Kate’s Vermonth Adventure (13 page)

“What's happening, girls?” Aunt Molly said, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

Kate turned her attention to the Web site, showing it to the others.

“Do these people look familiar to you?” she asked.

“Not at all.” Aunt Molly squinted. “Wish I had my glasses on…I'd be able to see better. But they don't look familiar to me. What about you, Ollie? Do you know these folks?”

“I don't recognize them.” He snapped his fingers. “But, come to think of it, I did hear Michael say some couple was snooping around town, asking a lot of questions about the creamery.”

“Michael said that?” Kate released a breath, then leaned back in her chair.

“Yes.”

Even stranger
. “This is Mark Collingsworth,” Kate explained, pointing at the picture of the man. “And his wife, Abby.”

“What about them?” Aunt Molly asked.

“They own a creamery about fifty miles away. A competitor. This is the man Sydney and I saw the other day behind the building. And this woman was with him.”

“Wow. Very suspicious.” Uncle Ollie nodded. “We'll have to call the Hamptons in the morning and tell them.” He scratched his bald head and pursed his lips. “Do you think he and his wife are the ones sabotaging the creamery?”

Kate sighed. “Maybe. I'm not sure. We don't really have any proof, and I hate to accuse someone unless I know for sure.”

“We just know they were doing something behind the building that day,” Sydney added.

“Well, let's talk about this in the morning,” Kate's dad said with a yawn. “There's no point trying to solve a mystery in the middle of the night. We all need our rest, especially if we're going to go to the Winter Festival.”

Kate's heart twisted at his words. If Sydney couldn't compete, what was the point in going?

Just as the girls crawled back into bed once more, Sydney sat up with a silly grin on her face. “I have a brilliant-beyond-brilliant idea!”

“What is it?” Kate asked, yawning.

“Just because
I
can't enter the competition doesn't mean
you
can't.”

“W–what?” Kate sat straight up and stared at her friend in disbelief. “Did you just say what I thought you said? You want me to take your place in the competition?”

“Sure! Why not? You did a great job skiing down the Rat. And I'd be willing to bet the people in charge of the festival will transfer my entry fee to you once they hear that I'm injured.”

“But, why?”

“Because…” Sydney took her hand and gently squeezed it. “I think it would be good for you. For ages now I've heard you say you're no good at sports. I really think you would do a great job and it would prove—once and for all—that you can overcome your fear of sports.”

“But…a competition?” Kate shivered just thinking about it. “That's not the best place to prove something to myself.”

“Don't you see, Kate?” Sydney said. “The only person you'd be competing against is yourself. This wouldn't have to be about anyone else. Just you. Face your fears head-on like I did. Ski down that mountain and you'll be a winner, no matter how fast you go. See what I'm saying?”

“I guess so.” Kate pulled the covers up and leaned back against her pillows. “But I'll have to pray about it. I just don't know yet. I'll let you know in the morning, okay?”

“Okay.” Sydney chuckled. “But get ready, Kate! I have a feeling you're going to be skiing tomorrow afternoon.”

As Kate closed her eyes, she tried to picture herself sailing down a mountain. For some reason, every time she thought about it, she pictured Michael…whizzing by her, going a hundred miles an hour.

Thinking of Michael made her wonder—once again—why he'd been at the old spider-filled barn. Just a coincidence, or were there darker forces at work? And why had he left them there without saying a word? Very strange, even for him!

Kate's eyes grew heavy and she finally drifted off to sleep, dreaming dreams of red barns, snow-covered mountains…and rats. Big, hairy rats.

Kate stood at the top of the hill, staring down. Somewhere between her middle of the night conversation with Sydney and now, she had decided to do it. She'd entered the skiing competition. And now, looking at the steep hill below, she was finally ready to face her biggest fear. “I can do this! I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me!”

Off in the distance, she heard Sydney's voice calling out. “Go, Inspector Gadget! Ski the Rat!”

“You can do it, honey.” Her mother's voice echoed across the packed snow.

“Join the Rat Pack!” Uncle Ollie threw in his two cents' worth.

Hearing the words
The Rat Pack
reminded Kate that they hadn't yet solved the mystery about the creamery. Thinking about the creamery made her think of the woman in the white coat and the man with the sour expression on his face. Thinking of the man and woman reminded her of the day she and Sydney had hidden behind the Dumpster. And for some reason, thinking of the Dumpster reminded her of Bailey and how her phone rang at just the right—er, wrong—time.

“Why am I thinking about that right now?” Kate scolded herself. “I'm supposed to be getting ready to ski, not solve a crime!”

She took her place and tried to prepare herself the best she could.

“I can't believe I'm doing this. I can't believe I'm doing this!” Kate bent her knees and looked down at the long, slender skis. “Lord,” she prayed, her eyes now closed, “help me get to the bottom without falling. Oh, and Lord, if You could help me win, I promise to use the money to bless someone else!”

She opened her eyes and looked at the hill below. “It's just a hill. And I'm just like a little robot, about to glide from the top of the hill to the bottom. No big deal! What am I so worried about?”

Of course, there was that part where hundreds of people were watching her, but once she got started, she wouldn't have time to even think about them. No, all she had to think about was getting to the bottom without falling!

At the
pop
of the starter's pistol, Kate dug her poles into the snow and pushed off. As she began to sail down the hill, the cold wind whipped at her face. In fact, the wind was so strong it nearly knocked her down a time or two. Thankfully she managed to stay on her feet!

She came to the first curve and bent her knees, leaning into it. “C'mon, Snow-Bot!” she whispered. “You can do this!”

Kate managed to straighten out her position after making the curve…without falling! “Woo-hoo!” she called out to no one but the wind. “I did it!” Up ahead she saw a sharp curve to the left. “Uh-oh.” She whispered another prayer, then bent her knees to make it around the turn.

Picking up speed, she almost lost control. After a bit of wobbling, she sailed on down, down, down. The trees off in the distance seemed to fly by, their snow-covered branches nothing but a blur.

For a moment, she remembered what had happened yesterday…how Sydney had injured her ankle in that very spot. How Kate had searched for a trail through those trees to find help. How they'd ended up in an old red barn with spiders. How Michael was there with his backpack on.

Michael. Hmm
.

“Don't think about that right now!” Kate whispered to herself. “Just stay focused! Stay focused!”

After a couple more twists and turns, the bottom of the hill was in sight. Kate crouched a bit, trying to get more speed.

“C'mon, c'mon!” With faster speed than ever, she soared over the finish line, then—like a good robot would do—turned her feet to come to an abrupt stop. Kate's heart raced a hundred miles an hour.

“I did it! I did it!” She pulled off her goggles and began to cheer at the top of her lungs. She could hear the roar of the crowd and felt a little embarrassed. Kate put her hands over her mouth and giggled. Making it to the bottom without falling felt so good! And Sydney was right! She
had
proven something to herself.

I'm not bad at sports! I need to stop saying that!

One by one, she watched the other skiers in her age group. A couple of them fell. One of them made it all the way to the bottom, but didn't seem to be moving as fast. One girl was really, really good. Kate watched her as she came sailing down the hill. Her bright blue snowsuit stood out against the bright white snow.

“Wow, she looks like a pro.” At the very last minute, the girl lost control of her skis and went sprawling in the snow.

“Oh man! I hope she's okay,” Kate whispered.

Thankfully, the girl rose to her feet and raised her hand to show everyone she wasn't injured. Everyone cheered and she skied down to the bottom of the hill and took a bow.

Finally it was Michael's turn. Kate had almost forgotten he was competing until she saw him. She could hear Uncle Ollie's cheers off in the distance.

Michael is really blessed to have Uncle Ollie in his life. He needs someone like that to support him
.

Michael started off well and even made the first curve with no problem. But then, at the second big turn, he almost lost his footing. Thankfully, he didn't fall, but it did slow him down a little. He still skied very well, and Kate knew he'd made up for the lost time. At least, it seemed like it! She was surprised when she saw his time come up on the board.
Oh wow. It took him almost a full second longer to reach the bottom than me. Weird
.

Only one skier was left. Kate watched as the boy sailed down the hill like a professional skier.

“Wow, he's so good!” She watched in awe as he gracefully moved back and forth on his skis. Then, just before he reached the final turn, his skis somehow bumped up against each other and he toppled over! A loud gasp went up from the crowd.

“Oh, that's terrible!” Kate covered her eyes, not wanting to look. Hopefully he wasn't badly hurt.

It took a couple of minutes for him to stand, but he finally managed. The crowd applauded his efforts, and he responded with a dramatic bow. Kate laughed.
He's a great sport!

After that, everything seemed to move in slow motion. Kate heard her name announced over the loudspeaker. “The winner of this year's Winter Festival junior level competition is twelve-year-old Kate Oliver from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania!”

It almost felt like they were calling someone else's name.

“Me?” she whispered. “I won?” Kate could hardly believe it! The whole thing seemed impossible…like a dream. Only this
wasn't
a dream! It was true. Every bit of it!

An older man gestured for her to come to the stage, which she did with shaking knees. She climbed a few stairs and stood before the people.

“Kate Oliver, congratulations on skiing the Rat! You're now an official member of the Rat Pack!” He handed her a T-shirt and opened it to show the icky-looking rat on the back.

Kate giggled and took the shirt. “Thank you so much!” She searched for Uncle Ollie in the crowd. When she found him, she held up the shirt and grinned.

“The Winter Festival of Mad River Valley is proud to give you this trophy for your performance today.” The man standing next to Kate gave her a big silver trophy with two skis on top. “And of course…” the man continued, handing her a check, “the grand prize of three hundred dollars!”

Kate gripped the check in her hand and whispered a prayer. “Oh, thank You, Lord! I know just what to do with this!”

The crowd started applauding, and Kate felt her cheeks warm up. They always did that when she was embarrassed. No doubt they were as red as tomatoes!

She looked through all of the people till she found her family and Sydney standing off to the left of the stage. Getting down the stairs was the easy part. Making her way through the crowd—with so many people patting her on the back and saying congratulations—was a lot harder than she imagined!

Finally she saw her mother. “Oh, Kate! You were wonderful! Congratulations! We're so proud of you!”

“I knew you could do it!” her dad hollered.

The others in her family gathered around, looking at the trophy. Kate held it up for all to see.

“She's a beauty!” Uncle Ollie said.

“That's the coolest trophy I've ever seen!” Dexter added.

“Wonderful, wonderful!” Aunt Molly added. “I'm tickled pink, honey. And even more tickled that you were wearing my old skis! What an honor!”

Biscuit jumped up and down in excitement. Kate reached down to scratch him behind the ears. “I know, boy! You're so excited!”

Sydney came hobbling toward her on her sore ankle. “Oh, Kate! I'm so proud of you! You're the fastest skier here.”

Kate shook her head. “I still don't know how it's possible. And I know for a fact that your time would have been better than mine, if only…” She looked down at her friend's ankle and sighed.