Past the deadline

The rule on Bald Eagle Lake was simple. All fish houses off the ice by the first Monday in March, or the county pulls them off and sends you the bill. By Tuesday afternoon there was one house left, a green plywood shack with a stovepipe and a hand-painted sign that said Gone Fishin, Back Never.

Deputy Larry Ostby walked out to it on the soft ice with a rope around his waist. The door was frozen shut. When he finally got it open, the heater was cold, the fishing line was still down the hole, and Martin Berglund, retired vice president of the Northern State Bank, was sitting at the card table with a library book open in front of him and his eyes closed for good.