“So, how about that skiing?” Mason asked.
We went out to the slopes where Mason left Toby with one of the instructors who was teaching the small kids their very basic fundamentals.
“Buddy, I’ll just be up here, and so will Libby. You can holler for either one of us. But you stay here and have fun, ok?”
Toby was barely paying attention to his dad anymore. He was too busy becoming acclimated to the group of other small children being instructed by some twenty-year-old girls. They seemed sweet and caring. The little kids all looked so adorable working on their skiing fundamentals. I would have had almost as much fun just standing there watching them, but Mason and I did have some skiing to do.
It felt great to be back out on the slopes again. The last time I’d been skiing with some friends of mine from college who had decided to get together since it had been forever at that point. It was a blast. We made a lot of noise, told a lot of stories and bad jokes, and drank so much beer…oh, there was so much beer.
And then we all tried to ski the next morning with nice, throbbing hangovers. It was the worst idea ever. I almost collided with a tree because my head was so full of pain and my body was still moving like I wasn’t done being drunk yet.
Beer hangovers are the worst. Except wine… and maybe champagne… I’d never had a champagne hangover, but I heard it was brutal. At any rate six women with beer hangovers skiing down a large mountain was a bad idea, ask anyone.
I hoped I would have a better time on this trip.
Once I was moving down the slope, everything fell right back into place. I remembered exactly how to move, how to steer, and how to glide along the snow. It was great. Mason was no slouch either. I was impressed that he kept passing me, but it wasn’t long before I caught up to him.
When we finished our first run, both of us were very much out of breath. It was funny how we’d kept trying to outdo each other, but when it came to skiing we were on equal footing.
“Good, job,” I said.
“Likewise,” Mason replied. “I might not hold back next time, though.”
I laughed. “Right. You were holding back, I’m sure.”
Mason chuckled as we hopped on the lift to go back up for another round.
“Wow, this is so cool,” Mason said. “I always get chills when I’m on these things.”
“Me too,” I replied. “It’s like flying in reverse and you can just see how vast the wilderness around here actually is.”
“I know. I saw a movie once where these three skiers got locked on one of these things when the resort closed down.”
“Don’t tell me anymore,” I said. “It sounds like the type of thing that might give me nightmares.”
“Yeah, it was pretty gruesome. But what a cool film. There are these wolves—”
I plugged up my ears. “Hey! What did I just say? That is not something I want in my head right now. You aren’t going to psyche me out of whipping your butt on this next run. So, you can forget it.”
“Fine, may the best man win,” Mason said.
“Or woman.”
“No, I was right,” Mason laughed.
“Oh, you are going to get it. I don’t care how cute your ass is, you are going down.”
“I’m shaking,” Mason chided.
We got off the lift and headed back down the mountain. I held nothing back this time, trying to increase my speed. Of course Mason did the same thing. He was good, his movements almost flawless. And I couldn’t help getting a bit awestruck by his magnificent form careening through the snow with the greatest of ease. I almost didn’t want to win just so I could lean back and watch his sweet ass moving in his tight ski suit.
But I have always been competitive. I ramped myself into another gear and moved along the snow as fast as I could, bobbing and weaving over rocks, in and out of trees, and through the open pass-ways.
It wasn’t long until I saw the end coming up. Mason was still a little bit ahead of me, but I was gaining quickly. I was almost there. I might have a shot of catching him, maybe tying it up arguably. I wasn’t sure I could say that I actually won though. That didn’t matter; I just had to compete.
I was almost right beside him when I felt something hard hit the ski and the ski slip off my foot, crash into my other ski and send my whole body flying head over heels across the snow.
It all happened so fast that I barely saw the ground coming up to meet me. And I have no idea how I came to land and eventually stop. I was lying on the ground though and I was feeling dazed. The world seemed to spin around me, but I wasn’t in any pain. I wanted to take that as a good sign.