by Judy Delton
The van started down the street. They were off on their adventure!
Molly and Mary Beth sat together. Sonny sat alone and pouted.
Mrs. Peters pulled onto the highway, and Mrs. Stone got out songbooks and led the Pee Wees in song. They sang the Pee Wee song and school songs and camping songs.
They sang “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” in a round.
After that Mrs. Stone gave them some skiing pointers. Like how to stop at the bottom of a hill. And how to walk up the hill with skis on, sideways.
“I know all that stuff,” said Rachel.
“Then you can help show the others how it’s done,” said Mrs. Peters.
“You bet,” said Rachel.
She liked to be a teacher, thought Molly. And she was good at it.
“Are we almost there?” asked Tim.
“Not yet,” said Mrs. Peters. “But we will stop in the next town to have a little hot chocolate break and use the bathrooms.”
The next town was called Round Lake. The Pee Wees scrambled into a restaurant called Nora’s.
“I want a beefsteak,” said Sonny, looking at the pictures on the menu. He appeared to have forgotten his fear of skis for the moment.
“This is just a hot chocolate break,” Mrs. Peters reminded the Scouts.
But Sonny kept crying for beefsteak. Finally his mother sighed and ordered it for him. While the others drank their hot chocolate politely, Sonny tore away at a piece of steak, chewing loudly and rubbing his stomach to show how good it was.
“That is really bad manners,” said Rachel. “To eat in front of all of us. And it’s only ten o’clock in the morning! We just had breakfast.”
“I think it’s mean to eat a cow,” said Patty. “They are so big and friendly and have such sad eyes. I think it’s better to eat SpaghettiOs.”
“Sonny’s spoiled,” said Tracy. “A spoiled baby.”
After Sonny had eaten a few more bites, he left the rest of the beefsteak on his plate.
“It’s too tough,” he whined.
“Now we’ll all go to the bathroom before we leave,” said Mrs. Peters. She did not look happy with Sonny.
“I’ll bet if his mother weren’t here, Mrs. Peters would never buy Sonny a beefsteak dinner,” said Kevin.
Molly and Mary Beth lined up at the door with the picture of a cowgirl on it. The boys lined up by the door with the cowboy on a bucking bronco.
All of a sudden Sonny got down from his chair and pushed ahead of the others. In his hurry he pushed open the cowgirl’s bathroom instead of the cowboy’s.
When he came out, his face was red.
The boys were laughing at him. “Hey, Stone, is your name Sally?” shouted Roger. “Are you a girl?”
“There are no words on the doors,” said Sonny.
“They put pictures instead of words in case you can’t read, dummy,” said Roger.
The Pee Wees piled back into the van and played I Spy for the next ten miles.
“I spy something beginning with S,” said Kenny.
“Scorpion,” said Sonny.
“How could you see a scorpion out here?” asked Tracy. “Scorpions are in the desert.”
“Is it animal, vegetable, or mineral?” asked Kevin.
Kenny thought a minute. “Animal,” he said.
Now the Pee Wees were puzzled. They looked out the window and just saw the road and cornfields and sometimes a dog or cat or cow or horse. Nothing began with an S that they could see.
“Give up?” asked Kenny triumphantly.
They did.
“Scout leader!” said Kenny, pointing to Mrs. Peters.
The Pee Wees groaned.
“Look!” said Rachel, pointing out the window. “I see something beginning with S! Snow!”
Sure enough, there were snowflakes falling. But just a few.
The van went up a hill and down another. Then through a woods and over a little bridge. And then just when the Pee Wees could not think of another game to play in the car, they saw a sign: THE LITTLE ALPS SKI RESORT. There was a picture of a skier on one side and a small mountain on the other.
“Next stop,” called Mrs. Peters, “the ski lodge!”
She drove the van in front of a big log building and said, “All out!”
The Pee Wees tumbled out of the van. All of them but Sonny.
“I’m staying right here,” he said, holding on to the door of the van.
But between Mrs. Stone and Mrs. Peters, they pulled him out.
The lodge was on top of a big hill. From where they were, the Pee Wees could see smaller hills in all directions. People were little red and green and blue dots skiing down the hills. Other bright dots were riding the ski tow up the hills. Their skis dangled beneath them.
“I want to ride on that!” shouted Patty. She pointed to the ski lift.
The leaders laughed.
“On the hills we will ski,” said Mrs. Peters, “we will just use a rope tow.”
The leaders went inside and registered. They came out with tags to pin on all the Pee Wees’ jackets.
“This shows that you are with the Pee Wee Scouts, and it will allow us to rent the skis,” said Sonny’s mother.
Troop 23 headed toward the slopes. Roger and Rachel raced ahead.
“I’m heading for that great big hill over there,” said Roger, pointing.
Before long, the Pee Wees would be on skis, thought Molly. And she would find out if that little blue and white and red badge would be hers or not!
CHAPTER 4
Warming Up
“Let me introduce myself,” said a tall man with shiny skis and a bright red jacket. He had a ski hat on and ski goggles, and in his mittened hands he had ski poles.
He came swooshing up in front of the Pee Wees, and his skis slid to a stop in a flash, sending a shower of white snow all over them.
“I’m Harry York, and I will be your ski instructor today. Call me Harry.”
“I can’t ski,” cried Sonny to Harry.
“That’s what I’m here for!” said Harry.
“How do you stop?” called Mary Beth.
“How do you start?” asked Kenny.
“How do you keep from falling?” shouted Tim.
Harry held up his hand. “One thing at a time.” He laughed. “First we have to get you all some skis.”
The Pee Wees followed him to a building. The building was full of skis!
Long ones and short ones.
Red ones and green ones and blue ones.
There were poles and boots and mittens and people trying them all on.
Harry slipped his own skis off and led them over to a big scale.
One by one he weighed and measured the Pee Wees.
“Hey, this is like going to the doctor!” shouted Sonny. “I’m not sick!”
“Do we get a lollipop?” asked Roger, stretching to make himself taller.
“This is so we can get the right size skis for you,” said Harry.
Molly did not know that skis came in sizes.
Rachel was busy taking off her jacket and boots and ski pants.
“It wouldn’t be my actual weight with all that stuff on,” she said.
“We allow for that,” said Harry. “You can leave all your wraps on.”
“Rachel’s afraid she’s too fat!” Roger said, laughing.
“I am not,” said Rachel crossly. “I just want to be accurate.”
When the Pee Wees all had the right skis, Harry and the Scout leaders helped them buckle on the ski boots. Harry asked each Pee Wee if he or she had been on skis before.
“If you are used to skiing, we adjust the skis tighter,” he said. “If you are brand new at skiing, we adjust them looser. That way when you fall, the skis will come off more easily.”
“He said when you fall, not if you fall,” Mary Beth pointed out to Molly. “He must think we aren’t very good at it.”
“Well, we aren’t,” said Molly.
“Fasten mine good and
tight,” said Rachel. “I’m a good skier. I have my own skis.”
“Mine too,” said Roger, not to be outdone by Rachel. “Tighter than hers.”
“I’m not getting on those things,” said Sonny. “No way.”
When Molly saw a chance, she went up behind Sonny and whispered to him.
“You don’t want to be the only one without a badge, do you? Lots of us haven’t skied before, and we’re trying it!”
Sonny glared at Molly. He looked as if he might give her a push out the door and into a drift.
“Come on! You can do it! It’s a real little hill,” Molly added.
Sonny looked out the door at the bunny slope. Molly thought he was going to cry all over again, but he said, “Well, all right.”
It had worked! Molly had helped him! Maybe someday, with her help, Sonny would grow up!
Soon the Pee Wees were outside. Their skis were strapped on. They were lined up in a row. The bunny slope looked very steep to Molly.
“The first thing we do is warm up,” said Harry.
Harry showed them how to do arm swings.
He showed them how to do ankle exercises.
He showed them how to lean sideways.
Way to the right. Way to the left.
And he showed them how to fall without getting hurt.
The Pee Wees swung their arms. They leaned sideways. And they fell into the snow with their skis waving. Molly knew that before long they would have to actually go down the hill.
“The first thing we learn,” said Harry, “is the snowplow.”
As the Pee Wees watched, Harry stood with his skis almost meeting at the toes.
“We want to make an upside-down V with our skis,” he said. “That is the best way to go down the hill.”
Molly made her skis into an upside-down V.
Rachel did too.
But Sonny and Tim and Patty made their V go the wrong way.
Harry turned their skis the right way. “Toes together,” he said. “But not crossing. If they cross, you’ll take a tumble right off.”
Soon all the Pee Wees were snowplows.
“Harry, where are our ski poles?” asked Rachel.
“We don’t use poles here for beginners,” he said. “Poles impede technique.”
“What does that mean?” Mary Beth asked Molly.
Molly shook her head.
“That means it is easier to ski when you have more freedom,” Harry said, as if he’d heard her. “You are free to put your arms out like wings, for balance.”
All of the Pee Wees pretended they had wings.
“Is this stuff real snow?” asked Sonny.
“It’s partly artificial snow and partly real snow,” said Harry.
“Now the next rule to remember at all times,” he went on, “is to bend the knees.”
Harry leaned forward and put his hands on his knees.
“Never bend from the waist,” he said. “Bend from the knees. And keep your eyes straight ahead on the bottom of the hill.”
“There’s too much to remember,” cried Sonny. “I can’t remember everything to do.”
“Yes, you can,” whispered Molly. “Just bend your knees and make an upside-down V with your skis.”
“I want to get down that hill,” said Rachel impatiently.
“Yeah, let’s get going,” said Roger. “This is boring.”
Harry skied up behind each Pee Wee and made sure they made an upside-down V.
He made sure they were snowplows.
He made sure they bent their knees.
And he made sure there was plenty of space between each Pee Wee so they wouldn’t run into each other.
Then he adjusted his goggles. “Let’s go!” he said.
Off the Pee Wees went! Molly felt herself moving along slowly. She was skiing! She was really and truly skiing!
“Bend the knees,” shouted Harry, as he skied in and out among the Scouts.
Rachel flew ahead of the others and was down at the bottom of the hill in a flash.
Molly wanted to look back and encourage Sonny. But when she did, she did not see Sonny. She saw Roger! Roger had tripped over his skis and was head over heels in a snowbank!
CHAPTER 5
Bend the Knees!
Tracy came alongside of Roger and veered into him! Behind Tracy came Lisa. Lisa bumped into Tracy. All three Scouts were tangled up, and skis were pointing in all directions.
“Darn these skis!” shouted Roger.
“He can’t get them off”—Mary Beth laughed—“because he said he was a good skier and to make them tight!”
Molly and Mary Beth were halfway down the bunny slope, when all of a sudden someone shot by them.
“That was Sonny!” shouted Mary Beth. “Just look at him go!”
Sure enough, when Molly looked, Sonny was at the bottom of the hill beside Rachel!
“Boy, that was easy,” said Sonny, when the others arrived. “You were right, Molly.”
After all the fuss Sonny made, thought Molly, he turned out to be almost as good a skier as Rachel!
“Beginner’s luck,” said Rachel.
Sonny had grabbed on to the rope tow and was at the top of the hill again! Down he came once more, with his knees bent and his skis making a fine .
“He’s good!” said Mary Beth. “And he wouldn’t even be out here if you hadn’t helped him!”
At the top of the hill, Harry and the two leaders were trying to pull Roger out of the snow. Tracy and Lisa got up and skied down. But as soon as Roger was on his feet, he tripped and fell again. “Try not to cross your skis,” said Harry. “They should be close, but not touching.”
“These are dumb skis,” Roger grumbled.
Tim fell when he was halfway down the hill. And so did Patty and Kevin. But they got up and began again.
“This is fun!” called Sonny, whizzing by for the third time.
“You are a natural at it,” said Harry.
The Pee Wees took the rope tow to the top and whizzed down again.
Over and over. Up and down. Down and up. Rachel and Sonny moved on to the next little hill. The only one who was not having fun was Roger.
“Pride goes before a fall,” Mary Beth reminded him.
“Mind your own business,” said Roger, brushing himself off.
“It looks like everyone made it down the hill but Roger,” said Molly.
Now Molly began to feel sorry for Roger instead of Sonny. If he didn’t get his ski badge, he would be very cross. And he would take it all out on the other Pee Wees.
“He has a terrible temper,” said Mary Beth.
Roger was kicking snow at the others when they got near.
“I think we should help him,” said Molly.
“He’d push us away,” said Mary Beth.
“All he has to do to get his badge is go down the hill once,” said Molly. “We could put him between us and hold him up all the way down. Mrs. Peters didn’t actually say we had to go down by ourselves.”
As the girls watched, Mrs. Peters gave Roger a tug. He stood up, started down the hill, and tumbled into a drift.
Harry pulled him up and showed him how to make a and how to bend his knees. Roger did. But as soon as he started to move, the disappeared. Down he went.
“Let’s go help him,” said Molly, who was determined to see Roger get a badge.
The girls took hold of the rope and got pulled to the top. They skied up beside Roger.
“Get out of here,” he said. “Leave me alone.”
“Listen to us,” said Molly, who would have stamped her foot if it hadn’t had a ski on it. “Just hold on to us and you can make it. You can get down the hill and you can get your badge.”
The girls grabbed his arm, one on each side.
“Bend your knees!” ordered Molly.
“Make a snowplow,” said Mary Beth.
Roger was big. And he was heavy. It was not easy to hold him up.
But they were moving! Roger was
not falling! They were skiing, all three of them. When they got to the bottom of the hill, Roger was still on his feet!
“Hurray!” cheered the Pee Wees, shouting and clapping.
Roger looked embarrassed. But he looked pleased too.
“That was fun,” he said. Then under his breath so no one could hear, he muttered, “Thanks.”
Just then Sonny swished up to Roger and said, “What a big baby! Had to have help from the girls.” Then he skied off.
“Now Sonny ruined it all,” said Molly in disgust.
“No, he didn’t,” said Rachel. “Roger deserves that. He’s always calling Sonny a baby. It’s about time the shoe is on the other foot.”
“Or the ski.” Tracy laughed.
The Pee Wees skied up and down the bunny slope together. By the end of the afternoon, Roger skied a few feet by himself. Real snow was falling gently, and the sun popped in and out behind the clouds. It was a beautiful day at the Little Alps.
“How many are ready for some cocoa at the lodge?” asked Mrs. Peters.
Mittens waved. They all clamored up the slope on the rope tow together. Harry helped them check in their skis and put their own boots back on.
“It feels funny to walk!” shouted Sonny.
“It feels like it does after you skate!” said Mary Beth.
The Pee Wees all trooped back to the lodge. There was a big fire in the fireplace. They sat around it and sang their Pee Wee song while their leaders brought cocoa and apples and some cheese to snack on.
Molly was warm and sleepy and full of good feelings after such a fun day with her friends. And they still had the long cozy ride home in the van.
No one noticed that the fluffy light snowflakes had turned into heavy wet ones, or that a strong gust of wind had come up from the north.
CHAPTER 6
Stuck in a Drift
As the Pee Wees piled into the van, they noticed the sun had gone down and that even though it was afternoon, it was getting dark.
The van had gone along merrily for several miles when Mrs. Peters said, “There is a wind coming up.”
Molly noticed the trees waving and bending. Their leaders were frowning. They had worried looks on their faces.
No one felt like playing I Spy. No one felt like singing. They all just sat and looked out the window at the snow. Every minute it seemed to get heavier. Soon they could not see the farmhouses along the road, or the cornfields. In a little while they could not even see the road! Mrs. Peters had the headlights on, and the windshield wipers and the defroster, and she looked nervous.