothing. And they repeated the famous pun: "We're wiping out ice."

After a period of stability, global warming gave a sign of yielding: it decreased by half a degree. The world vibrated. The poles with this huge icy load registered below-zero temperatures. Then the snow fell back forever, covering the blocks of dry ice.

The level of the oceans has returned to normal. The air of the big cities was again breathable. Oil and coal were expressly prohibited. They could only use clean energy.

Harold Frank Stone, great-grandson of W.B.S., a world hero, would save the planet. But he did not know and could not imagine that it also prevented the extinction of the fantastic life of his ancestors.