My knees felt kind of wobbly. I looked back down the mountain. Somehow it looked higher than it did before.
“All right, class,” called our instructor. “Gather round.”
Our instructor’s name was Toby. Toby talked to us about skiing for awhile. Then she said, “The best way to learn is by doing. We will not try skiing downhill right away. I want you to start practicing right here where it is flat.”
I could not even do that right. I tried once and fell down. Plompff. I tried again. Plompff. I tried again and again and again. Plompff. Plompff. Plompff!
While I was picking myself up and brushing myself off, the other kids started skiing down the hill. All the other kids. Including Andrew. He was flying down the slope like a pro.
“Would you like some help getting down the mountain?” asked Toby.
“No, thank you,” I replied. “I am sure I can make it down myself.”
I was not really sure at all. But I was too embarrassed to let anyone help me. Even my little brother was skiing down the slope by himself.
Finally I decided I was just too scared. I took off my skis and started to walk.
I was so, so humiliated.
Feeling Grumpy
I walked into the lodge and pushed my skis across the rental desk.
“Would you like the same pair tomorrow?” asked the woman at the desk with a smile.
“No way,” I said. “I never, ever want to ski again.”
I stomped away. I knew I should tell the woman I was sorry for sounding so mean. But I was too upset to say anything nice to anybody.
That included Nannie and Emily. I found them reading books by the fire. (Really, Emily was looking at the pictures. She did not know how to read words yet.)
“How was skiing?” asked Nannie.
“Do not even ask me,” I said. “But if you want to know the truth, I am never going skiing again.”
“Why don’t you tell me what happened,” said Nannie.
“I do not want to talk about it,” I said.
Then I sat down, took off my ski jacket, and told Nannie the whole story.
“I kept falling over and over again,” I said. “I was down in the snow more than I was standing up!”
“You just need to practice,” said Nannie calmly. “You are good at many things. I am sure you could learn to ski if you tried.”
“I do not want to try anymore, Nannie,” I said. Then I leaned in a little closer. I did not want the whole lodge to hear what I was going to say next. “I am too scared.”
Just then the man next to us said, “Look at that little guy go.”
I looked out the window in time to see Andrew skiing down the slope. I could not believe what a good skier he was. He was the youngest in the class. But he was the best. Everybody knew it.
“He is a terrific skier for his age,” said the man’s friend.
“He is a terrific skier for any age,” said the man.
I covered my ears. I did not want to hear any more about Andrew and his terrific skiing.
I crossed my arms and started kicking the chair with my feet. Hearing about Andrew goody two-skis made me feel even worse than before.
“Karen,” said Nannie. “Emily and I had a lot of fun looking around the lodge. There is so much going on. Why don’t you take a walk and see for yourself.”
I was not finished being grumpy yet. I kicked the chair a few more times. Then I decided it would be just as easy to be grumpy while I was walking around.
“Okay,” I said. “I will see you later.”
“ ‘Bye-bye,” said Emily, waving.
You know what? The minute I stood up I felt a whole lot better.
The Lodge
I started in the video game room. I had played Pac-Man a lot over the summer. I liked that game. I found a quarter in my pocket and dropped it into the slot.
Ping ping. Ping ping ping.
“Go, Pac-Man, go!” I said. My Pac-Man had a big appetite. He was eating everything in his path. Ping ping. “Go, Pac-Man, go.”
Soon he had cleared off the entire screen. A sign flashed, “You won! You won! You won!”
I might not be so good at skiing. But I was still good at Pac-Man. I played two more games. Then I decided to go to the library to look at magazines.
On the way I ran into Jessica. Jessica is Mitch’s niece. She is nine. Jessica lives at Shadow Lake all year round. We had already said hi to each other at breakfast.
Jessica was standing by the snack machine. She did not look too happy.
“What is wrong?” I asked.
“I am mad at this machine. I put in two dimes and a nickel. The machine made a weird noise and spit out my dimes. Now I don’t have pretzels. And I don’t have another nickel.”
“I have a nickel,” I said. “Here. Try again.”
I handed Jessica a nickel. She put the money into the machine. Then she pressed the pretzel button.
Guess what. Two bags of pretzels came out instead of one. We sat down together and had pretzels and hot chocolate.
“I saw your brother, Andrew, on the bunny slope before. He is a good skiier,” said Jessica. “Why aren’t you skiing, too?”
“I did not feel like it today,” I said. (I did not tell Jessica that I would never feel like it again in my whole life.) “How about you?”
“I skied early in the morning. It is much less crowded then. And I am going ice skating later,” said Jessica.
“Really? I like ice skating. I got a new pair of skates for Christmas,” I said.
“Maybe I will see you at the pond then,” said Jessica.
“Thanks for the pretzels,” I said.
“Thanks for the nickel,” said Jessica.
I was having a very good time at the lodge. A lot of people who remembered me from the summer said hi. A few kids even asked me if I wanted to go outside and play with them.
I said no thank you. I was in the mood to stay inside and read magazines at the library. But it was good to know there were outside things to do besides skiing.
Keegan
On Sunday night I dreamed I was ice skating in the Olympics. I did a triple twist jump backflip spin. The crowds went wild cheering for Karen Brewer, gold medal ice skater.
When I woke up on Monday morning, I was ready to skate. I put on my black leggings and my red sweater with snowflakes on it. Then I took out my new ice skates. Granny and Grandad had given them to me for Christmas. They were gigundoly beautiful.
Most of my family was already in the kitchen eating breakfast.
“Who wants to go skating with me?” I asked.
“Not me,” said Sam. “I am going snowboarding.”
“Sorry, Karen,” said Daddy. “I promised myself I would ski as much as I could this vacation.”
“Me, too,” said Kristy. “We can always go skating in Stoneybrook. But we cannot ski there.”
Elizabeth and David Michael said they were going skiing, too. (I did not even ask Andrew, the snow champ. I knew he would ski.)
“Where is Nannie?” I asked. “Maybe she will go skating with me.”
“Emily has a cold this morning,” said Elizabeth. “Nannie is going to stay here and take care of her.”
Boo and bullfrogs. I was not allowed to go on the ice alone. But wait. I had seen a list of ice skating classes when I was at the lodge. Of course I was already a gold medal skater. But I could still join a class. Maybe the teacher would ask me to demonstrate one of my excellent skating routines. Or I could skate around by myself while the class was going on. I just wanted to get out on the ice.
I grabbed my things and hurried over to the lodge. I checked the bulletin board. There was a big sign that said: Skating canceled due to warm weather.
Warm weather in February? Just my luck. Now what? I was tired of playing Pac-Man. I had read all my favorite magazines at the library. I started wandering around the lodge. It was pretty empty. Except for the rental desk. Everyone was renting skis.
“See yo
u later, Dad,” said a boy. He waved good-bye to a man walking out with skis under his arm. I remembered the boy from the day before. He was in the snow-bunny class. I watched him go into the video game room.
The boy was standing in front of Turtle Terror. I knew that game was more fun to play with two people. I went into the game room.
“Hi,” I said. “Want to play?”
“Sure,” said the boy.
We played two games. We each won one.
“My name is Karen,” I said. “What is yours?”
“My name is Keegan,” said the boy.
I asked Keegan why he was not skiing. He shrugged his shoulders and said, “No big reason. I just do not like it that much. My parents are big skiers. But not me.”
“I do not like skiing so much either,” I replied. “Hey, do you want to check out the snack machine? Yesterday it was giving out two bags of pretzels for twenty-five cents.”
“Sure. Let’s go,” said Keegan.
I put in a dime. Keegan put in a dime and a nickel.
“Abracadabra!” I said. I pushed the pretzel button. Only one bag came out. (I did not mind. I would have felt bad getting too many free bags of pretzels.)
We shared the pretzels. Then we decided to play a game of Monopoly. We ended up spending the whole morning together. It was fun.
I decided I liked Keegan.
Fun at Shadow Lake
Keegan was already at the lodge when I got there Tuesday morning. He was looking at the bulletin board.
“Hi, Keegan,” I said. “What are you going to do today?”
“Right now I am trying to decide what to do in the winter carnival,” he replied. “I cannot decide whether to enter the snow sculpture contest or the ice skating contest.”
“Those are the contests I like, too,” I said.
“Let’s do both,” said Keegan.
“All right!” I replied. “We better start practicing.”
We agreed to start with our snow sculpture. I told Nannie that Keegan and I were going outside. (Emily’s cold was a little bit better. So Nannie and Emily were going to be hanging around at the lodge.)
“Please stay in front where I can watch you,” said Nannie.
“We will make a beautiful sculpture for you and Emily to look at,” I said.
Do you know what? We did. We built a great, big, huge, enormous snow castle.
“Maybe we could make colored flags. We could put them all over the castle on the day of the contest,” I said.
“Okay,” said Keegan. “And I think we should have a snow horse standing outside our castle. In case someone wants to ride off into the forest.”
Our snow horse came out looking more like a camel. But that was okay. We had plenty of time to practice getting it right.
“Brrr. I’m cold!” I said.
“Me, too,” said Keegan.
“Let’s go inside. We can look at the bulletin board again,” I said. “If it is this cold out, I bet there will be an ice skating class.”
There was an ice skating class. And it was not even filled up yet. (That is because practically everyone else was skiing.)
We drank some hot chocolate to warm us up. We already had our skates with us. So we were ready to head out to Beaver Pond. (Shadow Lake is too big to get frozen over completely. Beaver Pond does not take as long to freeze because it is smaller.)
The pond was just down the road from the lodge. The green flags were up. (That meant the ice was safe for skating.) The class was just starting.
Maybe I was the worst skier. But I was definitely not the worst skater. In fact, Keegan and I were the best on the ice. I thought about doing my triple twist jump backflip spin. But I did not want to be a show-off. Plus I had only done it once in my dream. So I probably needed some practice.
When the class was over, we went back to the lodge to meet our families.
“See you tomorrow!” I called to Keegan.
“ ‘Bye, Karen,” Keegan replied.
The day had been so much fun. Nothing could ruin it. Not even finding out that Andrew’s snow bunny class was going to race in the winter carnival. Not even listening to everyone say that Andrew was sure to win.
So what? Skiing was not the only way to have a good time at Shadow Lake. Now I was having fun, too.
Family Day Morning
Everyone was up bright and early on Wednesday morning.
“How are you feeling, Emily?” asked Elizabeth.
“All better!” Emily replied. She threw her arms up in the air to show everyone how good she felt.
“That is excellent news,” said Daddy. “Since we are on vacation and everyone is feeling good, I now declare this day Family Day!”
“Hooray!” I cried. Then I added, “What is Family Day?”
I knew about all kinds of holidays. But I had never heard of a Family Day before.
Daddy explained, “It is a day we will spend doing activities together as a family.”
“We can start off with a picnic,” said Elizabeth. “It will be an indoor breakfast picnic. We can spread out our blanket in front of the fireplace.”
We all thought this was a gigundoly wonderful idea.
“Everyone has to pitch in,” said Daddy.
“That means we need to get organized,” said Nannie. “Here are your assignments.”
Nannie assigned one job, plus clean-up duty, to each person.
Kristy was going to make the toast. David Michael was going to set out plates and cups and napkins on a table. Sam was going to squeeze oranges for juice.
“Karen, you are in charge of the eggs,” said Nannie. “It is your job to break them open and beat them.”
“Oh, that is mean!” I said. Everyone laughed.
I even got to have an assistant. It was Emily’s job to throw away the shells after I broke open the eggs. We had great fun working together.
Our breakfast was a Family Day feast! We were nice and cozy in front of our crackling fire.
Bzzz Bzzz Bzzz.
“What are you doing, Karen?” asked Charlie.
“I am buzzing like a bee. A real picnic always has bees,” I replied. “And ants, too. There goes one now!”
I started brushing make-believe ants off our blanket. Emily thought this was hysterical.
“Clean-up time!” called Daddy.
When everything was put away, it was time for our next Family Day activity. We bundled up and went out into the snow. First we went snowmobiling. I love going really fast!
Then Sam gave us a snowboarding show. The snowboard was bright purple. It looked like a giant skateboard with a strap across it.
“Snowboarding is really easy. I will demonstrate,” said Sam. “You will see that it is a cross between skateboarding, surfing, and skiing.”
As soon as I heard the word skiing I knew snowboarding was not for me. But I had fun watching.
When Sam finished his show, we decided to build a snow family in honor of the day. We were working really hard. People passing by stopped to watch as our snow family grew. When we finished, we had a family of ten, just like ours.
“I am so glad I brought my camera,” said Elizabeth. “Gather round, everyone.”
We asked a passerby to please take our picture.
“Smile!” said the woman.
She did not even have to say it. We were so proud of our snow family. Our smiles were already a mile wide.
Family Day Afternoon
The morning flew by. It was lunchtime before we knew it.
“Who wants to eat at the lodge?” asked Daddy.
“I do! I do!” I said.
Everyone else had the same answer. The ten of us marched into the dining room. I waved as I passed Keegan and his parents. I love making a grand entrance.
There were no big tables left. So we had to split up.
“Can we sit at our own kids’ table?” I added.
“I don’t see why not,” said Daddy.
This is how we sat: Daddy, Elizabeth,
Nannie, Sam, and Charlie were at one table. Andrew, David Michael, Kristy, Emily, and I were at another. (Kristy was in charge of watching Emily. She is an excellent baby-sitter.)
Sitting at our table without any grownups made me feel like a real and true Lovely Lady. I sat up tall in my chair. I held my pinky up in the air as I lifted my napkin and placed it in my lap.
My manners were perfect all the way through lunch. I only stopped one time to blow bubbles in my soup. Blub blub blub. (Andrew started it. Not me.)
After lunch we took a vote and decided to go ice skating. Yippee!
“I am going to be in the ice skating contest with Keegan next Saturday,” I told everyone as we were walking to the pond.
“That sounds great,” said Kristy.
“We skate really well together,” I said.
It is nice to feel that you are good at something. I know I am good at skating. I could hardly wait to get on the ice.
“I am going to be in the ski race,” said Andrew. “But I do not think I will win. I am the youngest snow bunny.”
“Being the youngest will not stop you from winning,” said Sam. “I have seen you ski. You are the best in your class.”
I did not want to think about skiing anymore. It is no fun thinking about something you are not so good at. Unless you plan to get better. And I was not going to get better at skiing because I was not going to try it ever again.
We reached the pond. Nannie and Emily waved to us from the side. The rest of us skated around in pairs. I skated with Kristy. We glided and twirled.
“Wow, Karen. You really are a good skater,” said Kristy.
“Thank you,” I replied.
We skated for a long time. Then we went home and made dinner. We had spaghetti, salad, and rolls. For dessert, we toasted marshmallows in the fire.
“Here’s to our family!” said Daddy. “It has been a wonderful day.”
We held up our marshmallows and tapped them together.
“To our family!” we said.
Practicing
I met Keegan at the lodge early Thursday morning.
“Do you want to go to the pond first?” I asked. “I saw the skating teacher before. She said she would keep an eye on us.”