Out of the Frying Pan

I Should Have Known Better

The white snow with the sun was blinding. I asked Grandpa if he thought we were going to get more snow.

“Probably later,” he answered. “I tell you what. While I’m fixing lunch, why don’t you boys go and get the sled out. I’ll holler for you when lunch is ready.”

He didn’t have to tell us twice. My brothers started pushing one another to see who got to the sled first. As Grandpa went inside, I just walked around them and waited by the garage. After a few words and a few snowballs, they made it to where I was waiting, and the two of them got the sled.

We headed on out to the pasture, and there we stood. In front of us was almost two acres of hill before the fence and the snow was so smooth it looked as if it was painted on. We quickly discussed our game plan. Lenny would be the one to push us off and try and jump on. Lanny was in charge of steering. Me, I was the middle man. With Lanny and I in place, Lenny started running. He jumped on just as we began our descent.

We began moving faster and faster down the hill until our eyes were watering from the wind in our faces, laughing and hooting as we went. Lanny called out, “I’m going to turn right, start leaning that way.” We all leaned right and we made a large curve until we stopped. Our faces were red, stinging from the cold air and the laughter made it hard to breathe. We had laughed so much that our jaws hurt.

As we turned around and looked up the hill, Lenny said, “It sure looks like a long ways back up.”

Lanny added, “What we need is one of those ski lifts.”

After about the fourth time up the hill, the climb was getting harder. I said to Lenny and Lanny, “My legs are giving out, I need to stop.”

They turned and looked at me. Lenny said, “Get on the sled, we’ll take you to the top. But no more rides until you can come back up yourself.”

Lanny looked at him.

Lenny shrugged, “It’s Christmas Eve.”

So I hopped on. We were a little more than halfway up when Grandpa appeared on the back porch, waving for us to come in for lunch. My brothers waved back and Grandpa went back inside. The next thing I heard was my brothers saying, “Three!” as they let loose of the rope.

I wasn’t far enough forward to steer. My legs were in front me and I couldn’t turn around. I was holding on for dear life as I was flying backwards down the hill. My only other thought was to worry about hitting the fence which was barbed wire.

The sled started turning itself and I was bouncing all over the place. Then it hit one really large bump and I became airborne. The sled went one way and I went another, and after a few moments of flopping end over end, I finally stopped. I raised up and realized I was within ten feet of the fence. I didn’t even know where the sled went.

I was so mad I’m surprised the snow didn’t melt around me. I looked up the hill and saw that my brothers were busy laughing and probably didn’t see Grandpa coming up behind them. I stood up and tried to brush the snow off. When I looked back up, Grandpa was heading down the hill with my brothers who were no longer laughing. Grandpa was asking even before he was close, “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I guess so,” I said.

Grandpa said, “They said they slipped, that it was an accident.”

I thought for a moment and said, “I guess that’s what happened. All I know is that I went flying backwards down the hill.”

“You could have broken something or even gotten tangled in the barb wire fence,” Grandpa said, looking over at Lenny and Lanny while they were retrieving the sled.

We walked back up the hill to the house. Lenny and Lanny took the sled back into the garage while Grandpa and I went in through the kitchen door.

Grandpa asked me again while we were hanging up our coats, “Are you sure you feel alright?”

“Yes, sir, I’m okay.”

Grandpa sighed. “I wish those two would show more responsibility. You seem more mature than both of them put together.”

When Lenny and Lanny came in, Grandpa just looked at them and shook his head. We sat down to eat and it was unusually quiet. I finally had to say something, so I asked “So what’s the thing that needs tending to, Grandpa?”

“Well, there’s more than one thing. I’ll tell you after we eat.”

Well, that broke the ice and we started talking and laughing again. When we finished lunch, Grandpa went into the front room while my brothers and I cleaned the table and washed, dried, and put away the dishes.

Lenny turned to me and asked, “How come you didn’t tell? Grandpa would have believed you.”

“Because it’s Christmas Eve,” I said. I could tell by the looks on their faces that they felt about an inch tall.

When everything was done, we went into the front room where Grandpa was sitting. We sat down and looked at the decorations and each of us had our choice of candy. I preferred the peppermints myself, but my brothers liked the chocolates.

Suddenly, Grandpa said, “Bricks.”

We looked at one another.

Simultaneously all three of us asked, “Bricks?”

“Yes,” Grandpa said, “we need eight of them.”