A Chance for Charity (The Immortal Ones) (7 page)

“
No, I can take care of
that myself, I’m sure,” I grimaced at how easily I could picture
myself tumbling head over heels down an embankment of snow. “But
seriously, Link, I have no gear. I told Aunt Rachel I could be at
the boutique with her on Saturday. I’m not prepared. Let’s
wait.”

“
Ask her for a pass. And,
gear is not a problem. I’ve seen how you live, remember. I’m sure
you’ve got a credit card, with an enormously high limit. Believe it
or not, despite my male status, I’m an excellent shopper – very
patient. In fact, if there is one thing that Telluride is not
lacking in, it’s ski shops. Let’s go,” he held out his arm and I
reached out to lock elbows with him.

We walked just a few yards, arm in arm, to
the nearest ski shop. Both of us wore identical silly grins on our
faces as we walked through the door.

I tried on
so
many pairs of boots (I
stopped counting after four), before I found a pair that was
comfortable (if you can call ski boots that), pretty (blue – my
favorite color), and had all the features that Link insisted were
necessary. The skis were an easier find. Once I was shown the
selection of skis that were suitable for my height? weight? or was
it skiing ability (zero)? – I don’t remember what they were
checking for. I chose the prettiest ones in the shop, blue again
(with floral accents). Link rolled his eyes at me.

Next we moved on to clothes. Link sat
patiently while I tried on various ski pants and jacket
combinations. His face was pretty transparent when he didn’t like
an outfit. A slight frown would tug at the corners of his mouth,
even while the words “it looks fine,” came out of his mouth. I got
that brilliant smile when I emerged from the changing room in tight
fitting, black ski pants and a light blue cropped jacket.

“
Nice threads huh,” I said
to him.

“
Very nice threads,” he
echoed my words.

Link added hats, scarves, gloves, goggles,
hand warmers, and socks to the pile. I marveled at the amount of
gear required in this sport. Finally we brought the entire load up
to the counter and I waited for the painful total.

“
My aunt and uncle are
going to flip when they see that charge,” I cringed in shock as we
headed back to the vehicles. A piece here and a thing there added
up really fast.

“
You needed this for school
too, right?”

“
Yeah, I guess
so.”

“
I’m sure they’ll be fine.
This stuff will last for years. You’ll get good use out of it. I’ll
see to that,” his smile reached all the way to his eyes.

“
I’m glad you ski, everyone
at school seems to snow board.”

“
Grandpa skied, he took me
every winter. He taught my mom to ski when she was a little girl.
We all skied together when I was very young - Grandpa, my parents,
and me. Then after my parents died it was just the two of us.
Grandma always said her legs were not built for skis. But she
enjoyed the snow. So the three of us went to Mammoth Mountain two
or three times every season,” Link smiled at the memory. It was a
small sad smile.

“
Thank you for sharing this
with me then. It’s good that you are still honoring his memory this
way. If he loved it so much, he’d want you to continue doing it.
Don’t you think?”

“
That’s why I’m a ‘ski
bum’. It makes me feel closer to him when I’m racing down a
mountain.”

“
Can we just meander down
the mountain this weekend and save the racing for later?” I smirked
at him.

“
I’ll do my best,” Link
promised as we packed all my new gear into the back of the
SUV.

“
See you Saturday, nine
o’clock sharp,” I promised out the window after I climbed into the
driver’s seat.

“
I’ll pick you up instead.
I think you’ll need some help with all that stuff,” he said,
altering his original plan.

“
I think you are right,” I
agreed.

A huge snowstorm blew in that night, dumping
snow for two days straight. When I awoke Saturday morning,
apprehension rolled around in my stomach. It created a ball of
nervous knots. I didn’t want to make a fool of myself. I imagined
myself falling five, ten, fifteen times during my first run. I
cleared my head, determined to control my silly fears. I could do
this. My cell phone started buzzing around the bathroom counter,
and I jumped. It was my habit to always keep it on vibrate
mode.

“
Hello,” I answered it
without checking the screen.

“
Hey, Emily. It’s Summer,”
she sounded excited.

“
Oh, Hi, Summer. What’s
up?”

“
Well I just found out that
there was enough snow from this last storm to open Meadows. So now
you can go with us,” she exclaimed.

“
Oh, well actually I
can’t...” I started.

“
No really, you can. I
already told Rusty I was calling you. Burke convinced Dee to let
him teach her to board. So, we can all go together,” she burst
through before I had a chance to complete my sentence.

“
Well what I was trying to
say is - I already made plans to learn to ski. Lincoln Knight, who
works at the hardware store, offered to teach me. I kinda wanted to
ski instead of board anyway. I hope you’re okay with
that.”

“
Lincoln Knight? From the
hardware store? Oh my God! That’s the hot guy that just started
working there a couple of months ago. How did you meet him?” she
squealed into the phone.

“
Long story,” I
said.

“
How old is he?”

“
Twenty-Two... We are just
friends. He wants to teach me to ski. It’s no big deal,” I
explained.

“
I can’t wait to tell
Delilah. See you on the slopes,” Summer sang as she hung up the
phone.

I struggled to get all my new ski gear
together. The tall socks, ski pants, and long sleeve shirt I put on
in my room. I left my boots, skis, poles, jacket, goggles, and knit
cap by the side door. I slipped my sheepskin boots on my feet and
waited for Link. He arrived at nine o’clock sharp, just as
promised.

“
Hello Mr. Knight,” I
greeted him, opening the door before he knocked.

“
Well hello Miss Johnston.
You’re looking a bit apprehensive this morning. Are you
ready?”

“
I don’t think I have quite
enough gear over there,” I replied, using sarcasm to cover my
nerves.

“
Oh? Looks like the right
amount to me,” he smiled that brilliant smile again and my heart
skipped a beat, maybe two. “As soon as lift ten is open you can use
Galloping Goose to ski right out of here and then you won’t have to
lug this gear anywhere.”

“
That sounds perfect, let’s
wait for that,” I suggested.

“
Come on little girl, let’s
go,” he said as he picked up my skis and boots and headed to his
SUV.

I picked up the rest of my stuff and
followed him to the back of the vehicle. “Keep me upright Big
Daddy,” I ordered.

“
I’ll do my best,” he
promised.

Link said he knew a guy who worked at one of
the resorts, walking distance to the lifts. The guy let him park in
the resort’s underground garage. So that was our destination,
instead of the public parking areas. We spent the short drive to
the parking garage in relative silence. I was praying I would not
break any more of my bones in front of Link. I was pretty covered
up so cuts and scratches were not on my worry list.

We parked, got out of the vehicle, and I put
the goggles over the cap on my head. I slid my arms into my jacket,
leaving it open in the front, and worked my hands into the gloves.
Next came the hard part, the boots. I sat back down on the
passenger seat and slipped my feet out of my comfy boots. I looked
at the armor coated, hard plastic, ski boots with distaste as Link
brought them over to me. He helped me work my feet into them and
then loosely did all the clasps.

Then it was his turn, and he was done in
mere seconds it seemed. “Amateur,” I silently scolded myself. He
grabbed his skis and poles and then reached for mine as well.

“
I can carry them,” I
protested.

“
So can I, and we will get
there faster if I do. So, let’s go. Follow me,” he
ordered.

I followed him, taking slow, awkward,
heel-toe steps, which were all that was possible with these
constraints on my feet. My self-consciousness was short lived, as I
noticed everyone else was doing the same funny little dance of a
walk. “Don’t fall,” I whispered.

Our first stop was to get lift tickets. I
bought a Junior Season Pass, pulling out my driver’s license to
show that I was indeed, seventeen. The Adult Season Pass was more
than triple the price – poor Link. Okay, maybe being a kid wasn’t
so bad in this situation. We walked over to the cameras and posed
for our pictures. As soon as the passes were printed they each went
on a cord, and then around our necks.

From there we had to walk
up a small hill to the top of Meadows. The entrance to Meadows
frightened me. I warily looked down at a small slope that
immediately got quite narrow as it went under a bridge. How was I
going to make it through
that
on skis?

“
We are going to walk down
this part and put our skis on when we get through. Walk with your
feet sideways. It will be easier, I promise,” Link explained and I
breathed a sigh of relief.

“
Lead on,” I
responded.

As soon as we were out from under the little
bridge the vast expanse of the Meadows came into view. It was very
wide, very open, and I could distinguish that some parts were
obviously flatter than others. Up until that moment, I had imagined
it would be skis on, straight down, and don’t fall. But this was
different. I had hope.

We walked over to the side, to keep out of
the oncoming traffic, and Link began with a basic lesson, “This is
what they tell kids – make a pizza slice with your skis and you
will go slower - make fries with them and you will go faster. Don’t
let your skis cross or you will fall, straight down. So if you are
going to make a pizza or ‘plow’ as I call it, keep the tip of your
skis slightly apart. Don’t look down. You’ll lose your
balance.”

“
How am I supposed to keep
my skis from crossing if I never look down?” I
complained.

“
Brief glances, that’s all.
To turn, you put pressure on the opposite foot of the way you want
to go. Pressure on the ball of your right foot turns you left.
Pressure on your left foot will turn you right. Never head into the
tree line. Serious injury will occur. For now just plow hard to
stop,” he said, finishing my very brief lesson.

He was trying to hurry this along. I could
tell. I on the other hand was doing the opposite.

“
That’s a lot of info, what
if I forget something? Maybe you should go over it
again.”

“
I’ll stay right beside
you. You’ll be fine. Trust me,” he flashed that smile at me and I
could protest no longer.

Link helped me tighten my boots and get my
skis on. When we were both fully geared up and ready to go he
pointed to the right.

“
That is a slower off-shoot
of Meadows called The Peaks. It is extremely tame. We’ll start
there.”

And off we went. Weirdly, I found it nowhere
near as hard as I had imagined. Link sped up just a tiny bit so he
could turn around and ski backwards right in front of me. Showoff!
As we made our way down the slope Link would shout out little
instructions. “Straighten your left ski a little,” or “Press down
on your right foot we are coming toward a curve,” and “Keep the
skis straight for a minute we need to build up a little speed
here.” The instructions kept coming and before I knew it The Peaks
had joined Meadows and we were soon at the bottom of the hill.

We got in line for the ski lift, our passes
were scanned, and I shuffled and maneuvered my way to the lift. It
was a weird sensation, sitting and being lifted up all at the same
time. My feet, heavy with boots and skis, dangled in the air. I
gazed out at our surroundings and watched all the other skiers
below us. You could see them whizzing down, falling down, and
gliding down the hill. I was extremely proud of myself for making
it, without the falling down part.

“
Get ready, we’re coming to
the end,” Link said.

“
Oh no, what do I do?” I
turned to him with panic filled eyes. I hadn’t anticipated the
getting off part.

“
Just keep your skis
straight and stand up when your feet are firmly on the
ground.”

I looked at him with little confidence,
“Okay,” I squeaked. I watched the people in front of us, determined
to copy their movements. My skis hit the snow and I stood up. I
started to slide forward, but my feet wouldn’t move the way I
wanted them to. I looked down, saw that my skis were crossed, I
lost my balance, and fell. An alarm sounded behind me as the ski
lift came to a halt. Link reached out his hand to pull me up.

When he was sure I was steady he grabbed my
poles out of the snow and whispered in my ear, “It’s okay, everyone
falls down sometime.”

“
I thought I was doing so
well,” I whined.

“
You are, you’re doing
amazing,” he smiled.

I managed to move out of the way, thanks to
Link, and the lift re-started. My cheeks were burning, I was
mortified. My humiliation deepened when I looked up and noticed
Summer and Rusty waving at me, a laughing smile played on their
lips.