Cocoa (4 page)

Snow day! Charles knew it as soon as he woke up the next morning. He could tell by the quiet, muffled sounds from outside like the scrape of snow shovels. There were no traffic noises, just the beeping of a snowplow backing up. He jumped out of bed and ran to the window. Sure enough, snow had fallen all night long, leaving a thick white blanket covering everything in sight. A few flakes still drifted down.

“Snow day!” he said to Buddy and Cocoa. They stretched and yawned on the rug next to his bed, where they had slept all curled up next to each other.

“Snow day!” said Lizzie, popping into the room. “Mom just checked online. All the schools are closed. Yahoo!” She opened her arms wide to let Cocoa jump up on her, and they waltzed around together. “Want to go sledding? I’m going to call Maria and tell her to meet me at the school.”

Sledding sounded great — but Charles had other things on his mind. “I have to practice my skiing,” he said. “For the relay race.” He wasn’t even sure where his skis were, but hopefully Mom could help him find them.

It seemed like hours before they were ready to go: first there was breakfast, then there was getting dressed, including stuffing the Bean into his snowsuit and boots from last year (which didn’t fit so well anymore) then finding the skis, then loading all the sleds and skis — and two puppies — into the van. Charles got covered with
snow as he helped Dad shovel the driveway, and had to change into a different jacket and find his other mittens. But finally, they were on their way, singing
“Deck the halls with bells of jolly”
as Mom drove.

As they neared the school, Charles could see that the sledding hill was packed. Dozens of kids — and grown-ups, too — were sliding down and climbing back up. Their jackets and hats made splotches of bright color against the white snow. “Mom, can you drop me off over on the other side?” Charles asked. “I want to practice skiing on the flat part.” Flat — and private. Charles didn’t want anyone watching him until he remembered how the whole skiing thing worked. Harry and Dawna would be arriving soon for a team practice — Harry had called that morning to make a plan — but Charles knew he needed to practice on his own first.

“Let’s drop Lizzie off,” Mom said. “Then the Bean and I will come watch you.” She had brought the Bean’s sled to tow him around on.

“Buddy can come with me,” Lizzie said. “He’s always good around the sledders. He never barks or chases.”

“Okay,” said Mom. “As long as you keep an eye on him. And we’ll take Cocoa.”

Charles watched a little wistfully as Lizzie ran to join Maria. He loved sledding, and he could see his friends Sammy and David racing each other down the hill. But if he was going to be part of Rudolph’s Revenge, he had to practice his skiing.

Mom parked over by the running track, and Charles unloaded his skis and set them on the snow. He leaned on his ski poles as he pushed the toes of his boots into one binding and then the other.
Click. Click.
Done! Charles stood
up straight, smiling and ready to go. Then he fell —
splat!
— onto his back.

Cocoa bounded over, towing Mom through the snow, and began to lick Charles’s face all over.

Want some kisses?

“Cocoa!” Charles pushed her away. “Not now.” But he couldn’t help laughing. Cocoa was always in such a good mood. And at least Harry and Dawna had not arrived yet, so only Mom and the Bean had seen his not-very-graceful fall. He grabbed on to Cocoa’s collar and leaned on her to help himself up. Then he got himself arranged again and slipped his hands through his pole straps.

As Mom got the Bean tucked into his sled, Charles took a first few tentative steps on his skis. Kick, glide, kick, glide. He remembered Dad teaching him how to ski, that first time up in
Vermont. He fell again, and picked himself up again. Kick, glide, kick, glide. Then, suddenly, he was doing it! He found his balance and began to slide over the snow, his arms and legs finding their own rhythm.

“Look, Mom!” he yelled. “I’m doing it. I can ski!”

“Great!” she called. She followed him around the track, pulling the Bean in his sled as Cocoa dragged her along from the front. “I’m in a one-horse open sleigh!” the Bean yelled. “You’re my horsie, Mommy!”

Charles laughed.

Then he fell again.

Cocoa dragged Mom over to where Charles lay. “Are you okay?” Mom asked.

“I’m fine,” said Charles, struggling to his feet. His skis got all tangled with his poles and he almost went down again. Falling wasn’t so bad — it was the getting-up part that was hard.

Soon he was back up and skiing. “Go, Charles!” Mom yelled. “Looking good!”

“Yay, Charles!” shouted the Bean. “Bells of jolly!”

Then Cocoa started to bark. She barked louder and louder, dragging Mom faster and faster along the track. “Help!” Mom yelled. “I can’t hold her!”

What was the big brown pup barking at? Charles looked toward the parking lot and saw two people walking toward them. Harry and Dawna!

Charles glanced back just in time to see Cocoa pull the leash right out of Mom’s hand. She came charging toward Charles, on her way to greet the newcomers. Loose dog! Without thinking, Charles threw down his ski poles and grabbed the end of her leash as she galloped by. With a jerk, he felt the powerful dog begin to tow him along, and his skis hummed through the snow. He was going faster than he had ever gone on his own. For a
second he was scared. But only for a second. This was way more fun than sledding. “Wheee!” he yelled. Somehow, he managed to stay upright.

“Better let her go!” yelled Harry. “We’ll catch her.”

Charles let go of the leash. He glided to a stop as Cocoa charged ahead, straight for Harry. “Got her!” yelled Harry, as he grabbed the leash. He and Dawna laughed and hooted as Cocoa jumped and twirled and barked.

“Whoa, Charles,” said Dawna, as he skiied up to them. “That was awesome. Harry said you could ski, but I didn’t know you could skijor!”

Charles stood panting, trying to catch his breath, while Cocoa danced around Harry and Dawna, leaping up to kiss their noses.

Hi, hi, hi! I know you! It’s always great to see friends!

“Skijor?” Charles asked finally, when he could speak again. “I don’t even know what that is, much less how to do it.”

“Skijoring is a sport that started in Scandinavia. It’s sort of like dogsledding, only instead of the dog pulling a sled, the dog is pulling you — on
skis,” Dawna told him, as she petted Cocoa and rubbed her ears. “A friend of mine does it every winter. She loves it. Of course, you can’t really do it the way you were, with a regular leash and collar. That wouldn’t be safe for the dog. You need a special type of harness. Isn’t that right, Cocoa?” She scratched Cocoa’s head and Cocoa grinned her happy dog grin.

“Hey, maybe you could borrow Cocoa and try it out,” Harry said to Dawna. “She’d probably be great at skijoring, since she loves to pull.”

“You’d be more than welcome to,” Mom said. She had finally caught up to them, towing the Bean on his sled. When she panted, big puffs of white frosty breath hung in the cold, still air. “This puppy needs more exercise than any puppy we’ve ever fostered.”

“Deck the halls with bells of jolly,”
sang the
Bean from his seat on the sled. He flashed Harry and Dawna his cutest smile, the one with dimples.

Harry and Dawna both giggled. “That is adorable,” said Dawna.

“Not if you’ve heard it a billion times,” Charles muttered, but he had to admit that the Bean looked pretty cute, all zipped up in his bunny rabbit snowsuit with his ever-present antlers perched atop his hood.

“I think I’ll take the Bean home,” Mom said to Charles, “now that Harry and Dawna are here. He could use an N-A-P.”

“No! No!” yelled the Bean. “Don’t want to nap!” He started to cry.

Mom rolled her eyes. “I guess he learned what N-A-P spells.”

“If you go home with Mom” — Charles leaned down to whisper to his little brother — “I’ll help
you write your letter to Santa later. How about that?”

The Bean stopped crying for a moment and squinted up at him. “Okay,” he said finally. He waved his arms at Mom. “Let’s go, horsie!” Then he began to sing again.
“Deck the halls with bells of jolly!”

Mom rolled her eyes again, but she gave Charles a grateful smile. “I’ll come back to pick you and Lizzie up in an hour or so,” she said as she trudged off, towing the Bean on his sled.

“Hey,” Harry said to Charles, “you’re looking pretty good on those skis!”

Charles looked down at his feet. He’d almost forgotten that he still had his skis on. He smiled at Harry. “Thanks,” he said. “I guess I remembered how to do it.”

“Rudolph’s Revenge is going to
rule
!” said
Harry, grinning as he gave Charles a fist bump. “This race is going to be so much fun.”

“I hope Judge Thayer can be there to see us,” said Dawna. She turned to Charles. “That’s the goal he and I agreed on yesterday. He’s tired of the rehab center. I made him a deal: if he can walk well enough with a cane or ski pole so that he can come to WinterFest, then he can go home and finish his rehab there, with visits from me.”

“Won’t it be hard for him to walk on the snow?” Charles asked.

“They clear the paths pretty well,” Dawna said. “But actually, that’s part of the point. I can’t send someone home in winter if they can’t get around on ice and snow.”

Charles nodded. Wow. Judge Thayer was getting better fast. Soon he and Charlotte were going to want to have Cocoa back. There was only one
problem: Charles was beginning to wonder if that was a good idea. He had been thinking about it a lot, ever since he had met Judge Thayer and his wife.

The thing was, when his family fostered puppies, their goal was to find each puppy a home. Not just any home, but the best possible forever home. Big puppies, little puppies, timid puppies, mischievous puppies: each one had his or her own personality. And for each personality, there was someone who was ready to love that puppy and give it a wonderful life.

Charles felt terrible to even
think
it, but he was just not sure that Ernest and Charlotte Thayer were Cocoa’s perfect forever family. Cocoa was an active, energetic dog who needed to be on the go for hours every single day. She needed to learn some manners, but it wasn’t going to be easy to teach her anything until she calmed down a little
bit. She was a handful, just as Harry had predicted. Maybe she was just too much for two very old, frail people.

But Charles didn’t know how to say so. How could he, just a little kid, ask someone to give up a dog they adored?

“I wonder how Judge Thayer and his wife will feel when they see Cocoa,” Charles said. He saw Harry and Dawna exchange a look.

“I’m sure they’ll be very happy to see her,” said Dawna. “But …” She didn’t finish her sentence.

Harry looked down at the ground and nodded. Charles could tell that Harry and Dawna were thinking the same thoughts he was. “But the judge may have a major decision to make,” said Harry. “Not about whether someone in his courtroom is guilty or not, but about whether he and Charlotte will be able to keep Cocoa.”

All three of them were quiet for a moment.

Then Cocoa sat back on her haunches and barked.

Hey, I thought we were going to have some
fun
here today!

The serious mood was broken. Charles, Harry, and Dawna all cracked up. “Okay, okay,” Harry said. “You’re right, Cocoa. It’s time for some running and playing, isn’t it?” He reached for the sled he had propped next to him.

Dawna knelt down to strap on her snowshoes, giggling as Cocoa licked her face.

And Charles skied back to find his poles.

It was time for Rudolph’s Revenge to prepare for the big race.

Charles was tired that night after practice, but he had made a promise to his little brother. After dinner, Charles helped the Bean write his letter
to Santa. Then he wrote a quick note of his own.
Dear Santa,
it said.
There are a few things I’d like for Christmas, but more about those later. The most important thing I want is for Cocoa to find the perfect forever home. And I think I may know just where that might be….