Authors: Nancy Krulik
It's Snow Joke (4 page)
Their father sighed. “Maybe my kids are too young for this,” he told Lola. “I’m taking them back to the lodge. Can we get a refund on our lessons there?”
Lola nodded. “Of course, but . . .”
The father took off with his children. Katie bit her lip. Lola had lost almost half the class! Katie tried to do what Lola showed them and held her poles the way Lola said. But all she could think of was how bad she felt. She hadn’t meant to scare those kids. Finally, she turned and began trudging off toward the side of the bunny slope.
“Now where are
you
going?” Lola asked her.
you
going?” Lola asked her.
“I’m going to see if I can get those kids to come back,” Katie explained.
“But you can’t leave now,” Lola told her. “You’re going to miss learning how to fall correctly.”
“That’s okay,” Katie told her. “Falling is the one thing I’m good at already.”
Chapter 7
“Excuse me! Please, wait up!” Katie cried out to Johnny’s dad.
But Katie was clumsy on skis. She couldn’t move quickly at all. So before she could catch up, Johnny, his sister, and his dad were out of sight.
“WAAHHHH!” Katie could hear Johnny’s cries becoming softer and softer as he got farther and farther away.
There was nothing for Katie to do except stumble back to the class. But it was
so
hard to move in the snow.
so
hard to move in the snow.
“Come on,” she said to herself. “You can do it. Right, left, right, left.” Katie slid her legs back and forth on the snow. She was moving pretty well. And then . . .
Thump.
She banged into a rock that was hidden in the snow. It knocked her off balance and she fell sideways between a couple of pine trees.
She banged into a rock that was hidden in the snow. It knocked her off balance and she fell sideways between a couple of pine trees.
As she struggled to sit up, Katie blinked back a few tears. This day wasn’t turning out at all like she’d expected.
And suddenly, it was getting much, much colder. A really cold wind began to blow. Katie pulled her scarf up over her mouth and nose and tried to keep warm.
But a scarf couldn’t help Katie. Not now. After all, this was no ordinary wind. This was the
magic
wind. And a wool scarf was no match for that!
magic
wind. And a wool scarf was no match for that!
The magic wind began blowing harder and harder. It was like a fierce icy tornado, circling just around Katie. It blew harder and harder, chilling her right to the bone.
And then it stopped.
Just like that.
Katie Carew was gone. She had turned into someone else.
But who was she?
Slowly, Katie opened her eyes. She looked down at herself through blue ski goggles. She was wearing a bright orange parka.
Wait a minute. Katie didn’t have blue ski goggles.
Or an orange jacket.
But Lola did.
Katie looked down at her feet. The plain rental skis were gone. A pair of shiny red skis were in their place.
Lola’s
skis.
skis.
Oh, no! Katie had turned into Lola—right in the middle of a ski lesson!
Katie didn’t know how to ski. And there was no way she was going to be able to teach other people how to do it. Katie gulped nervously.
This was
so
not good!
so
not good!
Chapter 8
“Lola, can we ski down the hill now?” Suzanne asked. “I want to see how fast I can go.”
“Um . . . well . . .” Katie stammered. “I don’t think . . . I mean . . .”
“She’s going to teach us the correct way to fall, remember?” Jeremy reminded Suzanne.
“Why?” Suzanne replied. “Katie’s not here. She’s the one who does all the falling.”
Katie scowled. She certainly was here. Suzanne just didn’t know it. Suzanne wouldn’t be making fun of her if she realized that Lola was really Katie.
“That’s not nice,” Jeremy said.
Katie smiled. At least Jeremy was standing up for her.
“Yeah, well, it wasn’t nice for you and Katie not to invite me to come skiing today,” Suzanne answered. “I heard everything you two said while you were near the slide.”
“But nobody else was there,” Jeremy insisted. “I even looked.”
Suzanne smiled proudly. “I was camouflaged in the snow. See, I told you it works!”
Jeremy frowned and kicked at the snow with his ski.
Suzanne turned to Katie. “I don’t plan on falling, Lola. So can I just go?”
“Nobody plans on falling,” Katie replied. “It just happens.”
At just that moment, Katie’s skis slipped right out from under her. “Whoops!” The next thing Katie knew she landed hard—right on her bottom—in a big mound of snow.
Jeremy, Suzanne, and the woman in the green furry parka all stared at her in amazement.
“You see, uh . . . well . . .” Katie began as she struggled to her feet. “You never know when you might slip. It can happen anytime, anywhere, and to anyone.”
“Wow,” Jeremy said. “That looked like it really hurt!”
“Yes, it did look painful,” the woman in the furry parka agreed.
Katie rubbed her bruised rear end. Painful? They had no idea.
The lodge at the bottom of the bunny slope looked so far away. How was she going to make it down the hill?
“You see,” Katie told them. “You never know when you could fall and . . . WHOA!” Katie shouted out as she lost her footing again and headed downhill. “HEEELLLLP!!!”
Chapter 9
“Get out of the way!” Katie shouted out as she zoomed past skiers.
Katie slid faster and faster down the mountainside. “YIKES!” She turned, hoping to slow herself down. Instead, she skied through some trees and came out on a much steeper slope.
“Oh, noooooo!”
Ahead of her Katie could see the film crew and the actors. Her right ski hit a rock. She flew up in the air and twirled like an ice skater.
Katie landed on one leg just as a cameraman was taking a close-up shot of Rosie.
“HELP! ROSIE! PLEASE!” Katie screamed as she soared past.
Rosie looked up at the sound of her name, but she didn’t see anyone she recognized. After all, Katie didn’t look like Katie anymore.
Katie zoomed on, moving faster and faster.
“Somebody stop me!” Katie called out as she flew over a bump and sailed in the air again. She shut her eyes. Over and over she flipped—one somersault, two, and then three.
Finally she rolled to a stop.
It wasn’t until she stood up on solid ground again that Katie opened her eyes slowly and looked around. Somehow she had made it all the way down the hill not far from the lodge.
She glanced up to the right, at the bunny slope. She could see Jeremy and Suzanne standing next to each other with their mouths wide open.
“Ha ha ha!”
Katie turned her head suddenly. That little boy—Johnny—was pointing in her direction.
He, his sister, and his dad were standing outside the lodge with cups of hot cocoa in their hands.
“Lola’s so funny, Daddy,” Johnny said. “I changed my mind. I want to ski. Can we take a class with Lola now?”
Johnny’s dad didn’t say anything. He was too busy staring at Katie in amazement. “That was incredible, Lola,” he told Katie. “I’ve never seen anything like that.”
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