The Snowy

by Dave Schneider

  “Maybe with that,” said Sparky, pointing.

  The guide was dragging a coiled rope toward them. One end was tied to the log.

  CHAPTER 49

  Rappel

  “WHO KNOWS HOW TO RAPPEL?” asked Sparky. “Without a harness, I mean.”

  “Lowconz, Trappid, I know,” said Grell.

  “I’ve rappelled with a harness,” said Sandy.

  “I’ve never rappelled,” said Neff.

  “Me neither,” said Notch, “Only parachuted.”

  “I’ll show you how,” said Sparky. Parachuted? Flew a helicopter? Come on. Sparky took the rope from the guide. and dropped the free end over the edge. It hit the snow. Plenty of rope.

  He turned to his friends. “It’s easy,” he said, “if you do it right. If you don’t, well...never mind. Let Sandy go first. I’ll tell her how. You guys watch. We’ll send the backpacks and plummetins down to her next, then we go. I can coach you if you need.”

  They nodded.

  Sandy put down her backpack.

  Sparky handed the line to her. “Pull this tight with your left hand. Now hold the loose end with your right hand, straddle it and bring it up behind you between your legs. Pull it to the right around your waist. Yes, like that. Now bring it up across your chest to your left shoulder. Drop it back over your left shoulder. Good. Now reach behind with your right hand and pull it across your back and under your right arm.”

  “I...can’t reach...there it is,” said Sandy. She stretched it across her back.

  “Hold it there under your arm with your right hand, and keep gripping the tied rope with your left hand,” said Sparky.

  “Like this?” she asked.

  “That’s it. Ready?”

  She nodded.

  “Okay, step back over the edge. Keep your feet against the cliff wall. Good. Now, to go down, loosen the rope with your right hand, let it slip around your body and feed it out with your left hand. Your right hand controls how fast you drop. Ready?”

  “Uh, huh,” responded Sandy, leaning out over the edge, her lips tight together.

  “Go for it.”

  Sandy nodded to the guide, then looked at Jung for a moment. “Thank you,” she said. She took a breath and worked her way down the cliff.

  Sparky watched until Sandy stood hip deep in the soft snow below. She waved.

  “Ready for the packs?” he shouted.

  “Yes,” she called out, releasing the rope.

  Sparky pulled up the rope, tied the packs and the plummetins to it, and let them down. Sandy stacked them in the snow against the base of cliff.

  “Neff, you’re next,” said Sparky. “Ready?”

  She nodded.

  She wrapped her arms around Jung. “I love you,” she said. “I’m so glad you’re my friend. I will miss you.” She hugged him.

  He hugged her back, then stood back, looked into her eyes, held her hands for a moment, then released them.

  Neff wrapped the rope and slowly descended.

  Notch, next, shook Jung’s hand. “We wouldn’t be here without you. Thank you, my friend. You’re totally cool.”

  Notch released his grip.

  Jung tapped him on the shoulder.

  Notch took the rope, nodded, looked down and descended.

  Pizeela and Tyfoona smiled at Jung, then bounced easily down the cliff.

  “Piece of cake,” said Sparky.

  Trrad looked at Jung and put his hand over his heart for moment.

  Jung nodded.

  Trrad climbed hand over hand down the rope, his feet against the cliff.

  Sparky turned to Jung. “You saved my life, more than once. It was scary, and fun. You’re my bud, forever. Thank you.” He hugged Jung.

  Jung hugged back, his usual smile sagging slightly.

  Tears welling, lips tight, Sparky grabbed the rope, wrapped his legs around it, looked down and slipped the entire length without rappelling.

  As everyone grabbed their gear, the ground began to rumble. They pushed back to the cliff, waiting. Then all was still again.

  Grell was ready to rappel.

  Jung tapped her arm and pointed down at the pitch.

  She nodded, then descended. As she touched down, she nodded at the windblown snow below them. “Crevasse,” she said.

  Sparky saw a faint furrow crossing the pitch. “Quake must have loosened it. I’ll smear it. See if it breaks open. If it spreads all the way across, we’ll have to find another way down.” He looked up.

  Jung, in the opening, was pulling in the rope.

  The guide was behind him, coiling.

  Sparky strapped on his plummetins.

  CHAPTER 50

  Crevasse

  SPARKY POINTED THE PLUMMETINS AT THE FURROW, pushed off, picked up speed, then cranked the plummetins sideways and climbed away.

  A pile of powder poured downward fom just below him. The faint furrow split open. The powder poured in. The furrow widened into a crevasse, and spread across the pitch. It hit the rock wall on the left, but stopped short of the cliff on the right, leaving a narrow patch near the base.

  “Blew it apart with one fell swoop,” said Notch, “Almost.” He pointed to the patch. “So we go there?”

  “Maybe,” responded Sparky. He poled across and pushed his plummetins into the powder above the patch. A bolus of fluff flowed down. No hole.

  “Looks good,” he shouted. “Come on.”

  Notch, Pizeela, and Tyfoona pushed across in Sparky’s tracks. Trrad was next. He eyed the crevasse below him.

  “Don’t look at the crevasse, Trrad,” said Neff. “Look where you want your skis to go.”

  Trrad sidled into Sparky’s tracks and began to push across. He eyed the crevasse.

  “Don’t look down there,” urged Neff, clenching her teeth. “Look ahead.”

  Tradd turned to look ahead. The tip of his right plummetin hooked uphill into the soft snow.

  “No,” cried Neff, gasping.

  Trrad twisted in slow motion to his right, landed on his left side and rotated all the way around to the right until both plummetins pointed down at the crevasse. He lay flat on his back, arms outstretched, fingertips digging into the deep snow.

  “Wait,” shouted Neff, side-slipping down. She stopped between Trrad and the crevasse, her plummetins pointing across the slope. “Don’t move,” she said, as calmly as she could, her heart pounding. “We have to point these across the slope.” She reached for the tip of Trrad’s left plummetin. “Then you can get up.”

  Trrad sat up and tried to stand.

  “No. Not yet,” she cried. “Don’t....”

  “Stay down,” Sparky shouted.

  Trrad’s plummetins began to slide forward. He fell back.

  “How can he be so stupid,” hissed Notch.

  Trrad’s plummetins slid over Neff’s, straddling her legs. She began to slide sideways. She dug her poles into the snow. But Trrad’s weight was too much. He carried Neff toward the crevasse, his hands clawing at the snow, trying to stop. Grell cringed.

  “Nooo!” yelled Sandy.

  Neff was trapped. “Oh, Trrad,” she cried softly, as she slipped over the edge, and vanished into the blue.

  Trrad stopped at the edge, the tips of his plummetins in space.

  Notch bit his fist, “No, no, no, Neff!”

  Pizeela covered her eyes. Sparky raced back, Tyfoona just behind him. Sandy and Grell slid down to the crevasse. Sandy tried to look over the edge, but couldn’t see far enough. “Neff? Neff?” she called.

  Silence.

  She looked at Grell, panic-stricken. “Hold my hand,” she cried.

  Grell grabbed her hand and leaned back.

  Sandy leaned out over the edge. “I see her! Neff? She doesn’t hear me. We’ve got
to help her!” Sandy pulled back and glanced at Trrad. “Get him away from here!”

  The girls unstrapped their plummetins.

  Trrad stared skyward, fingers dug in, grimacing. Neff had fallen in. He hadn’t wanted this. Tears rolled down his face.

  Jung, watching from above, flung the free end of the rope down to Sparky. Sparky dragged it to Sandy. Sandy looped it around Trrad’s chest, while Grell held him from sliding. Then Sandy, Grell and Tyfoona hauled him away from the edge.

  Tyfoona unlooped the line from Trrad and tossed it to Sparky. He wrapped it around himself, kicked the end into the crevasse, pulled the line taught, and looked up at Jung who nodded once. Sparky backed out over the edge and looked down. Neff was wedged below him, between the two walls, her plummetins and poles still on, her head folded over her chest. She’s not moving!

  “Hold on, Neff. I’m coming,” he called, feeling queasy. He rappelled down the icy wall. “Neff?” he said, approaching. “Can you talk? Neff?”

  “Sparky?” she croaked, her eyes half shut.

  “Yeah. It’s me. We’re getting you out.”

  “Oh, oh, oh. It really hurts.”

  “What?”

  “My head. I hit my head.”

  Oh, boy. Not good. “Are you strong enough to help me?”

  “I don’t know. I guess,” she muttered, in a daze.

  Sparky put his feet against the icy wall, held the rope with his left hand, offered the loose end to her with his right and said, “Can you put this around your back?”

  Neff took the line, reached over her head, slowly pulled it across her back, then held it to her chest. Sparky took the end, knotted it to the rope he was on, and tugged to make sure it held.

  “You ready?” he asked.

  She nodded. “I think.”

  Sparky looked up and shouted, “Ready?”

  “Ready,” said Sandy from above.

  “Go for it.” He felt the line tighten. Hope it holds. He and Neff slid slowly up the icy wall.

  Sandy, Notch, Tyfoona, Pizeela and Grell dragged the two over the lip and away from the crevasse. Neff’s gloves were frozen to the rope.

  Sandy undid them. “Can you move?” she asked.

  “I have to,” said Neff. Sandy and Tyfoona helped her stand.

  Sparky poled across to the narrow patch. When Neff was ready, she went, Sandy close behind her. The others followed, one by one. Trrad carefully shuffled across, Tyfoona behind him holding a piece of cut rope, tied around his waist.

  Jung watched from above. The travelers carefully sideslipped down the tiny pathway, turned to wave, then headed down to the sea, Tyfoona still holding the rope to Trrad. Jung stood there, watching them go.

  The guide carefully rewound the line, stored it securely away, then tapped Jung gently on the shoulder.

  CHAPTER 51

  Down To The Sea

  THEY PAUSED AT THE BOTTOM of the three-thousand-foot pitch, the forest before them.

  Tyfoona had taken the rope off Trrad, when he’d gone halfway down the pitch. He was able to steer across the treeless terrain. But now he would have to turn through trees.

  Grell decided to leave Sandy and Sparky with him and take the others ahead. “Follow tracks to pond. We wait there,” Grell said, as she skied off.

  Sandy recalled the last time Grell left her, and, for a moment, felt abandoned, until Sparky asked, “It looks like Grell wants to get away from Trrad for a while.”

  “Seems like,” said Sandy, feeling a bit better.

  “Let’s leapfrog,” said Sparky. “You follow him for a while, then I will.”

  Sandy nodded and snowplowed off behind Trrad.

  Sparky poled across the slope, picked a fun line down through the trees and took it, until he came across Sandy helping Trrad out of a tree well.

  She was asking, “Why do you sit back, every time you go towards a tree?”

  Trrad shrugged.

  Sparky approached. “Having fun?”

  Sandy rolled her eyes.

  “My turn to babysit,” he smiled.

  Sandy watched Sparky go off with Trrad, then she cut over to a knoll for a view of the ocean. It’s a lot like the Caribbean—blues, greens and aquas—but slightly purpler. Far off to the right sat the tip of the peninsula, barrier spires rising from the sea just beyond it. The trading point. She couldn’t wait to get there. She looked back at the massive cliff above her. It curved away in both directions. She searched for the cave opening, but couldn’t see it. Even if anyone found it, and got up to it, they’d get lost in it, probably forever.

  A copse of plummetin trees sat below her. With a sudden jolt, she imagined a Lowconz warrior waiting in there. Don’t be silly. She skied around the copse, just in case. When she caught up with Sparky and Trrad, they were staring down at a pond in the middle of small valley. It was surrounded with tropical looking trees, sand and grass.

  An alarm had gone off in Sparky’s brain. He searched the area for lizard tracks. “Sandy bring Trrad,” he said, “I’ve got to get to Grell.” He shot straight down, unstrapped his plummetins and ran to Grell.

  She smiled inquisitively.

  He drew a lizard in the sand.

  Grell shook her head no, then pointed at two big, green mounds in the sand on the far side of the pond.

  Sparky stared. Rocks? No, not rocks. What are they? Suddenly, one of the mounds rose, and ambled to the water on six spindly legs. It was followed by the other mound.

  “Turtles?”

  “Humongo-tortoises,” said Notch. The beasts’ heads and backs glided smoothly over the quiet water. “They look like submarines, awash!”

  Neff found a shale shelf at the edge of the pond and sat. Sandy sat next to her. Trrad sat behind them. They watched the turtles.

  “Prehistoric,” said Neff.

  A moment later, the ground rumbled.

  Neff and Sandy jumped to their feet. Trrad stood slowly.

  A mound of bubbles formed in the middle of the pond. Then a small geyser shot up through the bubbles, in a billow of steam. The tortoises circled the geyser and made a beeline towards Sandy and Neff. Grell called everyone back to the trees. She sounded urgent. They began to run.

  But something made Neff stop. She turned back. Sandy was face down, trying to...swim?

  “Quicksand!” yelled Sparky.

  “Get her,” shouted Notch.

  They ran toward Sandy. Their feet began to sink in muck. Sparky dove to his stomach and reached out for Sandy. He wasn’t close enough. Notch dropped behind him and grabbed his ankles. Tyfoona fell to her knees, crawled over Notch and Sparky and grabbed Sandy’s hands. Sparky’s face sank into the soft mud under Tyfoona’s weight. He twisted his head to the side.

  “Powul,” shouted Tyfoona.

  “She said, p...pull,” Sparky sputtered, spitting muck. He tried to wriggle backwards.

  Notch tugged on his ankles. Tyfoona was too heavy. Sparky was sinking. Neff and Trrad grabbed Notch’s legs and pulled.

  “My shoulder,” shouted Notch.

  They let up.

  “Never mind. Pull,” he said, clenching his teeth. They tugged again. Notch wriggled back, gritting in pain.

  Sparky squirmed back. Tyfoona held on with vice-like legs. “Man, you’re strong,” he wheezed. “Sandy, shake your body. Hard. Fast as you can. ”

  Sandy felt as if her arms were being pulled from their sockets. She shook her legs and body. She rose slowly to the surface. Everyone pulled her to dry ground, where they all sat, catching their breaths.

  The two tortoises plodded nonchalantly past them, climbed on a stone slab, rotated to face the lake, plopped down and closed their eyes.

  “Another day at the pond,” said Notch. One opened an eye, looked at him, then slowly shut it again.

  The rumbling died
, the geyser ebbed. All was quiet. Tyfoona went to the water and rinsed off the mud. Sandy, Sparky and Notch joined her.

  The two tortoises headed back to the pond.

  Notch stepped aside for one. “Your lake, Sir Turtle.”

  Grell said, “We go, now.”

  It was Neff and Notch’s turn to accompany Trrad.

  Sandy, Sparky, Tyfoona and Pizella went ahead with Grell. The snow softened and finally melted away. They fond some dry needles beneath an evergreen and sat. A soft, warm breeze wafted through the trees. Their wet clothes were almost dry.

  “I smell the ocean,” said Sandy.

  “Smells good,” said Sparky.

  Neff and Notch soon showed up with Trrad.

  Everyone slung the plummetins and poles on their backs and set off, anticipating an easy walk to the peninsula. But a mile later, a pile of massive boulders blocked their path. The boulders extended way up the mountain to the right, and well into the sea to the left.

  “I can see it all now,” said Notch. “Eons ago. The mountain rumbled. Rocks came tumbling down, colliding and booming across these flats and into the sea. The dust settled and, lo and behold, this!”

  Sparky shook his head.

  Grell turned and led them up toward two gigantic boulders that sat side by side, like sentinels, a wedge-shaped stone jammed between them. She grabbed the tip of the stone and looked at Sparky. He hesitated, then got it. He took hold with Grell. They pulled. The stone tipped outward. Sparky and Grell eased it to the ground. Grell squeezed between the sentinels.

  Sparky and the others followed her into in a small open space enclosed by the massive boulders. A wooden shed sat snugly on the far side, five circles etched in its door. Sparky approached it. There was one circle in the center and four around it.

  “Do you know what this is?” he asked Sandy.

  “That’s it!” she said. “The Snoflian symbol Grandpa told me about. He said it’s a warning.”

  Sparky looked at her, eyebrows raised.

  She continued. “Those who live on Lowconzia believe if they go past the symbol, like into this shed, the Snoflians will find out.”