The unsteady feet, in the new store bought
shoes, stumbled up the grassy path. Mom bought her the shoes hoping she would
wear them, instead of the ragged old running shoes she loved. The round hidden
stones made the way up, hard for her small legs. Nell was trying to keep up to
the others-she wanted to be big. But there were butterflies to chase and frogs
to find in the long grass near the creek. She could hear them croaking out to
her. The path wound up in front of her and she took a deep breath of the
mountain air. The long legs of her family seem to disappear even as she walked
along as hard as she could.
She sat down with a thud and decided the shoes were the problem. She was just better without them...how she missed her brown runners. 'We are going to a reunion' her mother had said. 'What would people think of her in those shoes?' Leaving the new shoes and socks on a large rock, she skipped along, happy to be free of the weight of them. Suddenly she stopped almost falling forward she had stopped so hard. She listened for the voices of her family. Hearing nothing she spun around and around her curly red hair flashing like a beacon in the summer sun. She plodded ahead now, her small mind thinking scary thoughts about the snow monster. Her older boy cousins told her about it when they knew she wanted to tag along, hoping to change her mind. The monster lived where the snow was, high above the summer cabin.
Rounding the next bend she cried out, as a rise of nothing but white snow climbed straight up in front of her. Nell felt small and cold. Her bare feet now surrounded by an icy trickle flowing from the snow covered slope.
Earlier she had been so excited to take part in this rite of passage. Every year the men and boys of the reunion would hike to the top. They would leave something there to prove the summit and would return to fill the evenings with stories of their adventures. Nell was a girl and girls didn't go on hikes like this. At least not until there was Nell. She insisted and with the approval of the uncles, and a few nods from the aunties, she was allowed to join in. Her cousins grumbled that she would only slow them down and that girls couldn’t hike.
Now she was lost and alone and her feet were stinging from the cold water. Through tears she pushed on thinking they must be just ahead. She began to think of what the snow monster might do with her. Before she could finish dreaming up this horrible tragedy, strong hands scooped her high off the earth. Nell screamed until she sat perched aloft broad shoulders. She looked down to see the shocking red hair of her uncle Pete. From her new vantage on top of this giant man she giggled and dangled her wet feet under his nose.
'I thought we had lost you' he breathed out as though a weight had been lifted. Nell smiled and tried to dry her feet on his shirt, glad that he could not see her tear stained cheeks.
On up through the snow and across a wide shallow creek they walked together. Everything looked different from up here. His huge strides covering the distance between lost and her family, in no time at all. Rescued is how she felt. Now looking back to the summer she was five she knows what her favorite memory is. The day she and beat the mountain and the snow monster with a giant of her own.
She sat down with a thud and decided the shoes were the problem. She was just better without them...how she missed her brown runners. 'We are going to a reunion' her mother had said. 'What would people think of her in those shoes?' Leaving the new shoes and socks on a large rock, she skipped along, happy to be free of the weight of them. Suddenly she stopped almost falling forward she had stopped so hard. She listened for the voices of her family. Hearing nothing she spun around and around her curly red hair flashing like a beacon in the summer sun. She plodded ahead now, her small mind thinking scary thoughts about the snow monster. Her older boy cousins told her about it when they knew she wanted to tag along, hoping to change her mind. The monster lived where the snow was, high above the summer cabin.
Rounding the next bend she cried out, as a rise of nothing but white snow climbed straight up in front of her. Nell felt small and cold. Her bare feet now surrounded by an icy trickle flowing from the snow covered slope.
Earlier she had been so excited to take part in this rite of passage. Every year the men and boys of the reunion would hike to the top. They would leave something there to prove the summit and would return to fill the evenings with stories of their adventures. Nell was a girl and girls didn't go on hikes like this. At least not until there was Nell. She insisted and with the approval of the uncles, and a few nods from the aunties, she was allowed to join in. Her cousins grumbled that she would only slow them down and that girls couldn’t hike.
Now she was lost and alone and her feet were stinging from the cold water. Through tears she pushed on thinking they must be just ahead. She began to think of what the snow monster might do with her. Before she could finish dreaming up this horrible tragedy, strong hands scooped her high off the earth. Nell screamed until she sat perched aloft broad shoulders. She looked down to see the shocking red hair of her uncle Pete. From her new vantage on top of this giant man she giggled and dangled her wet feet under his nose.
'I thought we had lost you' he breathed out as though a weight had been lifted. Nell smiled and tried to dry her feet on his shirt, glad that he could not see her tear stained cheeks.
On up through the snow and across a wide shallow creek they walked together. Everything looked different from up here. His huge strides covering the distance between lost and her family, in no time at all. Rescued is how she felt. Now looking back to the summer she was five she knows what her favorite memory is. The day she and beat the mountain and the snow monster with a giant of her own.
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