Jefferson elementary

    Sometimes people just never learn their lesson, especially kids like Victor, an eleven-year-old boy, who had gone camping with his family in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. The tour guide had warned his family to stay out of a particular area because of the frequency of avalanches. Victor’s father, not wanting to put his family in peril, didn’t go in the danger zone, but he did decide to set up camp next to one.
     Victor’s father drove into the campsite, the chains on the wheels of their Explorer grinding through the powdery snow. When the car came to a sliding stop, everyone piled out. Victor was the first, followed by his third grade sister, Daisy.
     Daisy was very smart and a natural born girl scout. She could survive in the woods by herself if she had to. But what about the mountains? Who knew for sure. But one thing was certain. Victor wouldn’t last a day.
     Victor scooped a handful of snow up from the ground and packed a snowball nice and tight. He turned with a wicked gleam in his eyes, searching for a target. His eyes rested upon his sister. Fire one. Pffffffff. Got her right in the face. The snow exploded and stuck to her eye.
     Plucking the snow from her face, Daisy cried, “Mom, Victor just hit me with a snowball.”
     “Victor, you know better than that,” replied their mom, not really paying attention as she was helping her husband unload the car.
     Their father spoke up. “If you two aren’t going to help us unload, then go play somewhere. Just don’t go too far away, especially over by the avalanche area.”
     “I don’t want to go anywhere with him,” said Daisy. “He’s not playing fair.”
     “Come on sis,” pleaded Victor, “I’ll be good.”
     Daisy held out her pinky. “Pinky swear?”
     Victor hooked his pinky around hers. “Pinky swear.”
     Daisy smiled, and the two of them trudged through the snow, lifting their legs up high to pull their shoes out of the thickness of it.
     The campsite was full of trees in all directions. The tops of the trees were covered with fresh powdery snow. The snow was everywhere, brilliantly bright white. Blinding, in fact. About one-quarter mile away was the edge of a mountain where the avalanches had been occurring. That mountainside was pulling Victor toward it like a gigantic magnet.
     “Where are we going?” asked Daisy.
     “Just over here a ways,” replied Victor. He pointed toward the mountain.
     “We’re not supposed to go over there,” warned Daisy. “It’s off limits to us.”
     “That’s silly,” remarked Victor. “They wouldn’t put a campground next to a place that was dangerous. Besides, those tour guides just say that stuff so they don’t have to come and check up on people. It’s perfectly safe.”
     “I don’t know,” said Daisy. “It sounds dangerous.”
     “Relax. Nothing bad is going to happen.”
     They stomped their way through the fresh snow. It was around 10 degrees, cold enough to make their teeth chatter. The wind was calm. The sun was shining, but it was fighting hard to penetrate all those trees.
     Lucky we have thick coats on thought Daisy.
     I wonder what joke I can pull on Daisy out here thought Victor.
     Suddenly, Victor started picking his legs up even higher. He began running.
     “Where are you going?” called Daisy. “Come back here.”
     Didn’t Victor realize he needed her more than she needed him?
     Victor ran for about two full minutes then gave out a loud cry and collapsed in a deep snow drift.
     Daisy ran for him. “Victor!!!”
     Panting hard, she finally reached him. She dug the snow away from him with her arms. “Victor, are you okay?” She reached for him. Pulling on his arm, she turned him over.
     “Boo!!!” Victor screamed.
     Daisy jumped. Her heart practically leaped out of her chest. “That’s not funny.”
     “Sure it is.” He held out his arm. “Here, help me up.”
     After he stood, she brushed the snow off the back of his brown jacket. The red letters were once again readable. They said CLASS OF 2025. That would be the year he would graduate from high school, if he lived that long.
     After a few more minutes of walking, they finally reached the base of the mountain. They shielded their eyes from the sun as they peered straight upwards, up the side of the cliff. Snow and rocks and trees were everywhere.
     “Cool view, huh?” asked Victor.
     “It’s beautiful,” responded Daisy.
     “And you didn’t want to come here. Now how silly do you feel?”
     “Just because it’s beautiful doesn’t mean it’s safe,” said Daisy, sounding like the tour guide.
     “Just admit it,” said Victor. “I was right.”
     “I’m not admitting anything.”
     Victor snatched the warm cap from her head, ear muffs and all.
     “Give that back!” screamed Daisy. She put her gloves up to her already frozen ears.
     “Not until you admit it.”
     “You pinky swore. That’s not fair.”
     “You pinky swore,” repeated Victor with a baby voice. “That stuff’s for babies.”
     He ran even closer toward the base of the mountain.
     “Give me my hat!” yelled Daisy.
     It could have been her scream; it could have been gravity, or it could have even been a slight disturbance from the sun melting snow along the side of the mountain, but whatever it was, a rumbling sound started singing in their ears.
     Victor was the first to see it. He looked up the mountainside and pointed. “Look!”
     A blur of snow was rolling down the side of the cliff, looking like a ball of smoke descending down upon them.
     “Run!” screamed Daisy. She ran away from the mountain as fast as she could manage, not once turning around.
     It sounded like an earthquake. The noise grew louder and louder. Cracking of tree limbs and echoes of giant boulders crushing together pierced her ears. As she ran, she could feel lots of snow spraying her in the back. Finally it caught up to her and tripped her to the ground where the snow continued to pile on.
     Suddenly, there was silence. Everything was black, which was weird considering everything was just white. Daisy poked her arm upward out of the snow, and a beam of sunlight shot in toward her. Slowly she dug her way out of the snow.
     Once she reached the top, she started searching for Victor. “Victor!” She didn’t yell too loud this time because she didn’t want to start another avalanche. She walked toward the place she remembered seeing Victor last. Sitting on top of the snow and rocks, she found her hat. She stared at it and began to weep. Then her hat started moving. Quickly she jumped down and started digging. He was alive! Victor was down there moving.
     After brushing a bunch of armfuls of snow away, she saw the brown coat. She latched onto Victor’s arm with both hands. While getting a good foothold against a large rock, she pulled her brother out of the clutches of death.
     Victor came out gasping for air and said, “Thanks sis. It was getting a little chilly down there without your hat, hehe.”
     Daisy wiped the tears from her eyes and said, “Come on. Let’s go home.” She brushed off her hat and pulled it on top of her head adjusting the ear flaps just right to keep her ears warm.
     One would think that an experience like this would make a person change, just a bit even. Not Victor. As quickly as he thought it, he snatched the hat back off of her head and ran back toward the mountain again.
     “Not this time,” said Daisy. “I’m not going to chase you again. You can wear it. I’m going back to camp.” She trudged toward their campsite.
     Victor figured she was bluffing so he kept running toward the mountainside again, jumping over large rocks that had recently fallen.
     When will he ever learn? thought Daisy.
     The answer? Not before it’s too late.
     Victor yelled from the bottom of the mountain, “Come back, Daisy. You can have your stupid hat. I don’t want it. Come back here. I don't know the way back. I'll get lost."
     With that said, the rumbling noise came back again. Daisy looked up at the mountain. Huge masses of snow, rocks, and entire trees were sliding down the cliff, perhaps ten times as much as the last time. Even though she was a good distance away, she started running for her life. She ran, and she ran, never looking back, never to see her brother or her hat ever again.