The Twins' Argument

Anne turned to Lilly, swishing her red valore dress. "How do I look?"

"Great," Lilly said, glancing briefly at her friend. "How do you plan to get over there, though?" The whole clique was holding a Christmas party at the Lodge.

"Well, I suppose I'll change when I get there." She turned, about to go into her room and change.

"You know, Anne, you look wonderful in that scarlet color."

"Really?" Anne said. "Thanx."

"Sure thing," Lilly assured her. She eyed the green satin robe she herself was planning on wearing. For sure, Anne would look better than her.

They both pulled on their ski gear, their backpacks loaded with jewelry, shoes, tights, and dresses. They launched themselves out of the dense wood to where they were in the open. If they looked North, they faced a rocky, almost-vertical slope. To the left, where they came from, was a dense wood, and to the right, fresh powder ran somewhat up a hill, forming a horizon line from where they stood. South was a durable slope, which could be used to reach Gad Valley.

The girls headed South, towards Gad Valley and Mid Gad, which they planned on taking up until they could reach a lodge.

Lilly shot ahead of Anne, who was still getting used to the territory. This was only the third day she had been living with Lilly in her mountainside home. Their electricity sources were a waterwheel, which they used for heat, and a solar panel, which was a ways up, hidden in a tree, for light.

Once they had gotten in line for Mid Gad, Anne and Lilly felt free to chatter excitedly about the christmas party. It was almost one noon, and if the girls wanted to sleep at home that night they would have to leave at three-thirty because the chairlifts closed at four, and they couldn't get home without using one.

However, the two planned on staying all night and taking off in the early morning for their beloved home, because the christmas party would run long past four.

Meanwhile, Marie and Daisy, in their home, were also getting ready for the Christmas party, but they did not need to take any chairlifts to get there, although they would to get home. Daisy was planning on spending the night, however Marie didn't know the others at the party nearly as well and said she would come home at three-thirty instead of spending the night.

Right now, I had better explain about Anne and Marie, Daisy and Lilly. Anne and Marie are twins, with curly brown hair and clear blue eyes. They are both petite and have milky tannish-peach skin.

Daisy and Lilly are also twins. They have frizzy red hair and foggy green eyes. They are tall and spangly with rosy, freckly skin.

Anne is an artist, no doubt. She is quiet but quite independent. She won't announce it, but she'll slip away, to be on her own. She's kind of a nature lover, she loves the silence. She does what she wants when she wants.

Marie is also independent. She is a rebellious type, though, and she's got leader qualities that can get her thousands of signatures on her petitions. She is also a nature lover, but instead of enjoying it, she fights to protect it. She doesn't slip away, she leads along. She plans and organizes, plots her steps before taking them.

Lilly has done what Daisy did all her life. She's not independent by the least. She is a poet, though, and also quiet. She loves the forest because of the poems it conceals, the majestic moments it has. She does what she does when she does it, without planning at all.

Daisy is also a leader, but not rebellious. Unlike the other three, she's not a particular nature lover or a particular independent person. She goes with the flow and manages to take control and lead it, sort of. She also plans and organizes everything. She wants to be a scientist someday.

Hans, Joe, Christopher and Nicholas (twin boys), Rachel, Sarah, Daisy and Lilly, Anne and Marie are all of the kids that live in secret huts up on the mountain. Daisy and Lilly used to live together, but a fight happened.

Anne and Marie were up on the mountainside for vacation with their parents, until one day on the tram, Daisy, Lilly, Anne, and Marie, were all together.

They met through Anne and Marie's father, who resembled a pumpkin, with his ski gear sliding over his big butt. He had shouted at Marie, "these twins aren't fighting," as he pointed to Daisy and Lilly, "but you always do... Why?"

"It's not my fault Anne's such a butt," Marie said indignantly. She glanced to the side and spotted Daisy and Lilly. "Hey, you wanna sign my petition?"

The girls did, learning it was to stop Snowbird from cutting down another forest.

Later on, when everyone was getting off the tram, getting ready to ski, Marie asked: "Dad, Daisy and I are going down Black Forest."

"Be in the hotel room by six sharp," he replied.

Together, Daisy and Marie took off towards Black Forest. Meanwhile, Anne followed her parents and then broke off from them. Lilly followed, figuring that since Daisy and Marie were so much alike, she and Anne must be a lot alike, too.

She followed Anne past Black Forest, around to a very powdery slope where you could get to a particular part underneath the tram. The girls skied over.

"Hi!" Lilly said.

"Mmmph," Anne said.

"Whatcha' doin' down here?" Lilly asked. "I thought I was the only one who came here."

"Looking for my cap," she said. "It's red." She took off down the slope.

Lilly looked around and spotted something red just over the other side of the slope, where Anne wouldn't be able to see it. So she got it and gave it to Anne.

"Hey, thanx," Anne said.

After that, Anne was a lot more friendly to Lilly. They went skiing together for a long time. Finally they broke apart, Lilly going home, Anne going to the hotel room.

How could a fight evolve from this?, you may wonder. Well, keep reading and find out.

Back in the Lodge, Daisy and Marie agreed to meet the next day at noon to ski together. Marie left.

The next day, when Daisy was getting ready to go, Lilly said, "I'll go too, because maybe Anne wants to ski with me."

Anne wasn't interested in skiing. "I was going to swim," she said. Together, the girls went to the pool while Daisy and Marie went out to the slopes.

"You know," Lilly said, watching Anne dive somewhat gracefully into the water, "Daisy almost drowns in water. Any water."

"Really? Marie just sits by the edge complaining about natural resources that get used up just to fill one swimming pool. It's pretty boring."

"I'll bet - not as fun as watching Daisy, I'll bet on that too." Anne agreed.

Later, after everyone in Anne's room had gone, she lead Lilly up and showed Lilly her art box. There was a long, thin box in the bottom which contained portraits, there were clay balls, paper, paint, sketching pencils, and even a couple of small blocks of wood and a small knife for carving.

"This is wonderful, Anne!"

"Really?"

"You've got real talent."

"I'm taking anatomy and geometry and art classes to improve it," Anne said.

"I want to really be able to draw shapes and figures - especially people."

"These portraits are great," Lilly said, picking up one of Anne's father.

"They would be hard to improve."

"I don't think so."

"This one's really funny," Lilly said, changing the subject as she spotted one of Anne's father that highly exaggerated the waistline. There was a picture of North America on his upper-belly, like an over-draw to show how much bigger this continent is than that continent, except for the bigger continent was her father's stomach.

"It's my favorite," Anne admitted.

Later on, Lilly decided to show Anne her stuff. She took Anne over and modeled the silk gowns she inherited from her mother, showed her poetry box filled with pencils and pens, and photographs that she had taken to write poems about.

"Lilly, you're a photographer and a poet," Anne said, lifting a picture and a poem that matched. "The poem tells exactly this but in a more magical way, and this catches the light in every branch, it's beautiful."

Lilly beamed. "Your art is, too, Anne."

"You know, I often take pictures of things to draw," she said. "I think I'm pretty good at photography myself."

"I'd like to see some pictures sometime," Lilly said, as they left.

The girls had a wonderful day, well, Anne did. Lilly enjoyed it too, but the rest of the day was dismal.

Daisy had found out she'd had visitors and she was angry.

"At least you could've asked me before showing my private things!"

"They're mine, too, you know," Lilly shot back. "The gowns and the poetry are mine! I didn't even let her go towards your room! I should be able to show my friends my secret hideout if I want!"

"And I should have some say in it, as it's my secret hideout, too!"

"Then, fine! Have all the say! You always rule my life anyway! I'm moving out!"

You may think that this is a silly move for Lilly to be making. Daisy should be moving out, as her things had been displayed without her consult. But Lilly had been doing just what her twin did all her life long, bottling up all her feelings about being controlled and monitored. She finally had a friend over, did something that Daisy didn't control, and Daisy fell apart. She decided she couldn't do it anymore.

During lunch at Gad Restraunt, Anne said to Lilly, "Sometimes, I wish I could lose Mom, Dad and Marie for good."

"Well," Lilly said bluntly, without thinking, "why don't you live with me?"

Silence. A few minutes later, Anne turned sparkling eyes to Lilly. "Okay."

"Well," Lilly said, thinking more seriously now, "you'd have to run away in the middle of the night. Like, the night before you leave."

"That's a week from now."

"Well, you'd have to help me find a site and build my new home," Lilly said. She'd told Anne all about her fight with Daisy.

"Our new home," Anne corrected. They weren't speaking hypothetically anymore.

"Okay," Lilly said, smiling. "Let's start looking at sites this afternoon."

"Okay," Anne agreed, a big smile on her face.

By the end of the afternoon, they had this sheet of paper:

"I have an idea," Anne said. "We'll add up all of the numbers, and the ones under, say, ten, we cross out."

"Okay. Black Forest is ten, Cliff is eight, cross it out, top Gad Zoom is fourteen, shortcut is 11, and Silver Fox is 3, cross it out too."

"Forest, Zoom, and Shortcut remain."

"We could go rate them by niceness and view."

"Okay." And they came up with this:

"Forest scores fourteen, Zoom fifteen, and Shortcut twelve," Anne said.

"But the Zoom gets all its points from accessibility and view, mainly. Those are the two most unimportant things."

"Right. Take out Zoom."

"Forest wins, then, I guess."

"Let's go looking for things to beat Forest. It gets ten and fourteen. I bet we can beat it."

"Let's go!"

This was all happening in the Lodge. Nobody really paid attention to the two girls. Rachel was planning a surprise ambush on Hans with Pansy, her parrot. Hans, Joe, and Hannah were skiing, and Christopher and Nicholas were swimming. Daisy and Marie were on the tram, about to race Silver Fox.

Marie was saying, "you know, I wish I could stay here. It's so great, and there are tons of petitions to do and lots of skiing. I love to ski."

"You could take Lilly's old room," Daisy suggested, not really meaning it. Little did she know that Marie was planning on taking her up on that offer.

Anne and Lilly decided, after finding 3 other sites that didn't reach 10 on either evaluation, to go up and down the tram for a break before starting to build at Black Forest.

Lilly led. She took them right back down to where Anne had lost her red cap.

"Hey, I've already lost my cap once here... Wait up!" Anne called.

Lilly parked herself near the trees. She could see up the slope where she and Anne had come. Just over the other side is where the red cap had been lost. She could see down a gulley ahead, and if she looked up, she could see the tram. North, she spotted a large rocky slope that was practically vertical.

Anne appeared over the brink of the slope. Lilly saw her, and beckoned. Anne came closer, and she saw Lilly heading into the woods. There was nice, firm ground, good accessibility, a beautiful veiw, and the trees would hide any hut from the tram.

"Anne," Lilly said, "We've found our building site." Anne's eyes widened and sparkled. "This would get a twenty in both," she said after a few minutes of inspecting the place herself.

"There's a trail just over there you can use to get to Gad Valley," Lilly said. "Did I tell you that?"

"No," Anne said. "This place is perfect, Lilly. You're a genius. If you hadn't taken us here, we'd be in Black forest for a ten and fourteen! This is twenty and twenty if you ask me."

"I think so, too. First, let's choose the exact location."

"Okay," Anne said. "Be back here in ten minutes, and we can share what we found." The two girls separated and ventured into the woods.

Anne found the site. She chose a spot that looked out over a hill of trees and that was hidden very well from the tram. They put up a frame and then went up the tram, and discovered there was a huge pine blocking the sight.

Once back at the building site, the two girls thought about resources. Luckily, Anne had read through her father's old college books and knew how to build a solar panel and a waterwheel for electricity.

The girls built and built, working hard. Soon they had a cottage just big enough for the two of them; two bedrooms, a bathroom (Anne also took care of the plumbing), a living room and kitchen. They used the energy from the solar panel for lights. Since long ago, Daisy and Lilly had done wiring projects with their parents, Lilly took care of connecting the wires to the solar panel.

Soon they had heat and light. Lilly had all her things packed in her old room in Daisy's house, she would move in the day before the night when Anne would move into their new house. Marie would move into Lilly's old room, though neither she nor Daisy nor Anne knew it.

With the furniture in there, Lilly got her things and moved into her room. Each bedroom and the livingroom looked out on the hill of trees. The front door faced the trail they had forged that was more of a memory thing than follow-the-tracks thing, and their bathroom had no windows.

That night, Anne awoke on the livingroom couch. She took off the blankets and lumped them so it would look like someone was sleeping there. She had recorded herself breathing evenly the night before, and she placed the cassette player under the pillow to sound like she was still there, asleep. She reached under the couch and grabbed her possessions, then went and got her ski gear.

In the lobby, she got ready to go out on the tram. It was five A.M., and the tram was open for 'earlybird' skiers. She checked her things into the desk, and they gave her a tag that said 4502.

"Bring this to us to get your things back," the lady behind the desk said.

"Okay." Anne stuffed the tag in her pocket and zipped it. "I'll be back this afternoon."

Anne was on the tram twenty minutes later, when Marie woke up. She stuffed her things in a drawer underneath her bed that was hidden by her quilts and things. She got her ski gear, put it on in the hall, and left through the lobby like anyone else. She got a tram two trams after the one Anne took.

Lilly was waiting for Anne, with the lights on. She was suited up, wearing snowshoes and carrying a lantern, waiting outside of the trees, in the clearing that she loved so much. She faced the slope where Anne would appear, and just on the other side there was a bush that the red cap had been by.

The sun was rising over the East, behind the slope, and weak pinkish rays hit the huge rock formation, causing a gorgeous play of light on the snow and rock.

A few flakes had fallen from an overhanging cloud whose edges had been turned pink by the sun. The flakes stopped falling a few seconds later, and the snow cloud almost disappeared.

South, Lilly saw the frosty snow shimmering in the early morning light. She passed the tray she was carrying with hot breakfeast on it to her other hand, so she could blow out her lantern. She set it down on a tree stump and placed the tray next to it.

Anne's figure appeared over the edge of the slope. Quickly, Lilly pulled two hunks of wood out of the shade of a tree and set them beside the stump.

Anne arrived at the stump.

"For picnics," Lilly said. "I saw it and knew it would be perfect. Care for hot cereal, Anne?"

"Yes," Anne said, smiling, rosy cheeks blazing. She pulled off her mittens, her hat, and her skis.

"Scrambled eggs, bacon, pancakes, hot cereal and juice."

"Mmm! Thanks," Anne said, gobbling up the food.

After enjoying their breakfeast, the girls headed back to the cottage, down the path they had made and used enough for it to be visible, and into their home.

Daisy, however, was not awaiting Marie with a hot breakfeast. She was going to sleep in before she went skiing and met Rachel for lunch. She had no idea Marie was ten feet from her front door.

She awoke when she heard the door rattling as Marie tried to open it, then a loud knock. She got up, groggy and slightly triumphant. Something inside her suspected Lilly, saying she wanted to move back in.

"I'm coming, Lilly," she said, and then, opened the door... "Marie!"

"I thought I'd take you up on that room," Marie said.

"Sure," Daisy said. "Right down the hall... Here. Make yourself at home, Marie... Nice to see you. I'm going to sleep some more, okay?"

"Really?" Marie said. "I never sleep in. I'm going to do something else."

"I planned on it," Daisy said, fumbling with the doorknob to her room. "There's cereal in the cabinet and milk in the fridge." She went in her room and closed the door behind her.

The next day, Anne was in line to Gad Zoom when Marie got in line right behind her.

"Marie?" She said, surprised.

"Didn't you leave today?" The twins chourused. Then, "I ran away," they said at exactly the same time. They laughed. They laughed and laughed and laughed.

This leaves us where my story actually begins. That was just to fill you in on how Anne and Lilly wound up living together.

Anne and Lilly arrived at the lodge twenty minutes later and went to one of the bathrooms to change.

"Anne, you look stunning," Rachel noted. She was wearing a very dark blue cotton dress that had a white snowflake on the chest.

"You look good, too," Anne said, looking around the main room. There was a big, piney evergreen in the middle of the room, decorated beautifully (actually, Daisy, Lilly, Christopher, Nicholas, and Joe had decorated it), and there were garlands all over. Christmas lights zig-zagged across the ceiling, and green-and-red shawls covered chairs, couches, and christmas tableclothes covered tables which had snacks on them. Everyone had brought a gift, and later, everyone planned on doing a Chinese Auction.

Anne placed her gift on the table next to Daisy's.

Daisy and Marie had arrived as well. Daisy wore black pants and a stunning green shirt while Marie had a long red skirt and a white shirt.

Both Hans and Joe wore jeans, Hans had a green shirt while Joe's was red. Christopher and Nicholas were wearing green-and-white checked shirts and red-and-black checked pants. They were arguing over whose hair looked greasier, as both of theirs was slicked down with oil into very fake looking curls. This was on purpose, Sarah had helped them with this as they were going to sing 'Jingle Bell Rock' later on. They even had matching guitars they would pretend to play during the performance.

Sarah was wearing a flowing red dress that had white beads around the neck and waistline.

Everyone had arrived. Rachel stood up and sat on a stool in front of the room.

"I have a story to tell you," she said, beaming. "It's my version of Little Red Riding Hood." She took a deep breath, feeling everyone's eyes pouring into hers.

"Well, one day, Little Red Riding hood was sitting on her bed, reading a very good book. She was in the middle of chapter seven when her mother called her.

"'Janet,' she said, for that was Little Red Riding Hood's real name, 'your Grandmother needs company. Here, take her these fresh rolls, blueberry muffins, chocolate-chip cookies, candy canes and cake, darling.' Janet, or Little Red Riding Hood, did not want to.

"'I'm in the middle of chapter seven, mother,' she called.

"'you can read all you want after your grandmother is dead,' her mother said. 'Now that you can spend time with her, you would prefer to read?'

"'You catch on quickly, mother,' Janet said.

"'Just you get out here right now, you selfish little girl! Take these to your Granny and be as sweet as you can possibly be.'

"'Sheesh,' Janet mumbled to herself as she left with the basket. Just then, her stomach rumbled. She could eat the goodies and say she'd taken them to her Granny.

"Well, just as she was sitting down to enjoy a big bite of peppermint roll, a fox came up to her.

"'I'm on my way to eat your grandmother. How would I get there?' The fox asked.

"'Well, I'm not quite sure,' Janet lied. 'But, maybe, while you eat this peppermint roll, I could think of it.'

"You see, the fox was very hungry. Eating to find out where more food was sounded great to him. 'Sure,' he said. After he had finished the roll, he asked, 'Have you thought of it yet?'

"'Not yet, but maybe I will if you try another roll, or a muffin, perhaps.'

"You see, this went on until the fox was stuffed and the basket was empty. 'Now I remember!' Janet said after the last bite of cake had gone. 'It's north of here by about 30 miles.' The fox was not only not hungry anymore, but hated the sound of a 30-mile walk. He staggered back into the woods and Janet skipped home, wanting to finish her book.

"'After all,' she thought to herself, 'even if Granny isn't dead, I saved her life.' The End," Rachel said.

Everyone clapped as she returned to her seat. Then they cleared out the stage for Christopher and Nicholas. Together, they louldy sang Jingle Bell Rock.

They did Chinese Auction and more. That night, Daisy and Lilly sat on a couch, making up and catching up.

"I'm really sorry," Daisy said. "I didn't know I was controlling your life like that."

"I'm sorry, too, Daisy," Lilly said. "I should have asked you before taking Anne to our secret spot."

"Marie and I are searching for a spot for a new secret place. Would you two like to move in with us?"

"I would consider it with Anne if our spot wasn't so wonderful already and if we weren't so happy like this."

"I understand," Daisy said. "But we could still ski together sometimes."

"Yeah," Lilly said. "Sure. Tomorrow good for you?"

"Sure," Daisy agreed.

Daisy and Marie left with all their ski gear at eight in the morning the next day as to search and ski all day long.

The End