by Nancy Krulik
Katie sighed as she sat down. What was she going to tell Lola’s boss, anyway? It wasn’t like she could explain about the magic wind. He wouldn’t believe her.
Katie wouldn’t have believed it, either, if it hadn’t happened to her.
Just then, Katie felt a cool breeze blowing on the back of her neck. She looked up. None of the trees were moving, even though the breeze was getting stronger.
Which could mean only one thing. This was no normal wind. The magic wind was back!
The magic wind started to blow faster and faster now, circling Katie like a tornado. It whipped around her, moving so hard and fast that she thought it might blow her away.
And then it stopped.
Just like that.
Katie Carew was back.
And so was Lola. In fact, she was sitting on the bench, right next to Katie.
“What? How?” Lola murmured looking around. She stared at Katie. “How did I get down here? And what are you doing sitting next to me?”
“Well, I kind of fell and . . .” Katie began.
Lola looked puzzled. “The last thing I remember, I was about to teach the class how to fall down.”
“You did,” Katie told her. “Well, sort of. You kind of fell down the mountain.”
Lola rubbed her back. “Well, that explains why I’m sore.” She thought for a minute. “Did I fall all the way down the mountain?”
Katie nodded. “You also did some twirls and somersaults.”
“I remember that. At least I think I do,” Lola said, blinking her eyes. “It’s all kind of fuzzy.” She stopped for a minute. “Did anyone see me?”
Katie sighed. Everyone had seen her. “You made a lot of people laugh,” she told Lola, trying to make her feel better.
It didn’t seem to work. Lola seemed very upset. “Okay, since you seem to know everything, why am I sitting here?”
“Your boss wants to see you in his office,” Katie explained. “I think you were on your way over there.”
“Carl wants me to come to his office? Oh, no!” Lola exclaimed. “That can mean only one thing. He wants to fire me!”
Katie gulped. Lola’s first day on the job was going to be her last! This was so not good.
Chapter 10
“Katie, what are you doing sitting here?” Rosie asked as she walked by a few minutes later. “I thought you were skiing.”
“I was,” Katie said. She thought about her big fall down the bunny slope. “Well, sort of. Now I’m waiting here for the ski instructor.”
Rosie shrugged. “Oh. Do you mind if I sit with you?” she asked sadly.
“No, of course not,” Katie said. She looked at Rosie’s frowning face. “Are you okay?”
Rosie shook her head. “Not really. I think they’re going to have to cancel the movie. And it’s not fair. I mean I’ve worked so hard and . . .”
“Cancel the movie?” Katie asked, surprised. “Why would they do that?”
“Because my stunt double got the flu. We just got the call a minute or two ago. She’s not going to be able to work for at least two weeks,” Rosie told her.
“What’s a stunt double?” Katie asked her.
“She is the woman who does all the skiing for me in the movie,” Rosie explained. “They dress her up like me and then film her from far away. Onscreen it looks like I’m the one doing the skiing.”
“Oh,” Katie said. “Well, can’t you just do your own skiing in the movie?”
Rosie shook her head. “I hardly know how to ski. My stunt double was going to do all sorts of flips and turns on the mountain.”
“So why don’t they just wait two weeks for your stunt double to feel better?” Katie asked.
“That would cost the movie company too much money,” Rosie explained. “And I have to be back at school.”
Just as Rosie walked off sadly, the lodge door swung open. Lola came walking out. She looked very, very sad, too.
Katie figured she must have been fired. And that gave her one of her great ideas.
“Don’t worry,” Katie called after Rosie. “Diamonds on Ice isn’t over yet! I have a plan.”
Quickly she leaped up from the bench and started to run after the ski instructor. “Lola, wait!” Katie shouted out. “I have to talk to you.”
Chapter 11
“Okay, let’s try that wig on her,” the director of Rosie’s film told Raul. “And make sure it doesn’t come off when she does the flip.”
Lola smiled at Katie as Raul adjusted the wig. “Thanks so much for getting me this job,” she said. “It really makes up for getting fired.”
“Now you can be a stunt skier,” Katie told her.
“It’s not as good as being a movie star, but . . .” Suzanne began.
“What do you know about being a movie star?” Jeremy asked her.
Just then a real movie star entered the hair and makeup trailer. “Hi,” she said, holding her hand out. “You must be Lola.”
Lola leaped up out of the chair with surprise. The wig slipped to one side. “Wow! You’re Rosie Moran!” the skier gasped. “I can’t believe I’m meeting you.”
“That’s me,” Rosie replied. “And now you’re me, too. At least in this movie!”
Katie stared in amazement as Rosie and Lola stood side by side in the trailer. Even though Rosie was a kid, and Lola was a grown-up, they looked a lot alike. For starters, Rosie was really tall for a kid, and Lola was pretty short for a grown-up, so they were almost the same height. They were also wearing the exact same green and white snowsuit and the same ski boots.
Katie could see how Lola could look like Rosie during the movie’s skiing scenes. As long as the camera never showed Lola’s face, the people in the audience would be fooled into thinking Rosie was really skiing.
“Okay, now here’s the scene,” the director told Lola. “Maxie—that’s Rosie’s character—is being chased by two jewel thieves who think she has a giant diamond sewed into the lining of her coat.”
Lola nodded. “Got it.”
The director pointed toward the top of a high ski slope, where two skiers were already standing. “Those two men are going to ski right behind you,” he explained to Lola. “You have to zigzag between those trees, jump over the gray rock to the left, and then do a twist in the air before landing at the base of the mountain. Cameramen are planted at various points to film the scene.”
Lola nodded. “Sounds easy enough.”
Katie shook her head. “Not to me,” she said.
“I’m so glad it’s you and not me doing this,” Rosie told Lola.
Lola left the trailer and put on her skis. Then she took the ski lift up to the top of the mountain. Two other stunt skiers, who were dressed as the robbers, stood behind her.
“Is everybody ready?” The director was speaking into a walkie-talkie to a cameraman at the top of the hill. “Okay. Rolling and . . . action!”
Whoosh! Lola took off down the steep mountainside at top speed. The two other stunt skiers took off after her.
Katie and her friends watched with amazement as Lola expertly zigged and zagged her way through the trees, leaped over the rock, and did a twist in the air—all in the few seconds it took for her to reach the bottom of the mountain.
“And . . . cut!” the director shouted out through his megaphone. “That was great, everyone. Take a breather and go on back up. Next we’ll shoot the scene in which Lola skis right through the open doors of the lodge.”
A few minutes later, Lola followed a cameraman toward the ski lift. The director turned to one of his assistants. “You’d better make sure they’ve cleared the lodge out for this shot,” he told her. “We don’t want any guests to get in the way of our filming.”
Just then, Carl, the head ski instructor, strolled onto the movie set.
“That ski stunt was amazing,” he told the director.
“Lola did a great job,” the director agreed. “We were lucky to get her.”
“Lola?” Carl asked, sur
prised.
“That’s right,” Katie said proudly.
“Well . . . I . . . um,” Carl stammered. “I . . . er . . . certainly hope that when her name appears in the credits, it also says that she’s an instructor here at the Pine Mountain Ski Resort,” he told the director.
“But she’s not an instructor here,” Katie reminded him. “You fired her, remember?”
Carl forced a nervous smile to his lips. “That was just a joke.”
“But Lola doesn’t want her old job back,” Katie said.
Suzanne stared at her in amazement. “She doesn’t?”
Katie shook her head. “She’s in show business now. She’s a performer.” She looked up at the top of the mountain, where Lola was getting ready to do her next stunt. “But maybe she’d agree to do her own ski stunt show every day.”
“Her own show?” Carl asked. “I don’t know about ...”
“Then I guess she could do her ski stunt show at another ski resort,” Katie said.
“Now wait a minute,” Carl said nervously. “I didn’t say no, yet.”
“Lola could do the same kinds of tricks she’s doing in this movie,” Katie suggested. She smiled, remembering how Johnny had laughed when he’d seen Katie flip and flop down the bunny trail. “Lola’s Ski Stunt Spectacular. It would be great for business.”
“Lola’s Ski Stunt Spectacular,” Carl repeated. “I like that.”
“And I think maybe she should get a raise, too,” Katie continued. “She’s going to be working really hard.”
“Boy, Katie, you’d make a really good Hollywood agent,” Rosie teased.
“Maybe I’ll let you be my agent, Katie,” Suzanne added.
Katie shook her head. Work for Suzanne? She didn’t think so.
After she finished filming her next scene, Lola skied over to where Katie, Rosie, Jeremy, and Suzanne were gathered.
“Hey, Lola, great stunts,” Carl greeted her. “Can’t wait to see what else you come up with for the folks here at Pine Mountain.”
Lola stared at him. She was very confused. “Here?” she asked. “I thought you fired me.”
That’s when Katie told her the good news.
Katie beamed as she watched Lola and her boss shake hands on the deal. Once again, Katie had proven that she could fix whatever mess the magic wind made.
“And now,” Lola said, turning toward Katie, Rosie, Suzanne, and Jeremy, “it’s time for you to have that ski lesson we never finished. Come on, I’ll teach you!”
“Take that, magic wind,” Katie whispered quietly under her breath as she and her friends followed Lola to the bunny slope.
Chapter 12
“I’m skiing! I’m really skiing!” Katie squealed with delight as she made her way down the bunny slope.
She couldn’t believe it. She wasn’t zooming down the hill at top speed or anything, but she was moving.
“This is so awesome,” Jeremy shouted.
“Hey, wait for me!” Rosie called to Katie and Jeremy as she pushed off from the top.
“Rosie, please be careful,” the director of her film cried out from the bottom. He buried his head in his hands and tried not to look as his star took a turn going down the side of the hill.
“See you guys at the bottom,” Suzanne said as she shifted her body slightly to the side, moving past Katie, Jeremy, and Rosie.
“She’s always got to be the winner,” Jeremy groaned. He was skiing even slower than Katie was.
But Katie didn’t care if Suzanne beat her to the bottom. Katie was just glad to be upright and not on her bottom!
Lola was a really good teacher. Not only was Katie skiing, but she wasn’t scared of falling anymore. Lola had taught them all how to fall correctly so they wouldn’t get hurt. The trick was to fall uphill on your tush. The kids had all had a good time flopping down backward in the snow to practice that.
Of course, Suzanne had boasted that that would never be something she’d have to do. She was positive she wouldn’t fall.
But that didn’t stop it from happening.
“WHOAAAA!” Suzanne shouted as she lost her footing and fell backward into the snow.
Suzanne was struggling to get back on her feet. But getting up was a whole lot tougher than falling down.
“Hold on, Suzanne,” Lola called and took off from the hilltop. “I’m on my way.”
When Katie, Rosie, and Jeremy reached Suzanne, Jeremy said, “Nice trip. See you next fall.”
Rosie giggled. “That was a funny one, Jeremy.”
Suzanne groaned.
Katie felt bad. Even though Suzanne had been kind of awful today, Jeremy shouldn’t make fun of her. Falling could happen to anyone.
“You know what, Suzanne?” Katie said, trying to change the subject. “When I stand this way, all I can see is your face. Your whole body is camouflaged like a polar bear in the snow.”
Suzanne smiled gratefully up at Katie. “And if I pull my scarf over my face you can’t see me at all,” she told her.
Just then, Lola skied over. “Okay, where’s Suzanne?” she asked Katie, Jeremy, and Rosie.
Suzanne pulled the scarf from her face. “See, I told you it worked!” she boasted.
“That is pretty cool,” Jeremy admitted.
“I’ll say,” Rosie agreed. “Like a special effect in the movies.”
Lola smiled and reached out her hand. “Here, I’ll help you up,” she offered.
Katie grinned. It was really great that everyone was finally getting along.
As they skied the rest of the way down, Katie suddenly felt a cool breeze blowing on the back of her neck. She gulped nervously. Oh, no! Was the magic wind coming back again?
Was she going to switcheroo into someone else? Right now? In front of everyone?
Up until now, the magic wind had only come when Katie was alone. But there was no telling what the wind would do. Maybe this time it . . .
“Man, it’s getting cold out here,” Jeremy said suddenly. He pulled his scarf tighter around his neck. “That wind is really picking up.”
Phew. Katie breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn’t the magic wind at all. It was just a regular, everyday, run-of-the-mill kind of wind.
Which meant she would get to stay Katie Carew.
At least for now.
Soapy the Snowman
Katie and her friends never let a dreary winter day keep them from having fun. In fact, on really cold days, they just make their snow-men indoors. You can, too. Here’s how to make your own Soapy the Snowman. (Have a grown-up help you using the toothpicks.)
You will need: 2 cups of mild, powdered laundry detergent
½ cup of warm water
Toothpicks
An electric beater
A mixing bowl
Twigs, buttons, a pipe cleaner, tiny beads
or birdseed, orange tempera paints, and any
thing else you’d like to use to give your snow
man personality!
Here’s what you do: 1. Pour the detergent into the mixing bowl. Add the water and mix it until the laundry detergent feels like dough. Allow the dough to sit for about five minutes.
2. Shape the soap dough into three balls.
3. Stack the balls. Start by gently pushing a toothpick halfway into the bottom ball.
4. Push the middle ball onto the top of that toothpick. Then repeat this for the third snowball, which will be Soapy the Snowman’s head.
5. Now it’s time to decorate your snowman! Start with his button eyes. Then add a row of small beads or seeds to give him a great smile. Twigs are terrific for arms. You can even paint a tiny twig orange and use it as a carrot nose. Let your imagination go wild!
When you are all finished, leave Soapy the Snowman alone to dry. It could take a few hours. But be patient. Soon you’ll have a snowman pal who won’t ever melt away!
