Snowboard Maverick (2 page)

Dennis gave her a weak grin in return and sat on a bench while Tasha and Robbie fastened on their boards. Dennis wasn’t sure
he liked the idea of being strapped to a board. He couldn’t picture being attached to Flash. Being able to hop off whenever
he
was in trouble was something he’d always taken for granted about skateboarding.

“Does the board come free if you — if you fall or something?” Dennis asked Tasha as she stood up, ready to go.

“Nope,” Tasha replied. “That’s skis. This thing stays with you no matter what.”

“Oh.”

Tasha waved and gave him a thumbs-up as she pulled herself along the railing to the edge of the slope. Then she pushed off
— and let out a whoop of joy as she sped down the hill, zigzagging her way to the bottom.

It did look like a lot of fun, Dennis had to admit. A lot like skateboarding…

“My turn!” Robbie called out. “Here I come, Tasha! Aaaaahhhh!!” He yelled the entire time, not zigzagging even once, just
speeding straight down. But as he hit bottom, he lost his balance. His arms windmilled out, then he tumbled facefirst into
the snow!

Dennis watched anxiously as Tasha, free from her board now, plodded over and helped Robbie to his feet. Robbie was doubled
over — was he crying, or
what? Dennis shaded his eyes from the glare so he could see better.

No, Robbie wasn’t crying — he was laughing! He and Tasha stumbled through the snow to the stairs at the side of the hill and
climbed back up to where Dennis was waiting.

“That was so radical!” Robbie was yelling at the top of his lungs. “Whooo-ooo!! Dennis, you’ve got to try it!”

“Are you kidding? I thought you were headed for the emergency room!” Dennis shot back, only half joking. To Robbie, of course,
it was the funniest thing he’d ever heard. He couldn’t stop laughing.

“No way!” he finally managed to say. “You can’t get hurt on a snowboard. Come on, try it — don’t be chicken!”

“Wait a minute, Robbie,” Tasha said, putting a hand on his arm. “It’s not true that you can’t get hurt snowboarding. In fact,
the way you just went down the hill, you could have gotten hurt pretty easily. Besides, if Dennis doesn’t want to, he doesn’t
want to. You shouldn’t make a big deal out of it.”

Oh, boy. Great, Dennis thought to himself. They both think I’m scared now. “No, it isn’t that,” he
insisted. “I just… well, I’ve got my sneakers on and everything…”

He sounded lame even to himself. “Oh, okay,” he said with a sigh. “I guess I’ll just get them soaked. Strap me in.”

“Yahoo!!” Robbie yelled. “All right! Dennis, you’re going to be so good at this — wait till you see!”

“Okay, okay,” Dennis said, frowning. “Just let me try it, will you?”

He walked to the top of the staircase with Tasha. There, she put her board down on the snow and motioned for Dennis to step
onto it. He wanted to get on right foot forward, facing left — “goofy style,” the way he rode his skateboard. But Tasha’s
board was mounted the regular way — left foot forward, facing right — so he couldn’t. He put his feet into the bindings, and
Tasha strapped his feet in.

Weird. How was he supposed to push off if both his feet were strapped in?

“Just yank on the rail with your hands to get started, lean forward over the board, and let gravity do the rest,” Tasha explained,
as if she’d read his mind. “From there on, it’s just like skateboarding. You’ll see.”

He saw, all right. He saw kids flying down the steep hillside of gleaming ice and snow. He saw some of them tumbling head
over heels and landing hard, right on their faces or rear ends. He thought of himself on the ski slope all those years ago,
lying like a broken rag doll, wrapped around that big tree, moaning in pain.

He felt the cold, wet squishiness of his sneakers. Suddenly he didn’t want to be here. “Anywhere but here,” he said under
his breath.

“Come on, Dennis, push off!” Robbie urged him. “Just go!”

“ — I just remembered,” Dennis heard himself say. “I’m supposed to go shopping with my folks today. I’ve got to get back home
right away.”

“Come on, just one time down the hill first!” Robbie insisted.

“I — I can’t,” Dennis said miserably. “I need some more pointers first.” He bent down and started to unstrap his feet.

Just then, two big, husky boys trudged up behind the trio — Rick Hogan, the school bully, and his constant companion, Pat
Kunkel. Rick was fourteen, and Pat was only twelve, but they were equally obnoxious,
always picking on anyone weaker or meeker than themselves.

“Hey, O’Malley!” Rick said with a smirk as Pat giggled furtively. “Whatsamatter? Too chicken to try a run down the hill?”

Dennis felt his jaw tighten. The blood pounded in his face, and he knew he was blushing. Rick and Pat had caught him in the
act of chickening out, and they knew it. Now they were going to rub it in as hard as they could.

Unless … unless Dennis proved them wrong by taking the plunge. Suddenly, without a word, and before either Tasha or Robbie
could react, Dennis stood up, pulled on the railing, and took off down the hill!

The ground rushed up to meet him. Dennis yelled for other kids to get out of the way. His old fear rose inside him like a
big lump, choking him until his yell died out in a strangled gurgle. He froze, and his board caught an edge. Dennis went flying
forward, hurtling through the air. He shut his eyes tight, then landed flat on his back in the soft snow.

He pushed himself up, dusted himself off, and
heard the roars of laughter from the top of the hill. “Wow, O’Malley!” Rick shouted down at him. “Great trick! You gotta show
me how you do that!”

Rick and Pat would never let him live this down. Never.

And yet … something had happened to Dennis during that brief run down the hill. The fear had nearly overcome him, true. But
there was something else. Something … exhilarating.

Dennis unstrapped himself from the board and began walking up the steps to the starting point. By the time he reached Tasha
and Robbie, his excitement had all but replaced his terror. Not even the taunts from Rick and Pat could quell it.

“Don’t listen to them, Dennis,” Robbie told him, casting an angry look at Rick and Pat as they walked off.

“He’s right,” Tasha said. “That was really good for your first time. Want to try again?”

“Definitely!” Dennis told them. He meant it, too. “But not now. I wasn’t kidding about having to go shopping. I’m really late,
guys. I’ll see you in school Monday, okay?”

Waving good-bye, Dennis trotted back to the
bench. Then he picked up Flash and skateboarded back toward his house.

Even though he’d had the courage to try snow-boarding in spite of his fear, he knew Rick and Pat were going to tell everyone
what a jerk he’d made of himself. By Monday morning, he’d be the laughingstock of the entire school.

Dennis bit his lip. He had to learn to snowboard. He had to show everyone — himself included — that he could do it, no matter
what Rick and Pat said!

Besides, something deep inside told him that, once he got the hang of it, he was going to love snowboarding.

D
ennis pulled the kitchen door open and stepped inside. “Mom? Dad?” he called out. There was no answer. On one corner of the
kitchen table was a note, scribbled in his mother’s handwriting:

Hi, Dennis. We left already to finish our Christmas shopping. Back later. Help yourself to lunchfrom fridge. Love, Mom

Dennis sighed. He didn’t feel the least bit hungry, even though he’d only had that little roll for breakfast. He put Flash
away in the hall closet, then headed upstairs to his room. He closed the door behind him and flopped down, belly first, onto
the bed. Cupping his chin in his hands, he heaved a mighty sigh.

In his mind’s eye, he imagined himself scooting
down a steep, snow-covered hillside on a snowboard, dashing past slower boarders and skiers, doing loop-de-loops around them,
getting airborne and doing somersaults in midair… .

Aw, what was the use? He’d never be like that. With his fear of steep slopes, he’d probably break his neck going down the
bunny slope on his very next try!

Still, it really had felt great, having that board strapped to his feet. Dennis was sure that, if he could ever get over his
fear, he could learn to be good at snowboarding.

He thought back to the scene on the hill behind the schoolhouse. There must have been at least thirty kids there. And even
though lots of them were falling, none of them seemed to be the least bit afraid. After all, that hill wasn’t very high or
steep. There were no trees or obstacles on it, except for the other snowboarders. Nothing to be afraid of. And yet…

Tasha had been really nice about everything — lending him her board, encouraging him to try snowboarding. She was a good boarder,
too — maybe the best one out there on School-house Hill. Robbie wasn’t nearly as good. Of course,
he’d gotten his snowboard more recently, and anyway, he wasn’t as good an athlete as Tasha. But what he lacked in ability
or experience, he certainly made up for in. enthusiasm. Dennis had to smile, remembering the way Robbie had yelled his way
down the hill.

Both his friends were so into snowboarding! Dennis frowned. If he didn’t take up the sport, too, would Tasha and Robbie abandon
him over the long winter? He remembered how alone he’d felt, skateboarding back home by himself. Would it be that way all
winter long?

Dennis swallowed hard. He wasn’t one of those kids who liked being by himself all the time. In fact, one of the things he
liked most about skateboarding was that there was a whole gang of kids who were into it. Of course, that was in the warm weather.
He’d noticed a lot of those same kids on Schoolhouse Hill that morning, learning how to snowboard.

Dennis made up his mind. He just had to learn to snowboard, and fast!

But how? He couldn’t just go on borrowing Tasha’s board every day until he’d finally managed to get over his fears. Her board
was mounted the wrong way for
him, anyway. Dennis knew there was no way around it — he was going to have to get a board of his own.

Hoisting himself up off the bed, he walked over to his dresser and picked up his piggy bank. Well, it wasn’t a piggy bank,
actually. It was one of those contraptions where you stick the coin or bill on the hippo’s tongue, press the button, and the
hippo swallows it, making gross sounds.

Dennis upended the hippo and pulled out the little plastic plug on the bottom. Then he dumped all the money he had in the
world — except for his untouchable “college account” — onto his bedspread.

Dennis’s eyes widened in excitement. Wow! He must have mowed the lawn and swept the driveway a few more times than he’d realized!
There had to be almost a hundred dollars here.

Slowly, carefully, he counted it, smoothing out the bills and putting them in order as he went. He even counted twice, just
to make sure. There was no mistaking it — he had amassed a grand total of $76.18.

Pretty good, Dennis thought proudly, deciding that all the hard work he’d put in on his chores had been worth it after all.
Seventy-six dollars was
enough to buy a really good skateboard.— he knew that much. He certainly ought to be able to buy himself at least a decent
snowboard for the same money, he reasoned.

But he wasn’t content just to guess. He supposed he could skateboard down to Murph’s, the local sporting goods store, and
see for himself. But it was a long way there and back, and suddenly he was hungry. He decided it could wait until after lunch.

He did his usual banister slide down the stairs, with more than his usual flair. Dennis was excited, forgetting for the moment
how petrified he’d felt at the top of Schoolhouse Hill, strapped onto Tasha’s snowboard.

He strode into the kitchen and threw open the fridge door. He pulled out peanut butter, jelly, bread, milk, and everything
else that caught his eye. All of a sudden, he felt like he could eat everything in the house!

After making himself a sandwich, he settled down at the table to eat — if you could call stuffing half a peanut butter sandwich
into your mouth at one time eating. And that was when he saw his dad’s Saturday newspaper, folded neatly on the table.

Dennis reached for it and started rifling through the pages. He bet there would be ads for sporting goods in there somewhere…
.

Aha! Sure enough, the paper was full of ads for the Christmas shopping season. In fact, Sports Universe, the gigantic store
out at the Willows Mall, had a full page ad on the back page of the sports section.

“Here we go … ,” Dennis said, spreading the ad out on the table. He scanned the page until he found what he was looking for.

He couldn’t believe his eyes. The cheapest snowboard advertised — the
cheapest —
was more than one hundred dollars, on sale!

How could that be? he wondered, closing the paper in frustration. Snowboards weren’t that different from skateboards, were
they? How could there be such a big difference in the price?

This was a disaster, Dennis told himself. Even figuring the prices would come down a little after Christmas, there was no
way he could afford a snowboard on his own. Not without a full winter’s worth of chores to earn the rest of the cash he would
need. And by that time, it would be too late. The snow would be melted, and he’d have long since lost
his chance to join his friends on the slope — and show Rick and Pat that he wasn’t chicken.

It suddenly hit Dennis how badly he wanted a snowboard of his own. Funny, a few hours ago, before he’d run into Tasha on the
street, he couldn’t have cared less. Now the need for a snowboard had taken over his life. How was he ever going to get one?

And then it hit him. “Hey, it’s almost Christmas!” he said aloud, feeling instantly more hopeful. Maybe he could talk his
mom and dad into buying him a snowboard.

Dennis hoped it wasn’t too late. Christmas wasn’t till next Friday. There were still five shopping days left. Maybe, just
maybe, they hadn’t made all their purchases for him yet.