Part 11 (1/2)

Chapter 14.

Kristy.

Isn't it beautiful?” said Claudia, holding out her mittened hand to catch the snowflakes that were falling, faster and faster, from the gray sky.

”Beautiful,” I said. ”Come on.” I took off down the trails we'd been wandering around all morning and hustled everybody back to our cabin, so we could eat a quick lunch and grab Abby's and my skis. Claudia barely had time to slip a Ring Ding into her jacket pocket for nourishment out on the slopes before we were standing in line at the ski rental desk.

The guy behind the desk was cute. His blue eyes matched his s.h.i.+rt. I noticed this, but I wasn't interested.

Stacey and Claudia noticed it, too. But I didn't let them hang around. ”Here,” I said impatiently to Stacey. ”You buckle your ski boot like this.”

Stacey and the staff guy looked startled, but at least she had her boots on.

As I straightened up, Abby put her elbow into my side. This is a bad habit she really needs to break. Where does she learn these things?

I was about to point this out to her when she said, ”Look!”

I looked. In fact, we all looked.

I'd dropped my ski gear bag at the end of the bench, along with Abby's, plus Stacey's backpack which she'd brought along (I suspected she had stuck her purse in there). The guy with the eye patch was bending over them.

”I could kill them,” he said as clearly as if no one at all was standing around listening. ”They'd deserve it. No jury in the world would convict me. ...”

He looked up. His face was twisted and his eye blazed.

We shrank back.

”Mr. Federman?” said the staff guy uncertainly.

Mr. Federman spun around and stomped away.

”Wow,” breathed Stacey. ”I hope I don't run into him out on the slopes.”

I was staring after Mr. Federman. ”Let's check our stuff. The way he looked, I want to make sure he didn't stick a bomb in there or something.”

”Why do you think he was so angry? Was he angry at us?” Claudia asked.

”Why would he be? We've never seen him before, until this morning,” Abby answered practically.

We got our gear (it was bomb-free) and stowed it in the lockers. Then we headed out to the lifts.

I kept seeing Mr. Federman's face and the way he had looked at us. Had we done something to offend him? Did we know him from somewhere else? It was an odd, unsettling incident. But when I saw all that excellent new powder covering the slopes, I forgot about Mr. Federman.

We decided to split up. I wanted to head for a beginner trail, to warm up. Stacey wanted to practice on the little slope where the lessons for beginners were given (it was hardly more than a b.u.mp).

”It's a good idea to start out slow,” said Abby, looking thoughtfully up the mountain. ”I'm not familiar with these slopes. I mean, sure a green circle means beginner and a slope marked with a blue square means intermediate and all. But I think I'd better check out what they mean by intermediate before I do the expert runs. . . . Claudia, you want to go with me?”

”Gee, thanks. You think I could handle a big intermediate slope?” said Claudia in a sarcastic tone of voice.

Stacey and I exchanged a surprised glance. Why was Claudia being so p.r.i.c.kly? And so rude to Abby? I mean, sure Abby is a little bossy, a little overwhelming, but she didn't mean anything by it.

Abby, who hasn't known Claudia all that long, just laughed. ”Sure,” she said.

”I'm just surprised you're not starting out on the black diamond trails,” Claudia said.

Stacey said quickly, ”Even I know those are for the super experts, Claudia. No one does those unless they're practically in the Olympics.”

”Well. ...” Abby said, and grinned modestly. ”Come on, Stacey. Once you're warmed up, you're going to be moguling all over this mountain.”

”Moguling? You mean hitting b.u.mps and flying into the air?”

”And landing without falling,” agreed Abby.

”Let's meet back here in about an hour for a hot-chocolate break,” I suggested.

Everyone agreed, and we went our separate ways.

Abby was right. A couple of slides down the practice slope and Stacey was ready for the beginners' runs. It all came back to her, just like riding a bike.

Stacey s.h.i.+vered. ”It's getting colder.”

”Don't say that!” I exclaimed. ”You know if it gets too cold it won't snow anymore.”

Stacey laughed. ”I guess when I start moving, I'll warm up.”

”I have some extra glove liners and socks in my gear bag. You can borrow some when we take our hot chocolate break,” I said.

”Great,” said Stacey. ”See you then.”

”See ya,” I replied, and headed toward a lift in the opposite direction.

Stacey got in line for the nearest beginner trail. There were only a couple of people ahead of her.

She was cool about skiing, now, but she'd forgotten how to get in the lift chair. Hesitating, she missed the first chair and then the second before she hit the timing right. She was embarra.s.sed, even though the lift operator at the bottom was cool about it, and no one was behind her in line.

Once she was in the lift, she forgot her embarra.s.sment. She looked around, marveling at how snow made everything look different. Mysterious. Special.

At first she didn't even notice that the lift had stopped.

Then she thought that it had just stopped for a moment because someone was having trouble getting off, just as she had had trouble getting on.

Then she realized that she was the only one on the lift. And that the snow was blowing harder, and the lift chair was swinging back and forth.

And it was getting even colder.

”Hey!” she said. ”Hey! h.e.l.lo!”