"Lilly, hurry up, would you?" Anne called from the dining room. Lilly rolled her eyes as she snapped on her snowboard.
"It's another hour until our lesson starts, Anne."
"So what? We have to get the tickets and..." Anne started off.
Lilly looked down at her sterling blue board. "Oh, Anne, cool off, it's just a snowboarding lesson..."
"That cost eighty-two dollars!" Anne replied. "Ready yet?"
Lilly pulled on her gloves. "Almost, Anne."
"Good," Anne replied. "I can't wait to get started."
"Where'd you get the money from, Anne?" Lilly asked suddenly. "You did say they're expensive."
"I've been saving up for a present for you," Anne gushed, cheeks going scarlet. "Since you let me move in with you and everything... I was working at the mini-grocer store and everything, and soon I had three hundred twenty-eight bucks. It took me a while, though, and sometimes I even did I night shift since they pay more."
"Wow, Anne! I can't believe you'd do this for me! And now we have just enough for us both to take two days of snowboarding lessons." Lilly embraced her close friend, then Anne scolded:
"I did work hard for all that... Let's not be late!" This image, of all Anne's work gone to waste, hurried Lilly substantially. Soon, they were out the door.
"You mean the tickets are only good for the day you bought them for?"
"I'm not sure," Anne said. "But I'll take no risks."
The two arrived, huffing, at least fifteen minutes early, in the mountain school office at the Snowbird Center. They checked in, and the attendants behind the desk were calm and kind, and helped them find their way to the 'first-day group'.
Having never had been on a snowboard before, Anne and Lilly had a lot to learn. Their instructor was friendly, though, and soon they had learned these three rules:
Soon, they were on a small slope in the Chickadee Bowl, practicing how to slow down, speed up, and fall. Laughing and giggling, they'd slap high-fives each time they managed to go down the slope without falling. This rare occurrence ocurred once for each of them.
They went up Chicadee and started to work on traversing, giggling and frowning at the way their board twisted. They fell a million times they thought (privately, I'm betting on two hundred), but they just laughed it off.
They side-slipped on both heels and toes, and, reminding themselves continually of the rules (somehow they wound up kneeling over, staring at their feet, and twisting in odd directions) and eventually getting the hang of it. By the end of the day, they thought they were doing J-turns pretty well.
There was still time after their class in the afternoon, so the friends grabbed their skis and headed for the more advanced slopes. They skied Tiger's Tail and Banana Trees and Bassackwards (both lower and higher). Then they caught the last tram up and tried Mineral Basin.
Anne led the way through the big, fat mogles on the steepish slope. Lilly raced after her, and after their fourth run the loading assistant told them the lift would be closing, and not to come down again. The girls agreed solemnly, and rode the chair up the chilly slope, admiring the 4:30 sunset.
They ran Chips and Primrose Gulley, and then branched off on a secret trail they had discovered, leading them to a trail that covered ground immediately under the tram.
The girls swerved carefully and skiied across a wide, powdery path. They rode up a hill and were looking at their home.
In front ot them was a dark, mystical wood which they loved, because it was full of life and surprises. In early morning, sun drafted through the branches, spotting the snowy forest floor in a majestic way. To their left, North, was a huge rock face spotted in soft, powdery snow that was cast brilliant shades of pink and purple at dusk.
To their right was a gulley that headed down, following on the far left of the tram, barely visible out of its windows. It glinted and sparkled in early morning light as well as mid-day light and evening light, and it glowed with moonlight at night. The snow met the sky at a hazy horizon which the two girls could not decipher.
Their skis faced horizontal to the slope where they stood. The two girls had met when Anne lost her cap just behind a bush up the hill they had just taken, and later, once Anne decided to come live with Lilly in her new mountain home, they realized that this was the perfect building spot.
The two girls skated through the trees to a hut, a jolly hut that had merely 6 rooms; a dining room/kitchen, two bedrooms, a bathroom/washroom, a living room, and a mud room (where they kept their outdoor things).
The diningroom/kitchen was small, with a small stove that heated the entire kitchen when it ran (not at all a bad thing), a medium-sized refrigerator crammed with healthy snacks and nutricious meals, and a set of lovely cupbords decorated with sunfowers at the corners.
The bedrooms were airy and neat. Lilly's bedroom had forget-me-not blue walpaper, a soft, cream-colored carpet, a silver bedframe with a bouncy matress and plump pillows, and sheets and pillow-cases smelling of violets and colored a light peach. There was a soft, down-filled quilt patched with forget-me-not blue, violet, light peach, cream, and dark indigo.
She had a tall dresser made of dark wood with silver handles shaped like seashells. She kept a collection of glass fairies on top.
Finally, she had a sliding-door closet with 6 shelves and a long rod to hang clothes on. She kept her shoes in neat rows at the bottom. The doors had mirrors on them to admire herself in.
Anne's room was mostly in shades of red, scarlet, orange and even a purplish pink Lilly kept reminding her was magenta. Her walpaper was a rose color, and she had a wood floor with several magenta area rugs spread out in front of her dresser and under her bed.
She had a gold bedframe (neither hers or Lilly's bedframes are real gold or silver) with a springy matress and several round pillows she had re-stuffed herself as they were pretty thin, soft rose sheets smeling of real roses, and a quilt much like Lilly's but in magenta, scarlet, rose, purple, and 3 shades of orange.
She had a nightstand made out of painted-gold metal that was twisted in twirls and swirls. On it she kept her watch, an alarm clock, a lamp, and a stack of books she happened to be halfway through.
She had a shorter dresser than Lilly, though it was wider and more grand-looking, Anne thought. The handles were gold and shaped like leaves. On top, she kept a collection of framemed photos; the frames were hand-made by her.
She had a closet exactly like Lilly's, so I won't take the time to describe it all over again.
Their bathroom/washroom was equipt with both a small washer and drier, a toilet, a shower/tub, and a sink. The walpaper was forget-me-nots and lilacs patterened over a rose color. The place smelled of a combo of all three flowers.
The counter was cream colored and the sink a laventer-rose, the tiled floor was rose and forget-me-not blue. The tub was rose and the shower curtains were magenta. They kept a stack of blue laundry hampers in the corner.
The livingroom had a nice, warm fireplace and 2 beanbag chairs, one green and the other blue. There were several bookshelves against one wall, and over a wood floor was a pure-scarlet area rug on which perched a coffee table. There was a small couch, even, set back from the fireplace, with great accessibility to the coffee table. The couch was dark indigo with a rose shawl covering the back of it.
The mudroom was all white, except it was tracked with mud. It was the first thing you saw when you came into the hut, so you could sit on the bench and pull of all your gear and wet things before continuing into the rest of the house.
The two now entered this very mudroom, pulling off their things. They clomped down the hall that had doors leading off to the kitchen, bathroom, and two bedrooms, to where it ended in the living room.
Plopping down onto the beanbag chairs, the two discussed snowboarding. They considered positions and methods and what worked best for them. Then their conversation led on to the slopes, particularly Tiger Tail.
"I'll never get over that strange russle we heard in the trees," Anne said indignantly.
"I already have," Lilly informed her. "It was probably just a squirrel."
"You're right. And here I am, freaking out! Well, I'm sure it was nothing big... anyway, I thin I'll go to bed early... I want to be on time tomorrow...."
"Anne, silly! We were fifteen minutes early today, and I slept in."
"You don' t have to worry about that again... not with russling trees to take care of it..."
"Ha, ha," Lilly said. "I'm not scared, anyway. You heard me. And whatever it was, it's gone now."
"What if it was some homeless creep?" Anne asked worriedly.
""It wasn't, I'm sure of it, Anne," said Lilly. "I'll go to bed early, too, I think."
"Early one."
"Be quiet, Anne... I'm grouchy."
"How come?"
"I'm sore, what else? Remember all that snowboarding? And all that fallling? And how I twisted my shoulder trying to get on the lift? G'night, Anne.
"Maybe it was Nicholas spying on us."
"You're boring me," Lilly informed her. "I'm going to bed." And with that, she did.
The next day, Anne and Lilly were moved up to the second-day group. This time, though, their instructor was pretty nutty:
"It's all balance... think of the board as a part of your body," he instructed.
Lilly rolled her eyes.
"Wacco," Anne whispered to her. She nodded.
"Squish the bugs," their instructor told them as they side-slipped down Chickadee. "Concentrate on the ants. Squish them."
One girl did a successful toe-side side-slip. "Did you think about the bugs?" intoned the instructor.
"No," she said flatly.
"Oh," he said, slightly surprised. "Well, it was good anyway."
The two girls didn't enjoy this class nearly as much as they had enjoyed the previous.
Dispite the instructor, though, soon they were completing 'S' turns with excellence.
Once again, after class, they had time to go skiing. Anne had a sparkle of adventure in her eye.
"So," Lilly asked, "Where'd you want to go?" There were at the top of Gad Zoom.
"How about Tiger Tail?" Anne answered her question with a question.
"What about the russle?"
"The russle is what we're going there for," Anne informed her. "Let's go."
They went through Black Forest to Gad Two, and then down to Tiger Tail.
Lilly stood, nervously, at the top of the gate to Tiger Tail.
Anne shot past her, right in. Lilly reluctantly followed.
Anne was in the lead. She cut sharp turns and then came to a bush. The two girls heard the russle again. Lilly was so startled, she almost tumbled head-over-skis.
Anne bravely pushed forward into the bushes and saw Nicholas, holding a camera.
"Nicholas!" Anne yelped.
"You were right!" Lilly said, aghast.
Snap, flash. Nicholas took picture after picture.
"What are you doing?" Anne inquired.
"Um.... I lost my mitten," he said sheepishly, stuffing his camera in his pocet.
"Give me that," Anne said in her commanding way. She snatched the camera away.
"No!" Nicholas shouted.
"What's it for?" Anne asked, dangling it high above his head.
Nicholas turned bright red. "Ummm... I was.... Let's see here... uh... taking a picture of a squirrel."
"Was he named Anne and Lilly by any chance?" Anne asked knowingly.
Nicholas started to smile. "Is that a new coat? It's really stunning on you," he continued, then corrected, "I mean, you're stunning in it."
"My stunning coat and I will stunn you if you don't tell me why you're sneaking around with the camera."
"Because..." he stammered, "I... I wanted a picture of you in those classy pants."
"Shut up," she said. "I'll have to get this developed, I guess. If you won't tell me." Then she added, " It would have more class with your head pinned on it."
"Give me back my camera," Nicholas said.
Anne tossed the camera to Lilly, who was downhill from her and tucked it in her pack. She waved and shot off for the Snowbird Center, sure there would be a film developer around there somewhere.
Anne followed, leaving Nicholas behind, looking pale.
She arrived at Lilly's side and they got the film developed together.
There were all kinds of things on that roll of film. They saw Hans leaping into the air on his skis, and all sorts of other things.
"Nicholas, what is this?" Anne asked,
Nicholas finally confessed. "Well, you see, Marie has been putting up these posters saying that skiing is all bad, and how it hurts the environment. But, see, Snowbird wouldn't' want that, because, it's mostly skiing that they have as a resort. So, you understand, they'd be willing to pay someone who could counteract that..."
"And so you took pictures of skiing aorund trees?"
"That was my original idea," he said, "but then, I realized you and Marie are identical twins." He paused, taking a deep breath. "Well, Snowbird and all the skiiers would like it more if I could really get Marie." He swallowed. "I was taking pictures of siiers around these trees, and then I saw... You. And you look exactly like Marie." He swallowed once more. "I could take a picture of you skiing, and just say it was Marie! Skiing herself! Imagine what Snowbird would pay for that!"
"Oh," Anne said. "Marie will kill me, you know that, don't you?"
Nicholas hung his head.
"I want half your reward," Anne told him. "Lilly, think snowboards."
"Snowboards?"
"I want a purple one, I think... what color do you like, Lilly?"
"I'd go with the same color as my suit: pale purple."
"Half the reward? Are you nuts?" Nicholas interrupted.
"Without me, these pictures wouldn't be worth half the half the half the half the reward," Anne reminded him.
"But still..." Nicholas wiggled. "Isn't it a bit much?"
"No, it's not."
"But I thought of the whole thing and did it, too... you hadn't a clue..."
"Look, mister. I get half and you get half or neither of us gets any. I've got the pictures in MY purse, you know. I'm not getting less than half to be slottered by my twin, here. Not like we get along great in the first pace, and I won't make it worse without some major payment."
"Okay," Nicholas surrendered. "You get half."
"Where's the office?"
"Haven't a clue."
The girls eventualy found it, though, and once they did they turned in the photos for one thousand dollars. This left Nicholas and Anne each with five hundred and Anne and Lilly split the costs of their snowboards to $250 each. They went to a shop and got their favorite boards ever.
Marie, however, is a different story. She was not equipt with $250 and she was mad. All her posters were countered with a picture of someone who was not her but looked just like her ... Anne. This picture showed Anne skiing. And at the bottom it claimed that the picture was of her.
She was extremely angry. How could her twin DO such a thing? How AWFUL! She had just ruined her WHOLE CAMPAIGN! NOBODY would sign those papers with her twin's picture floating around like that! She was ruined! She was MAD! And she was seeking revenge.
Who had taken the photos? She wondered. Anne could probably tell her, as she'd been the one photographed. Marie had no idea where Anne was at the time being, which proved a major problem.
She first went to the hangout, where all four girls met. It had first been Daisy's and Lilly's home, but then Lilly moved out and Anne moved in with her, and then Marie moved in with Daisy in Lilly's spot. Dissatisfied with the lack of privacy, the two girls had moved to a site in Black Forest. Now the first home of Daisy and Lilly was a 'group hangout' where all four of them went and each visited regularly.
Anne was not in sight. She had two choices from there, Marie figured... Mid Gad Restraunt or the Snowbird Center. Each were public places and would be pasted with pictures of her skiing, when it wasn't her but Anne. This thought made her even angrier.
After searching both these places unsuccessfully, she returned to the club lodge. Everybody hung out there... Rachel, Sarah, Daisy, Lilly, Hans, Joe, Christopher and Nicholas, too, even. She and Anne went there rarely, but it was her next best guess.
Anne was not there, but Marie was tired and cold from all her skiing, so she decided to stay a little while and have some hot cocoa.
As she sat at the table with her cup, she heard Nichoas saying to Christopher, "Guess what? No, I won't make you, it'd take forever... I got $500!"
"You're kidding me," Christopher replied. "Really?"
"Yep."
"Mind telling me how?" Christopher asked suspiciously.
"Well... Marie would kill me, I'm sure... but see, she put up these posters saying how bad skiing was on the environment, all over the place. Snowbird wouldn't be happy, would they? They'd want to counteract that somehow.
"I decided to go out and take photos. Photos of skiing around trees, photos that would show how environment was important to snowbird, and all sorts of other things." He paused, taking a deep breath. "Well, I was shooting some pictures in Tiger Tail when I spotted Anne. Then it hit me.
"I could tae a photo of Anne skiing, pass it over to Snowbird as Marie, they'd be happy, and trust me... they were. I got a thousand dollars! Except, Anne kind of found out what I was up to and demanded half..."
So, Marie thought to herself, that's how it happened. Well, it made her a tad bit less mad with Anne... at least it hadn't been her idea. She knew Anne wouldn't do something so hurtful on her own.
But she was still angry... Anne could have not claimed half but instead confiscated the photos! Anne could have saved Marie's whole campaign! Instead, she'd ruined it.
Flushing with anger, Marie fled from the Lodge and ran SMACK!, right into Anne at the bottom of Gad Zoom.
"Anne!"
"Oh, Marie! I'm so sorry. I know sorry won't cut it. I'll give you my portion of the reward money... not that you'd be interested... after what I'd done to you. I'm really sorry, Marie... I don't know why I did it... I guess I figured I couldn't stop Nicholas anyhow... I didn't know it would be this bad, though, Marie... I'm on my way to the office to claim the photos were of Marie's twin sister... goll, they'll be mad... Nicholas would be in deep trouble, wouldn't he? Can you come along with me, please?"
"It's too late, my campaign is already ruined," Marie said coldly.
"Oh, Marie," Anne said sadly. "I don't know how I could do something so terrible to my own twin."
Marie looked at her, and despite the anger, she hugged Anne. "It's okay, I guess," she said shakily.
"No, it's not," Anne said. "I betrayed you. That's not okay. Oh, but I'm so sorry, Marie! I'll do anything for you, reallly."
"Anything?" She laughed. "How about giving me back my campaign?"
"I wish I could," Anne said. "Really. Could you please come with me to the office?"
"It'll do no good."
"It might," Anne said spiritedly. "I'll go and write 'Anne, Marie's twin skiing in Tiger Tail' across every poster I see. I'll tell how it was really Nicholas's idea and I was in the dark about it until the last minute... C'mon, Marie."
"No," Marie said icily. She passed a pair of poster's... one hers, telling the true dangers of skiing to the environment and the other showing Anne ski. She was not angry anymore, just hurt and depressed... she would get Anne back, when her mind was clear... for now, it was filled with that photo, that poster.
She supposed, though, as she was boarding the lift, that Anne's idea wouldn't hurt. And she had an idea of her own... to get pictures of Snowbird bulldozing for a new section of Mineral Basin.
It wouldn't be nearly as powerful as the poster Snowbird had put up, but if this campaign wasn't gone it would be soon and she needed to save it.
She followed Anne to the office and they put up posters together claiming Snowbird was a liar and this was Marie's twin, who often indulged in skiing at a resort though Marie often told her not to...
And then they went to Mineral Basin and got pictures of bulldozers, and sent them around saying 'how important, exactly, is the environment to Snowbird?'.
Her campaign was never what it had been before, but it did come back to some degree. She dropped the revenge idea now that more of her posters were floating around and Anne had helped return her campaign.
The End