Chapter Nine
When they finally reached the top of the bunny slope, Leigh turned to face him. A girl waved and called out a greeting to her as she snowboarded past them on her way down to the lodge. Leigh smiled as she waved back. “Alright, just like I said back at the shop, we’re going to start easy. You were in a rush to get over here and skipped all the practice. We are not skipping this one. Your success here will greatly increase your success and safety once you go up there,” she said, pointing to the plethora of slopes tracking down the side of the mountain behind them.
“I want to see you successfully execute each basic technique before we even think about going on the lift. Take your time. Slow and steady wins this race. Remember, you’re not alone here. You have to be careful, so you don’t collide with other people. Also, the bigger the wedge you form, the slower you go, and the smaller, the faster. So open up your legs like I taught you,” she began, demonstrating as she turned her toes inwards. Enrique was still looking around at the hordes of people instead of her demonstration.
“Enrique,” she called, nudging him with her elbow. “Look at me. Legs wide, knees relaxed, and toes turned in. Understood? You’re not doing it right.”
“I am,” he argued. “I’m literally doing what you’re doing.”
“No, your knees are stiff. You need to relax them a little bit more.”
He opened his legs again and tried to relax his knees. Leigh grinned, happy with his progress and that he had actually listened to her. Her smile was blinding, and he looked away from her.
“See? That was easy. You just have to listen ,” she said, drawing her legs close once again.
“I was listening,” Enrique contended, doing the same.
“ Okay, then. You need to pay attention and actively listen , as in … with your eyes.”
“Now you sound like one of my old school teachers. Don’t treat me like a child, Leighann.” His eyes were hidden behind the mirrored lenses, but she could tell he was glaring at her by the tone of his voice and the wrinkles forming at the corners of his eyes.
“I’m not treating you like a child; I am treating you like a student who has something to learn. You will learn more quickly if you would put in as much effort to learn as I am putting into your instruction.” Her tone and the angle of her hips showed her irritation with him. Enrique imagined if she didn’t have poles in her hand right now, her tiny fists would be on her hips. The image almost made him grin, but he refrained as he himself was annoyed at the situation.
“Well said, like every other teacher who ever lived. Move on. You have my full attention... for now,” he growled.
Leigh took a deep breath, “Alright. Now, I need you to watch me. I’m going to go slowly and stop so you can try mimicking the movement. Keep the wedge wide so you can control your momentum. Don’t plow me over.”
She pulled her goggles down over her eyes and thrust her poles forward gently before slowly skiing down about twenty feet and widening the wedging to a stop. “Your turn. Remember to keep equal pressure on both feet so you don’t wind up turning, and the wedge wide to keep your speed nice and slow. We are practicing the technique, not trying to get to the bottom. Got it?”
She looked up at him expectantly, but he didn’t respond. He simply pushed off with his poles, much more aggressively than she had, and tried to imitate her.
“Enrique, wait. You have to – ”
But he wasn’t listening. She debated momentarily about staying in his way and using her body to physically stop him but thought better of it considering their size difference. She quickly turned her skis, and he skied right past her.
“Widen your wedge! Edge your skis!” she shouted, but he continued in the same position, picking up speed. She sighed as she watched him go, knowing he would crash in seconds. Following in his wake, she was right behind him when, just as she had predicted, he lost his balance after overcorrecting, causing his skis to cross over each other. His arms windmilled, then splat , face first into the snow, right after he ran into the ski and pole stand at the bottom of the slope. A couple of people who were still on the slopes or standing nearby to remove their skis laughed heartily at him.
He rolled over on the snow as she approached, and she placed her hands on her hips, pressing her lips into a thin line to prevent her face from breaking out into a grin.
He wasn’t smiling at all as he flipped over and angrily retrieved his sunglasses from the snow a few feet away and slapped them back on his face. He looked madder than a wet hen.
Skiers coming off the slopes laughed as they skied by, heading towards the lodge.
“Well, are you going to help me up or just stand there gawking at me, too,” he asked angrily.
“Oh, I’m going to help you. When you are ready to listen to me.”
Irritation played out on his handsome features as he placed his hands on the ground behind him and tried to push himself up. The skis that somehow remained in place on his feet slid out from under him, and his rear end planted in slush under him once more. He fell on his butt three more times before flopping back in the snow to catch his breath, his legs bent, skis under him. She couldn’t hide the giggle that slipped out. This man is as stubborn as a mule! She thought in exasperation .
Enrique couldn’t remember the last time he had such difficulty with something as simple as standing up. He growled deep in his throat, annoyed at the situation. He was right in the middle of the main exit from the slopes, so he was the center of attention and entertainment. It annoyed him to no end. He hadn’t felt this small and out of control since he was a boy. In those days, someone usually went home with blood on their shirt, and it wasn’t him. He usually sported bloody knuckles for a few days, but the same kids rarely laughed at him twice. He rolled his head and observed Leigh shaking with giggles, and his anger grew.
“I wish I could take a picture of you right now,” Leigh commented as she pressed her lips together to stop her giggles, even though her eyes still danced with laughter. “I’m sure Curtis would get a kick out of this.”
His nostrils flared, but his anger did nothing to stop her amusement. “Oh, would he?”
Pressing her fingers to her lips and inhaling deeply to calm herself, Leigh nodded her head. “Now, are you ready to quit acting like a know-it-all and listen to me? We had one hour when we arrived, but the slopes will shut down soon. All you’ve done since we got here is land on your butt because you’ve refused to listen. At this rate, you’re going to go home disappointed and bruised in ten days.”
Reluctantly, he shook his head and sat up.
“Good, because believe it or not, my job is much more fun when I am flying over the snow with my clients, not behind them, watching them crash like stunt doubles. Now, sit off to the side of your skis on the snow, not on the back of your skis. For the record, that is never a good idea. Now, place the edge of your skis in the snow. Yep, just like that. Now, keep them up on edge so they don’t slide, use your pole in front of you to anchor you to the spot, and push up to stand. Great job!” Leigh congratulated as Enrique reached his full height beside her. She lifted one gloved hand into the air for a high-five, and he glared at it before grudgingly slapping her hand with his.
“Now, I’m going to show you how to walk up the hill in case this same thing happens on a steep slope instead of this tiny incline. Once you understand what I am doing, follow behind me. We aren’t going up the entire slope this way, but enough for you to practice. This will be important in case you fall up there and lose a ski or your poles. If you try to walk or push yourself up the incline, you will wind up in a bad position.” Leigh quickly demonstrated how to put the skis on edge and walk sideways up the hill. Enrique soon followed behind, and when she was convinced he had the skill, she turned and pushed forward over the side of the hill to where a T-lift pulled skiers to the top.
“Why didn’t you show this lift to me earlier?” he asked incredulously, thinking of the burn in his thighs the first time he went up the hill.
“I would have, but you weren’t listening to me, and you needed to learn how to move forward on flatter terrain anyway, so it all worked out. Now, though, we need to get to the top so we can practice going down a few more times before the final alarm rings to signal the mountain is closing.”
She explained how the lift worked and then stood behind him, giving encouragement and coaching the first two times he missed the lift. The third time, he was able to grab it and pull it between his legs, riding the bar as it pulled him in a standing position to the top of the little hill.
As he rode the lift, he watched the other skiers on the slopes higher up the mountain in front of him. He was in awe of their speed and their dexterity as they jumped little hills, causing clouds or snow to rise in the air as they turned to cross the mountain in quick zigzags. He wondered what it felt like to zip down the mountain so effortlessly… so fearlessly.
It had taken everything in him to keep it together when he lost control and went head-first into the ski rack earlier. At first, he worried he would have a panic attack right there in front of everyone. His stomach felt like it had a lead ball in it, his heart raced, and even though it was cold out there on the mountain, he could feel his palms sweating beneath his gloves. It hadn’t been a real fall. There was no serious distance involved, but realizing when his skis crossed that he couldn’t control what happened next as his body pitched forward terrified him for a moment, and his world went dark momentarily. As he tried to stand, the old anger from his childhood at being helpless returned, and it took everything in him not to scream.
It was going to take every ounce of determination he had to get through this. If a tiny little bunny slope freaked him out… what in the world would the larger slopes do to him? The rest of the ride up the hill, Enrique worked on tucking his anxiety into a tiny little chest, envisioning locking it tight.