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I looked over the edge and out the side. All the tiny people looked like toys.
“Falling from up here would hurt like a mother,” I said.
Gabriel kept his gaze straight ahead and said nothing.
“It’s beautiful, too,” I said. “Out here in this winter wonderland.”
He still didn’t say anything.
At the top of the hill, we reached a flat area, like the one at the bottom. It did not slow.
Gabriel offered me his hand. “We need to hop off and move out of the way.”
“I’ve got it.”
And I did have it. I hopped off that deathtrap like a perfectly capable person who knew exactly what she was doing.
There was a pile of massive inner tubes, guarded by one teenage worker popping gum and mostly ignoring people. And everyone over here seemed to be children.
One kid was building what could only be described as a snow goblin based on the size and the pointy leaf ears. Another kid was rolling around in a flat spot by a tree, smearing a trail of snot across the ground while screaming, “Wheeee!”
Gabriel took in the scene, and the stiffness in his shoulders seemed to lessen. His expression became less stone-ish, too. Now that there was little chance of running into someone he’d be forced to converse with, he clearly felt better.
“You like kids?” I asked.
“They tend not to read into body language,” he said.
“Which is more comfortable for you, right?”
“Yes.” He grabbed one of the tubes, which had a second attached to the side of it.
“Doubles,” I said.
He went to put it back.
“No, let’s do it. It’ll be fun,” I said with way more confidence than I felt. Could anything make this day fun? I wasn’t so sure. My cheeks and nose already felt frozen from the biting cold. The one time I’d gotten the chance to sled as a kid, I’d loved it.Maybe all we needed was a little positivity, a little adrenaline, and everything would be fine.
Or it’d be awful, and that was cool with me, too. Terrible experiences made great writing fuel.
Gabriel set up the tube and sat down on one side. I sat down on the other.
“Ready?” he asked.
The rolling kidwhee’dhis way in front of us, rolling across the slope.
“Other way,” came a drone-like voice from right behind me.
The gum popping teenager gave our little tubes a twist to the side, flinging me in front of Gabriel, both of us sitting sideways, and then shoved us off with his boot.
Gabriel tried to protest, but the rush of icy air stole his words away.
We were going too fast. Sharp bits of snow and ice flew up at my face. The tube wobbled. My butt scraped across the ground.
My heart raced like the speeding inflatable deathtrap we were riding in. Whooshing down the slope was somehow terrifying and exhilarating, horrible and wonderful at the same time.
I tried to adjust, tried to turn my body so I could properly see what was coming.
“Whee,” screamed the snotty whee kid as he zoomed up to us and slammed into our side.
