by Frank Martin
He figured in thirty seconds he would be safe inside at work, where he could rest up in the back with a blanket and coffee until the morning rush of skiers hit the mountain. But as he started walking, Johnny thought the smart move would be to take a short detour to the pharmacy across the way. He’d never been in the store before but patted himself on the back for coming up with what he considered the best decision he made all week. Johnny Prescott never took a sick day in his life, and he wasn’t going to start now. All he needed was some cold medicine, allergy medication and a pack of energy drinks. It would be just the breakfast he needed to get him through the day.
3
“So with the weather as beautiful as it is today, I doubt any of you out there are grabbing some outdoor barbeque on the mountain. But just in case, could someone pleeeeeease bring me a rack of ribs from Joseph’s later? I’m begging you.”
Georgia Croft released her finger from a button on the control panel, clicking off her voice from the broadcast. The music slowly transitioned into another soft rock song, her preferred genre of choice for the late morning block. Then, after carefully removing her headset, Georgia placed them down and checked over her pre-set playlist one last time before standing up and stepping out of the sound booth.
The TORO building was practically an anthill compared to most radio stations with an audience their size, but Georgia took pride in that. It wasn’t the number of listeners that impressed. After all, any radio station in a dense metropolitan area could pull huge figures. But it was how Miss Croft’s audience listened in that intrigued her. Mainly servicing only Telluride and Mountain Village, the number of people within TORO’s radio broadcast range was pretty pitiful. And with the mountains boxing them in on every side, their signal was even worse. But with the help of the Internet, TORO had the power to transmit their radio show to the entire world. And when they did, Georgia was surprised by just how many listeners tuned in.
As it turned out, people from all over the globe came to visit Telluride and departed with a love for its small town radio station. They went home, turned on their computers, and just like that, were listening to Georgia’s radio show as if they never left.
And that’s what gave Georgia pride. The fact that her audience didn’t listen to her because they had to. They weren’t forced to endure her voice simply because they were in the car and she just happened to be on, but because they wanted to. They made a conscious effort to seek her out and tune in from wherever they called home. And that was how in the absence of a mining industry, she helped turn TORO into Telluride’s number one export.
As those prideful thoughts ran through her head, Georgia strolled down the hall with a smile on her face. About to turn the corner, she ran into a man’s firm chest and bounced off as if hitting a wall.
Slightly stunned, Georgia looked up to see Malcolm smiling down at her with a to-go cup of coffee in his hand. She laughed at the expression on his face, knowing he was about to tease her for her clumsiness. But she quickly raised a single finger to cut him off. “Don’t say a word.”
Still smiling, he put his arms up innocently. “What? I wasn’t going to say a thing. But ya know, most people say ‘I’m sorry’ when they bump into their boss. Especially when they almost spilled a coffee said boss had to wait in line behind a girl coughing up a storm to get.”
Georgia quickly contained her giggles and put on an exaggerated show for her sarcastic response. “Oh, I’m so sorry, Mr. West. I didn’t see your six-foot-three self standing in the middle of the hallway.”
Malcolm’s race and size were a constant source of humor for Georgia. In a mountain town with a population of just over two thousand, there weren’t that many African Americans. But Malcolm arrived several years ago to produce shows for the radio station and found himself at home doing so.
The laid back and carefree atmosphere was a stark contrast to some of the other stuck up environments he worked at in the past. A punk girl like Georgia, with her purple hair and lip ring, would never have built a friendly, teasing relationship with a boss like Malcolm anywhere else. But in Telluride, their close friendship was more natural than any he had with a DJ in the past. And so they became quite the pair as they bantered back and forth, jokingly throwing insults to each other’s stereotypes.
With the playful nature of the conversation still in effect, Malcolm shifted the topic to business. “Good thing I ran into you, too…even though…you know…you ran into me and all.”
Georgia rolled her eyes, signaling him with her hands to get to the point. “Yeah. OK. Just get on with it already.”
“I need you for the afternoon block today, too.”
Georgia’s jaw dropped in an over-exaggerated, girlish look of surprise. “What?! You gotta be kidding me.”
Malcolm abruptly shook his head in a no-nonsense manner, ending the fun tone of the conversation. “Nope. Stew’s flight from Vegas got delayed cause’ of the weather. So that means we’re out of DJs until tomorrow.”
Georgia stomped her foot, once again expressing every bit of emotion in the action. “Come on, Malcolm. Why don’t you do it?”
“Because I’m a producer. Not a host. Besides, my voice isn’t as sexy as yours.”
Georgia eased the intensity of her objections, but still protested her boss’ order in her own way. “As much as I love to be flattered, I’m pretty sure there are kidnapping laws against keeping me here.”
Malcolm chuckled as he sidestepped around Georgia to get passed her. “Have you looked outside lately? Most normal humans don’t leave their house in a blizzard.”
He continued down the hall, but that didn’t stop Georgia from yelling out to him, trying to get the last word in. “Are you kidding? We live on a ski mountain. People wish every day was like this.”
And with Malcolm already having turned the corner and out of sight, Georgia let out a deep sigh in mental preparation for the task ahead of her. But first, she needed to continue the mission she was on to get a cup of coffee. It was going to be a long day.
***
Sarah Warren always made it a point to arrive early for class. It wasn’t that she had some rigid code that required her to be punctual. In fact, she would be the first to admit she’s usually running late. But not when it came to her job. And there was one simple reason why she did it: the children. As cliché as it sounded (and she knew it did), the children were always her top priority.
At twenty-five, Sarah didn’t have any of her own, not yet at least. If she and Chris ever managed to settle down then maybe she’d consider having a baby or two. But she didn’t have to have any to know how important children were to their parents.
Growing up as an only child in the suburbs outside of Sydney, her parents smothered her with affection to the point where she couldn’t wait to leave and head to the States for the winter snow season. But that love and caring taught her just how valuable a child’s life is to parents.
In her role as a ski instructor, every day Sarah was given a group of children and entrusted with their safety. It wasn’t just a babysitting job (as Chris sometimes liked to tease her about). It was a responsibility to be their guardian. A crowded mountain of snowboarders and skiers was a dangerous place, not to mention when you added a snowstorm to the equation. She took her job and the vigilance that was required of it seriously.
That was why she showed up early to the ski school meeting place by the gondola. So that when the parents arrived to drop off their children, they knew their loved ones were in good hands. And not some punk kid who could get them hurt…or worse.
The ski school meeting area was right in the thick of Mountain Village’s base. A series of signs in the snow running parallel to the gondola designated the locations where various age groups should congregate. Having some of the younger children in her class, Sarah’s spot was off to the side, and she rather preferred it that way. The beginning of the day was always a crowded mess in the village, and the weather planned for today promised to make th
ings especially hectic. Since Sarah arrived in Mountain Village, the snowflakes had graduated from tiny specks to full balls of fluff, and she only expected it to get worse.
Luckily, she wasn’t the only one who decided to arrive early. Of her six students, five had already shown up and were ready to get started. Their parents had dropped them off ahead of the morning rush and went up the gondola to catch the first tracks of the day. She was waiting on one last student and arguably her most important.
As the two boys and three girls in front of her played in the powdery snow, Sarah looked behind her and into the village courtyard for her final charge to appear. For now her other students, all bundled up in their ski suits and helmets, were content to fool around where they were. But she knew how quickly a child’s attention could be lost. It won’t be long before they became antsy and cold, nagging her to get started. And with the crowds beginning to gather and the other ski school classes starting to fill up, it was only a matter of time before the whining began.
Sarah looked up at the gigantic clock that rested at the top of the courtyard and saw that she still had five minutes before she could technically consider someone late. But it was then that she felt a small figure tackle into the back of her. “Sarah!”
She looked down to see the top of Ryan Hayden’s helmet as he squeezed her thigh in a tightening grasp. She smiled as she knelt down to his level and returned the hug. “There you are, Rye-guy. We’ve been waiting for you.”
Ryan released the hug and pulled back to reveal a snowy beard built up around his facemask. “Like my new look?”
The other children laughed, and even Sarah managed a small giggle as she wiped the bits of slush caked onto his goggles. “I love it. You ready to go?”
“Sure. But can we stop for hot chocolate today?”
Sarah stood up and answered the boy’s question while helping the other kids gather their skis. “Hot chocolate already? But we haven’t even done one run yet.”
Like a contagious plague, the other children quickly caught on to their classmate’s desire and started to nag in unison. “Please, Sarah! Please! One quick stop. Just a little later. Please! Pretty please!”
Sarah couldn’t help but laugh as she finally gathered her own skis and started ushering the children over to the gondola line. “OK! OK! We’ll see how well you guys behave.”
They all cheered as one, and the kids’ youthful excitement continued to force a smile onto Sarah’s face. But it quickly faded when she became curious as to how Ryan sneaked up on her all alone.
As they reached the line and waited, Sarah’s eyes scanned the crowded village and eventually found Mr. Hayden standing at the edge of the courtyard where the pavers met the snow. Not wanting to step onto the mountain in his work clothes, Mr. Hayden watched to make sure his son made it to class safely. She acknowledged him with a wave, and he responded kindly with a friendly smile and wave of his own.
Despite it snowing as hard as it was, Mr. Hayden stayed watching as the line slowly moved forward and his son boarded the gondola. He was a busy man, but unlike the resort’s guests, Mr. Hayden’s stay in Telluride didn’t have an expiration date and he could spare a few moments to see his son off.
From the gondola window, Sarah watched as Mr. Hayden turned around and disappeared into the crowded courtyard. She tried to follow him, but the gondola car quickly climbed up the mountain and the village disappeared into a cloud of snow.
As the children in the gondola jabbered on, Sarah let her mind drift away while continuing to stare into the whiteness out the window. She wondered if Chris would eventually share Mr. Hayden’s qualities as a father. If he would be kind and compassionate. Patient and caring. It’s true his profession was treating people when they were sick or injured, but showing affection to a child of your own was a completely different ballgame. Would he really be able to step up to the plate as a father when the time came? Hell, he couldn’t even commit to the two of them living together full-time.
Sarah could feel herself growing frustrated and pushed the thoughts out of her mind. They were important questions but ones that would need to be answered at another time. For now, she had six children whom she considered her own to deal with. And they deserved all her attention.
***
Cheryl Fallon always considered herself the glue that held her family together. The rock that kept them grounded. And this was especially true when the time came for a vacation. Most people assumed that going away on a ski trip meant rest and relaxation. But Cheryl knew better. For her, a family retreat was when she actually had to work the hardest.
Even now, as her family was dressed and ready to head out onto the mountain, she kept a watchful eye on their movements in the Cliff's ski shop as they waited for their valeted equipment. Paul, standing in front of her at the other end of the store, had already made a friend with the store's owner. She couldn't hear their conversation but assumed it danced back and forth between last night's sports scores and the stock market. More importantly, Cheryl kept a watch on her children out the corner of each eye. They were both browsing the shops overpriced skiing equipment and, Cheryl surmised, never bothering to look at the price tags while doing so.
Joey, who had been nagging her for a new pair of snowboard boots since the trip was planned, window shopped along the store's left wall. While Stephanie drifted between racks of ski jackets and pants, completely disoriented without a phone to accompany her right hand.
Cheryl wished she didn't have to monitor her family's every move but was left with no other choice. Otherwise, they'd probably all just wander off, lost in their own little worlds. Then their time together would be thrown out the window and they might as well have just stayed home.
As Cheryl continued to watch her family, she became increasingly concerned with her daughter's growing agitation. Stephanie paced around the store's aisles, browsing through the racks of clothes in a fit of irritation. Sensing her motherly duties were needed, Cheryl decided to end her role as a passive observer and investigate her daughter's uneasiness.
Stephanie was so entranced sifting through a pile of snow hats that she didn't even notice her mother approaching until she stood alongside her. Even then, she only gave Cheryl a brief glance of acknowledgment before going back to her pointless activity. "Hey."
Cheryl couldn't help but laugh at her daughter's brevity. "Hey? That's all I get?"
Once again, Stephanie refused to commit to the conversation with more than a one-word response. "What?"
At which point, Cheryl looked down at her daughter with an expression that only a mother with years of practice could master. The combination of a smirk, raised brow and two glaring eyes gave Cheryl the uncanny appearance of a friendly parent that wasn’t taking any bullshit. "Listen, missy: I've known you your entire life, and I'm pretty sure I can tell when something's bothering you. So what’s wrong?"
This time, the girl answered without interrupting her search through the hats. "Nothing."
Cheryl placed her hand on the pile of clothes, forcing the teenager’s attention to her. “Steph, no matter how much you mope, you’re not getting your phone back.”
The bluntness of her mother’s comment hit Stephanie right in the face, and she let out an exhausted sigh of disappointment. Then, after composing herself from that world-ending realization, the pout of a princess smeared across her face as she pleaded her case. “But why? What’s the big deal? Everyone on planet Earth has a phone. I’m seventeen. I think I deserve one.”
Although it came off as a whine, Cheryl could tell that deep down her daughter was feeling genuinely mistreated. Like most new parents, Paul and her had spoiled Stephanie way too much as their firstborn child. But she would be graduating high school soon, and she would have to learn that the world wasn’t as nice as mommy and daddy made it out to be.
Cheryl paused for a moment to analyze the situation and then resumed her parenting stare as she started to speak. “First off, I think you need to look up the word
‘deserve’ in the dictionary. And it’s because you’re graduating high school soon that I took the phone away.”
Stephanie gave her mother a confused look as if she just had her mind twisted in a knot. And Cheryl struggled to hold in a laugh at her daughter’s clueless expression as she went on to explain. “Look. College starts in the fall and then you’re free of us. No parents or little brother to bother you at all. You can sit in your dorm and text all day if you want to.
“But trust me, you don’t have it so bad at home. You’ll see as you meet other kids your age. Your family loves and cares about you deeply. Not everyone can say that. So when you’re sitting in bed trying to fall asleep at two in the morning because you have a class at eight, you’ll miss us and be glad we spent this time together.”
Cheryl stopped for a moment, allowing time for her words to sink in. And when a small, reluctant smile crept its way across Stephanie’s face, she knew at least some of her speech got through. She smiled in return while wrapping her arm around her daughter’s shoulder. “Then someday you’ll have a daughter of your own and say to yourself, ‘well, I guess my mom was right’.”
Stephanie let out a laugh, playfully pushing her mother away. “Never!”
They both continued smiling together when a voice called out to them from the back of the store. “Fallon. You’re all set.”
Suddenly, a blur of a snowboard jacket ran by them as Joey darted across the room. They looked up to see him running towards the young boy that called their name standing in a doorway leading to the outside. Cheryl then turned to her daughter as Joey disappeared into the snowfall.
