On Thin Ice

by Nancy Krulik

  The snowboard picked up speed, zooming down the hill faster and faster, as though it were sliding down a sheet of ice. Now Katie could kind of make out a squiggly line of red getting closer. It had to be the red carpet.

  The board coasted to a stop as the ground flattened out. Katie took a deep breath, and then struggled to her feet.

  Flashbulbs began popping everywhere. The lights were blinding. Katie couldn’t see a thing. But she could hear. And the sounds coming into her ears were not very nice.

  “BOOOO!” the crowd shouted in her direction.

  “You stink!” a kid cried out.

  “Tony Raven is a wimp!” another insisted.

  Then Katie heard a familiar voice beside her on the red carpet.

  “I can’t believe you did that, Tony!” Kerry Gaffigan said. “I’m so embarrassed!”

  Katie felt terrible. She’d done the best she could. She’d made it all the way down the mountain and over that big mogul. Flying through the air like that had been really scary. But it still hadn’t been enough to please the crowd, or Kerry Gaffigan.

  Katie could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. She was going to cry. Then all the photographers would have pictures of Tony Raven crying like a fourth-grade girl.

  Katie had done enough to Tony Raven. She couldn’t let that happen, too. She turned quickly and ran as fast as she could off the red carpet—past the crowd and into the dark, lonely streets of Cherrydale.

  The sound of the booing crowd grew fainter as Katie got farther away. She was happy about that. Having people boo at her—even if it wasn’t really her they were booing—really hurt her feelings.

  Just then, Katie felt a cold breeze blowing against the back of her neck. A second later, the breeze picked up speed, blowing faster and faster until it turned into a tornado. A tornado just around Katie.

  The magic wind was back.

  Katie grabbed onto a nearby lamppost to keep from being blown away. She shut her eyes and tried not to cry as the wind whistled louder and louder.

  And then it stopped. Just like that. Switcheroo! She was back to being Katie Kazoo.

  Tony Raven was back to his old self, too. He was standing next to her. And boy, did he look confused.

  “Hey, where am I?” he asked, squinting his eyes and looking around. “And who are you?”

  “You’re on Nightingale Road,” Katie told him. “And I’m Katie Carew.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Tony said. He shook his head as he tried to make sense of things. “I don’t think I’m supposed to be here. I’m supposed to be on the red carpet right now.”

  Katie kicked at the ground with her green boot. “Uh . . . um . . . you were already there,” she told him. “You kinda ran off.”

  “Ran off? Why?” he asked. Then he stopped for a minute and thought. “Oh, no. Why do I have a feeling that I went down that hill on my rear end?”

  Katie frowned. “Because you did,” she told him.

  “But why would I do that?” Tony asked.

  “Maybe you were afraid of that big mogul,” Katie suggested.

  Tony shook his head. “That little bump? That’s nothing for me. At least, not usually. Something seems to be kind of wrong with me tonight. Maybe I’m getting sick.”

  Katie sighed. She knew that wasn’t it at all. But she also knew she could never tell Tony the truth. He wouldn’t believe it.

  “I think I need to lie down,” he said. “Do you know how to get to the Cherrydale Inn? That’s where I’m staying.”

  “It’s just two blocks to the left,” Katie told him.

  “Would you mind walking there with me?” Tony asked her. “I’m not wearing my glasses. I can’t see too well without them. I’m liable to get lost.”

  Well, that explained why everything had been so blurry, Katie thought. Wait! Did that also explain why Tony had acted as though he didn’t even see George the other day? Maybe it did! Tony Raven hadn’t been wearing glasses then, either. He wasn’t mean after all!

  “Why aren’t you wearing your glasses?” Katie asked him.

  “I don’t like how they look in pictures,” Tony admitted. “So I don’t wear them when there are photographers around.”

  “That’s silly,” Katie told him. “Glasses are totally cool. My friend Jeremy wears them and he’s the best athlete in the school. If he didn’t wear his glasses, he’d never be able to see a soccer ball or hit a baseball. If you wore your glasses, you’d be able to see all your fans smiling at you.”

  Tony nodded. “I know,” he admitted. “Kerry tells me that all the time. And she keeps trying to bug me to get contact lenses. But I’m afraid to put them in my eyes.”

  Katie tried not to laugh. Tony Raven wasn’t afraid to fly over a mogul on a high mountain, but he was too chicken to wear contact lenses. How silly was that?

  “I’ll help you get to the inn,” Katie told him.

  “Thanks,” Tony said. “I really need to get some rest. I’m going to have a lot of explaining to do tomorrow.” He paused for a minute and shook his head. “And I don’t have the faintest idea what I’m going to say.”

  Chapter 10

  RAVEN TURNS CHICKEN!

  That was the headline in the newspaper the next morning. Katie turned beet red as she looked at the picture of Tony Raven sliding down the hill on his rear end. She was really embarrassed. After all, she knew it wasn’t Tony, but Katie Carew who had turned chicken.

  Rrringg. Katie jumped up from the breakfast table to answer the telephone. “Hello?” she said.

  “Hey, Katie Kazoo,” George said. “Did you see today’s paper?”

  “Yes,” Katie said sadly. “Isn’t it awful?”

  “Awful?” George asked. “Are you nuts? I think it’s great.”

  “But everybody is making fun of Tony Raven,” Katie insisted.

  “It serves him right for being such a snob,” George told her. “I can’t believe I ever liked him.”

  “He wasn’t being a snob that day, George,” Katie insisted. “He couldn’t see you. He can’t see anything without his glasses on. Everything’s all blurry.”

  “How do you know that?” George asked.

  Oops. “I . . . uh . . . I read it somewhere,” Katie said.

  “Well, whatever,” George said. “Anyway, after this, I bet his career is over. It says in the newspaper that Winter Wildness Clothing wants to cancel his contract because of what happened.”

  Now Katie felt really awful. She couldn’t let that happen. She had to do something. But what?

  “I just don’t understand what made Tony Raven act like that,” George continued. “I mean, why would he go down that hill like a kid on a sled?”

  Katie’s eyes popped open wide. That was it!

  “George, I gotta go,” she said. “There’s something I really have to do!”

  A few minutes later, Katie was dressed and heading down the block to the Cherrydale Inn. It was only a few blocks from her house, but Katie would have to move really fast. She had to arrive before Tony Raven left town.

  “Tony, wait!” Katie shouted as she raced up to the inn. The snowboarder was getting into a limousine with Kerry Gaffigan and another man.

  “Oh, it’s you,” Tony said as soon as Katie came into view.

  “Hi,” Katie greeted him. “I like your glasses.”

  “Thanks,” Tony said. “I’m going to wear them from now on.”

  “That’s great,” Katie told him.

  Tony turned to Kerry and the other man. “This is Katie, the girl who helped me find my way back here last night,” he introduced her. “Katie, this is Kerry and RJ. RJ is the owner of the Winter Wildness Clothing Company.”

  “We’ve met,” Kerry said. “Katie was at my ice-skating show.”

  Katie couldn’t believe that someone as famous as Kerry Gaffigan actually remembered her. But Katie couldn’t think about that now.

  “I just wanted to tell you how great you were last night,” she said to Tony.

  T
ony, Kerry, and RJ all looked at her with surprise.

  “Great?” RJ asked. “Are you kidding?”

  Katie shook her head. “My parents thought he was great, too. They thought it was cool how Tony showed that Winter Wildness clothing brings out the kid in everyone.”

  “Huh?” Tony and Kerry said at once.

  RJ was scratching his forehead. “Hmm. Not a bad line . . . ‘Winter Wildness—let our clothes bring out the kid in you.’”

  “Exactly,” Katie continued. “My mom and dad hate snow. To them, it just means a lot of shoveling. But last night Tony showed grown-ups that if they put on Winter Wildness clothes, they’ll want to get outdoors in the snow, just like when they were kids . . . at least, that’s what my parents said.”

  “Was that what you were doing, Tony?” RJ asked him. “Starting your own ad campaign?”

  “Well . . . I . . . uh . . .” Tony obviously didn’t know what to say.

  “Of course he was,” Katie answered for him. “Couldn’t you tell?”

  “Why didn’t you say anything about it?” Kerry asked Tony.

  “Maybe he wanted it to be a surprise,” Katie said.

  “Yeah, yeah, I wanted it to be a surprise,” Tony echoed.

  Katie giggled. It was even a surprise to Tony.

  “I like this idea,” RJ said. “I think we should go with it.”

  “You do?” Tony asked. “Um . . . I mean, of course you do. It’s a good idea.” He winked at Katie. She winked back.

  “In fact, I think we should start a line of kids clothing, too,” RJ added.

  “Good thinking, RJ.” Tony paused for a minute. “I have another idea. We should have lots of kids in the commercial with us.” He smiled at Katie. “Do you know any kids who might want to be in it?”

  Katie grinned back at him. Did she ever!

  Chapter 11

  “There I am!” George shouted. “Look at me coming down that mountain next to Tony!”

  The kids all stared at the TV screen in Katie’s living room. Two weeks had passed since they had helped make the Winter Wildness Clothing commercial. They were watching it now for the first time.

  “Wow!” Katie exclaimed as she saw Tony take on a big mogul.

  “And there I am, skating on the ice, right next to Kerry,” Emma S. squealed.

  “Oooh, I see us, Katie!” Jeremy shouted.

  Katie smiled. Sure enough, there she was, having a snowball fight with Jeremy, Kerry, and Tony. They were on TV!

  “There’s Miriam, Emma W., and me having hot chocolate with Tony Raven and Kerry Gaffigan,” Kevin shouted excitedly.

  “I’ll bet my snow angel scene is next,” Suzanne boasted. “I was the most professional actor there. The director is definitely going to want to end the commercial with the best performer.”

  The kids all rolled their eyes.

  “Yep, here I come,” Suzanne said. “That’s the pink and white parka I was wearing.” Sure enough, a pink and white ski jacket came into focus on the screen. “Wait until you guys see how beautiful I look on camera.”

  The camera closed in on the sleeve of Suzanne’s jacket, where the words Winter Wildness were written.

  Then the announcer said, “Winter Wildness Clothing. It will bring out the kid in you.”

  And that was it. The commercial was over.

  Katie glanced over at her best friend. Poor Suzanne. They’d never even shown her face!

  Nobody said anything for a minute. They all felt too bad for Suzanne. The kids knew exactly what she had to be thinking.

  A second later, it was Suzanne who broke the silence. “The point of a commercial is to sell the product,” she said confidently. “Any real model knows that. You could see the words Winter Wildness clearly on my sleeve. It’s what people will remember. My part in the commercial was the most important!”

  Katie choked back a laugh. Suzanne would never change.

  Still, sometimes it was good when things stayed the same. Especially since sooner or later, the magic wind would come back, and then everything would change for Katie Kazoo. One, two . . . switcheroo!

  About the Author

  NANCY KRULIK is the author of more than 150 books for children and young adults, including three New York Times bestsellers. She lives in New York City with her husband, composer Daniel Burwasser, their children, Amanda and Ian, and Pepper, a chocolate and white spaniel mix. When she’s not busy writing the Katie Kazoo, Switcheroo series, Nancy loves swimming, reading, and going to the movies.

  About the Illustrators

  JOHN & WENDY’S art has been featured in other books for children, in magazines, on stationery, and on toys. When they are not drawing Katie and her friends, they like to paint, take photographs, travel, and play music in their rock ’n’ roll band. They live and work in Brooklyn, New York.