Nothing But Snow

“Beep! Good afternoon, passengers. We are now preparing to land. It is a beautiful day here in Switzerland. Please put your seat belt on for safe landing. Thank you for flying “Swiss Air” and have a wonderful day. Beep” I am so excited. I’ve never been to Switzerland before! I look at my sleeping ten-year-old brother, Mike. “We’re finally here!” I whispered to him. His eyes opened real wide. “Yes!” he said a little too loud. A couple minutes later, we felt a bump underneath our seats. We landed. After 11 hours we finally made it to Switzerland. “Mom! Dad! We’re here! Wake up!” I shook my mom and dad until they woke up.

~ ~ ~

“We’re heeere,” my dad said in a singsong voice. It was 5:00 PM and we had just gotten into our log cabin. It was snowing outside, so Mike and I decided to go sledding. We only had one sled so we took turns sledding down the little hills near our cabin. Then, Mike saw something in the distance. “Tara,” he told me, “Look at that.” He pointed over to a huge hill that looked bigger than an elephant. “Wow,” I said in awe, “I dare you to ride It.” We raced towards the big hill. It was farther than we thought it would be. As soon as we got there, it really started to snow. “Mike,” I said, “I think that we should be heading back.” But Mike wouldn’t listen. “No!” he said. “Mike,” I said, “Really, I think a storm is coming. Mike sighed. “Fine,” he said, “But could I at least ride this killer hill once?” I knew I was not going to win. Mike always wins the fights that we make. “OK, Mike, but make it quick. Mom will have our heads if we don’t come home soon,” I said. Mike was already half way up the huge hill and it was getting windy plus more snow fell. “Wow, Tara, you should really see the view from up here,” I heard my brother say. It was so windy that I could barely make out the words he was saying. He was now at the top of the hill and getting ready to sled down it. “Mike,” I shouted at him, “Hurry up! It’s getting worse out here.” Mike finally went down the hill. “”Yaahhhh-Hooooo!” he screamed. It really sounded like he was having a good time. I wish I could have gotten to sled down the hill. “OK, let’s go home,” Mike told me. Well, he sort of yelled it because it was so windy and he wanted me to be able to hear him. There was definitely a storm approaching. “Which way do we go?” Mike asked me. I looked around. It was snowing so hard, that I couldn’t see the cabin. Uh-oh, I thought. “I don’t know,” I yelled, “Um… this way!” it was getting real cold and it was coming down really hard.

~ ~ ~

“What time is it?” I asked Mike. It felt like we were walking for hours. “I don’t know,” Mike shouted, “I think my watch stopped. But I think we should be back at the cabin by now.” I was getting nervous. Mike was right. I could barely stand. “Mike,” I yelled, “Let’s find shelter.” We walked for a little while longer. We finally saw a cave. It was vacant, so we went in. It was very dark. I couldn’t even see my hands. “Well,” Mike told me, “We might as well get some sleep, Tara.” The next morning, Mike and I were relieved. The snowing had stopped, but we could barely get out of the cave. It was blocked by snow, but we dug our way out. We could see more clearly now than last night when it was snowing and we saw something that we recognized. The hill “Tara, I know where we are!” Mike said excitedly. We ran to the hill as fast as we could. Then we saw smaller hills. The hills that we sledded on yesterday; and we could barely make out a road and a tiny cabin in the distance. “We’re saved!” Mike and I shouted. We ran as fast as our legs could carry us. I was so tired and hungry. My feet hurt, but I had never been so eager to see my mom and dad. We made our way through the small hills, across the street and to the cabin’s front door. When we opened the door, I saw my mom crying and my dad hugging her holding back the tears. I had never seen him cry before. “Mom!” I cried. Mom looked up and saw Mike and me in one piece and she ran to us and embraced us crying even more of happiness and relief that we were alive. “Oh! My babies, they’re all right!” my mom kept saying. Mike and I were very cold, but we took a nice hot shower and only ended up with a cold. Mom wouldn’t let me out of her sight, and you know what? I wouldn’t let her out of mine.

Nothing But Snow©