Her legs were shaky and the brisk wind gave no help. The sky was brilliant blue and everything else white. The big North Dakota sky was clear and very cold. She skated round and round on the small frozen slough. What a treat in this semi desert, a tiny ice rink. Any small amount of water left standing in the fields here was taken advantage of as fully as possible and this one fortunately had lasted long enough to freeze over. The ducks nested in it in the spring time, the cattle drank of it in the summer, muskrats built houses in the middle in the winter and hibernated there., The kids thought these sloughs, fresh water ponds were heaven. They had never been to a beach and the only river was about ten miles away. So on the sloughs in summer they built rafts and had pirate fights. Most sank, but were great fun until they did. One winter when she was about twelve or thirteen, she found an old pair of skates. She had never skated before, but that didn’t discourage her. Down to the pond she marched, put on the skates and proceeded to make her wobbly way around the small rather grassy frozen circle.
As she skated round and round gaining strength and speed, her mind began to drift. It was extremely peaceful, her legs stopped shaking, the ice became soft and smooth. She could lift her arms and just sail around. She became an Ice Princess, like Sonja. In the thirties and forties, a very beautiful young women from Norway named Sonja Henie won the Olympic Gold medal for figure skating, several times. She became an international celebrity. She gave ice shows all over the world and eventually ended up in Hollywood making movies. She was every little girl’s dream like the present day Peggy Fleming or Michelle Kwan. But there was also a difference. Because Henie was a rich celebrity, she was able to travel in very elite circles, including Germany when Hitler was still in power. At one of the performances she performed in there, she was seen to give the Nazi salute to Der Furer. And after one Olympic games she was reported to have had tea with him at Berchtesgaden. This did not endear her to the those who were suffering under Nazi occupation and dominance. The North Dakota skater didn’t know any of this of course. To her Sonja was simply a gorgeous, graceful movie star who wore sequined outfits and had golden hair and big blue eyes. The pond skater was a big footed clumsy long legged rather gawky adolescent decidedly lacking in grace or coordination. She had wild dark curly hair that never behaved itself and olive skin and brown eyes. Her clothing was hand me downs that never fit too well, a shabby wool coat with sleeves too short, one of her brother’s old earflap caps on her head and big brown rubber looking mittens with considerable wrist exposed between mitten and coat sleeve. She was not a sight to behold.
As she continued to skate on the white glittering pond, deeply immersed in the fantasy, something physical began to happen. She began to lose her vision. At first the view simply narrowed and then more and more became a tunnel. Then nausea started manifesting in her stomach and the headache began. All intensified as she staggered off the pond, barely able to get the skates off and walk home, where she collapsed on the sofa and gave over to her mother’s ministrations and sleep. She was unable to explain where she had been and what she had been doing, but the skates were obvious. It was the last time the migraine hit her with such force. She continued to grow and mature and never suffered from then again. Why wasn’t she able to have this beautiful fantasy without suffering. What was wrong with being Sonja Henie? It took many years and World War II, to figure that out.
