Slippery Ice

  Thump!  A noise at the door shook Lara awake.  In the gray morning light she could just make out the time – 6:30.  Still a good twenty minutes of sleep until she had to get up.  Rolling over, she had just settled back down when another knock thudded on the door. 

“Psst!  Lara, it's me!” a voice hissed from the hallway.

  Colin. What an annoying brat of a brother, to wake her up so early, and on a Monday too.

“Go away,” she mumbled into her pillow.

  “Lara!” her brother was clearly becoming impatient. “Go look out your window.”

  With a groan of disgust, Lara flipped back her caramel hair and, propping herself on her elbow, jerked on the window blind.  Outside, in the still dawn, the trees were coated with ice, branches stiff and unmoving.

  “Don't you get it?”  Colin asked.  “No school.  We can snowboard all day.”

  “Then what's the rush?”

  “Well, we gotta do the chores first,” he reminded her.

  “Okay, you win,” Lara finally agreed.  “Go get started awhile.”

  Lara glanced back outside.  The sheet of ice was about half an inch or so.  The snow underneath looked almost a foot, give or take a little.

  After chores and breakfast, Lara and Colin packed lunches and hot drinks.

  “Are you sure they should be going on this ice?”  Lara heard Mom asking Dad in the next room.

  Lara glanced at Colin, finger to her lips.  Holding her breath, she listened for Dad's reply.

  “I think they should be okay, if they're careful, “ Dad answered in his deep voice.  “ They've been snowboarding for years, and they need a day outside after being in school all the time.”

  Mom came out to the kitchen, a worried look in her eye.  “ Promise me you won't ramp in this ice,” she ordered them.  “It's too dangerous.”

  “We won't, “ Lara said quickly.  “Bye, Mom.”

  Outside, the bitter wind swept up stinging crystals of ice and snow, and sent them skimming along the ground.  Rays of the sun reflected off the snow and blinded Lara at first.  With her hands stuffed deep in her pockets, she set off up the trail, breaking a path.

  Treetop Hill rose gradually behind their farm, then steeper as it got higher.  The bottom three quarters of the hill had been cultivated into fields for their farm, but near the top it was dotted with a few trees.  This added an extra challenge, and Lara loved it.  She had been snowboarding on this hill for the last seven or eight years, ever since they'd moved here.  The slope was a pure sheet of white now, unmarred by any tracks.  Everything up here was wild and bare and almost lonely.

  The climb up the hill was exhausting, and it didn't help to be lugging along their gear.  But when they at last reached the treeline, they were sheltered better from the wind.

  At the summit of the hill, Colin and Lara stopped for a break.  Dusting the snow off her thermos, Lara gulped down nearly half of her hot chocolate.  Stuffing it back into her backpack, she turned to Colin. “Ready to go?”

  “I guess,” he said with a shrug. “Who first?”

  “You go,” she told him. “I'll watch till you're out of sight, then I'll follow.”

  As Colin disappeared among the tall trees, Lara stooped to tighten her bindings.  When both feet were held securely to the board, she shoved off down the hill.  Weaving in and out among the trees, she maneuvered down the slope.  Under the shelter of the tall trees, the snow was still fresh and barely covered with ice.

  In a flash she shot out of the shadowed woods and into the bright sunshiny open.  Swooping and carving, turning and twisting, sailing through the brisk morning air, this was the kind of thing she loved.  The grainy surface of ice added a bit of speed and harder steering, which combined for a more thrilling ride than usual.  She zoomed past a ramp, wishing she could feel that awesome sensation of flying  through the air and landing a perfect jump.

  Colin appeared around the corner of the house.  “Have a good ride?” he asked.

  “Yeah, let's go again, “ Lara answered. “If only it weren't so icy, we could ramp, too.”

  “I know,” Colin agreed.  “Mom's such a worrywart.”

  On the fourth trek up the slope, Lara stopped suddenly and gazed across the glistening snow at the ramp they'd been working on since the first snow.

  Colin followed her gaze.  “I'd just love to pull a double 360 on that ramp,” he sighed.

“Then why don't you?” Lara asked suddenly. “No one will ever know.”

“But-” he broke off.

  “I dare you to do it,” she challenged.

“I don't know,” he said reluctantly.

“I double dare you,” she added. “C'mon, don't be a chicken.  I'll do it if you go first.”

  “Okay, here's the deal then,” he finally gave in. “I'll do it, but I'm starting at the treeline.  And nothing more.  Deal?”

  “Deal.”

  Colin strapped on his snowboard, and taking a deep breath, he pushed off.  Lara could tell he was scared by the way he carved widely to the side, avoiding the ramp as long as possible.  Finally he tucked in his knees and headed straight to the ramp.  He flew into the air, out of control from the high speed.  Kicking wildly, he tried desperately to regain his balance.  Down, down, in a blur of flying limbs, he crashed into the snow. 

  Still. Still as death.

  Lara froze in shock. Her fault.  All her fault. She'd dared him.  He hadn't wanted to do it, but she dared him.

  A moan rose out of her throat, knocking her to her senses.  She needed to go to him, check if he was okay.

  She bolted her bindings snugly around her boots and fairly flew across the snow.  With a grinding, snow-spraying stop, she slipped off the snowboard and knelt by her brother.

He lay still where he had fallen, legs and snowboard splayed out awkwardly.  A splotch of red stuck out against his pale face.  Brushing aside his thatch of red-brown hair, Lara wiped the deep gash with snow.  Colin winced when the cold whiteness touched his face, and let out a barely audible groan.

  A sigh of relief swept over Lara.  He was alive, at least.  But he was unconscious, and hurt. He needed help.

  Lara slipped off her coat, then the fleece jacket she wore underneath.  Folding the jacket in a bundle, she reached to lift Colin's head, then stopped.  Hadn't she heard somewhere that when someone has an accident like that, you shouldn't move them?  But if she didn't do it, his head would be in the freezing snow.

  Lara glanced at the cloudy sky, then back at Colin.  Carefully, she lifted his head and slid the jacket underneath.  There – she'd done it, good idea or not.

Suddenly cold drops of rain poured out of the heavens, pelting against the snow and freezing on impact.  Lara shivered in the cold, and glanced at Colin.  The rain would make him wet and miserable in no time.  Instead of putting her coat back on, she spread it over him for shelter.

  Now she need to get help, and as fast as possible.  Bending against the wind, she sped in a straight line, towards the tiny speck - their house – in the distance.  On and on she slid, shirt soaked through to her skin.  She was shivering now, shivering uncontrollably.  Visions of a warm bath, a cozy bed, and a hot drink all danced in front of her eyes, blurring her sight.  Then the house loomed in front of her.  In a sort of drunken stupor, she stumbled out of her bindings and in through the back door.

  But the house was dark, and quiet.  No one was there to help her.  Then her eyes fell on the note on the table:  “Colin and Lara, I'm going to help Dad in the barn, I'll be back about noon. Love, Mom.”

  Lara stared, disbelieving, at the scrap of paper.  Since Mom went to the barn, she would've taken the snowmobile down the winding field lane.  Which meant the only way for Lara to get to the barn was to walk the long field lane all the way there.  Unless she snowboarded over the rough ground and over the dropoff.  Just the thought of it sent fear to the pit of her stomach.

  However, there was no time to lose, and that was the fastest way.  Without thinking of grabbing a coat, Lara ran back out into the freezing rain.

  As she coasted through the cold, Lara grew more and more worried about the dropoff.  It was close to seven feet high, and with the ice, it would be nearly impossible to land safely.  After the dropoff though, the barn was only a short distance away.

  Lara rocketed past an old tree stump, knowing she wasn't far from the dropoff now.  Then suddenly she was at the edge.  Crouching, she leaped into the air and was flying, but without the usual sensation it gave her.  Instead it was a growing dread of falling, of being hurt.

  Her shoulder smashed into the solid ground, sending sharp pain through her body.  Gritty sharp pieces of ice scratched up her face and left it raw.  The snow slammed into her like her giant fist, pushing out all the air.  She lay gasping in the snow, struggling to breathe, just to get air into her starving lungs.

  When at last she could breathe, Lara had no strength left.  She lay in the snow, sharp spasms of pain wracking her slight frame.  Her eyes were closing, fading away...

                                                       

  Through a thick wall, a voice echoed faintly in Lara's ears.  “Wh-what?” she slurred with painstaking slowness.

“Lara, it's me, Dad,” a husky voice answered. “Can you hear me?”

  Lara strained to open her eyes.  She focused on Dad, who sat beside her. “Where am I?”

  “On the couch, in the house.  Do you remember what happened?” he questioned gently.

  A painful flood of memories filled her mind. “Colin – I dared him – he got hurt. I – went for help.  Fell off the dropoff. I don't remember anything else.”

“I was coming around the barn when I saw you fall,” Dad explained.  “You were delirious and you said something about Colin being hurt on the slope.  I took the snowmobile and found him.”

  “Is he alright?” Lara asked anxiously.

  “He's got a deep cut in his head, and a minor concussion, but he'll be fine.  He's in the hospital and Mom's with him now.  And you, you had a high fever, but it looks like you came out of it.  You were a mighty brave girl, though, “ he praised her.

  “But it was my fault,” she protested. “I-I dared him. And he got hurt.”

  “Yes, you did,” Dad agreed. “And that wasn't a good thing.  But I think you understand that now and I hope you learned your lesson.”

“I sure did,” Lara whispered.  “I sure did,” and she fell into a peaceful sleep.