It's Snow Joke (5 page)

Neither had the head ski instructor of the Pine Mountain Ski Resort. He stomped out of the lodge and trudged through the snow to where Katie was standing.

“Lola!” he shouted angrily. “What was that about?”

“I . . . um . . .” Katie mumbled. “I tripped.”

“Yeah, right. Championship skiers don’t just trip,” the head instructor insisted with a frown. “And why would you shout for help? Do you know that a guest called the emergency rescue crew?”

“I didn’t mean to . . .” Katie began.

But he didn’t want to hear any excuses. “We cannot discuss this here in front of our guests,” he told Katie. “I am going to my office. I expect you to join me there in ten minutes.”

As he stormed off, Katie gulped. Lola was in big trouble—
on her very first day of work.
And it was all Katie’s fault.

All Katie wanted was to take off her skis. She trudged slowly toward the ski stand, taking care not to fall again. She didn’t need any more people staring or laughing at her.

Actually, they were staring and laughing at Lola, which was worse. Lola was a champion skier—not a total klutz!

Katie was so tired. And walking in skis was so hard. She couldn’t make it to the ski stand. She saw an empty bench, practically hidden by the trees.

Katie sighed as she sat down. What was she going to tell Lola’s boss, anyway? It wasn’t like she could explain about the magic wind. He wouldn’t believe her.

Katie wouldn’t have believed it, either, if it hadn’t happened to her.

Just then, Katie felt a cool breeze blowing on the back of her neck. She looked up. None of the trees were moving, even though the breeze was getting stronger.

Which could mean only one thing. This was no normal wind. The magic wind was back!

The magic wind started to blow faster and faster now, circling Katie like a tornado. It whipped around her, moving so hard and fast that she thought it might blow her away.

And then it stopped.

Just like that.

Katie Carew was back.

And so was Lola. In fact, she was sitting on the bench, right next to Katie.

“What? How?” Lola murmured looking around. She stared at Katie. “How did I get down here? And what are you doing sitting next to me?”

“Well, I kind of fell and . . .” Katie began.

Lola looked puzzled. “The last thing I remember, I was about to teach the class how to fall down.”

“You did,” Katie told her. “Well, sort of. You kind of fell down the mountain.”

Lola rubbed her back. “Well, that explains why I’m sore.” She thought for a minute. “Did I fall all the way down the mountain?”

Katie nodded. “You also did some twirls and somersaults.”

“I remember that. At least I think I do,” Lola said, blinking her eyes. “It’s all kind of fuzzy.” She stopped for a minute. “Did anyone see me?”

Katie sighed.
Everyone
had seen her. “You made a lot of people laugh,” she told Lola, trying to make her feel better.

It didn’t seem to work. Lola seemed very upset. “Okay, since you seem to know everything, why am I sitting here?”

“Your boss wants to see you in his office,” Katie explained. “I think you were on your way over there.”

“Carl wants me to come to his office? Oh, no!” Lola exclaimed. “That can mean only one thing. He wants to fire me!”

Katie gulped. Lola’s first day on the job was going to be her last! This was
so
not good.

“Katie, what are you doing sitting here?” Rosie asked as she walked by a few minutes later. “I thought you were skiing.”

“I was,” Katie said. She thought about her big fall down the bunny slope. “Well, sort of. Now I’m waiting here for the ski instructor.”

Rosie shrugged. “Oh. Do you mind if I sit with you?” she asked sadly.

“No, of course not,” Katie said. She looked at Rosie’s frowning face. “Are you okay?”

Rosie shook her head. “Not really. I think they’re going to have to cancel the movie. And it’s not fair. I mean I’ve worked so hard and . . .”

“Cancel the movie?” Katie asked, surprised. “Why would they do that?”

“Because my stunt double got the flu. We just got the call a minute or two ago. She’s not going to be able to work for at least two weeks,” Rosie told her.

“What’s a stunt double?” Katie asked her.

“She is the woman who does all the skiing for me in the movie,” Rosie explained. “They dress her up like me and then film her from far away. Onscreen it looks like I’m the one doing the skiing.”

“Oh,” Katie said. “Well, can’t you just do your own skiing in the movie?”

Rosie shook her head. “I hardly know how to ski. My stunt double was going to do all sorts of flips and turns on the mountain.”

“So why don’t they just wait two weeks for your stunt double to feel better?” Katie asked.

“That would cost the movie company too much money,” Rosie explained. “And I have to be back at school.”

Just as Rosie walked off sadly, the lodge door swung open. Lola came walking out. She looked very, very sad, too.

Katie figured she must have been fired. And that gave her one of her great ideas.

“Don’t worry,” Katie called after Rosie. “
Diamonds on Ice
isn’t over yet! I have a plan.”

Quickly she leaped up from the bench and started to run after the ski instructor. “Lola, wait!” Katie shouted out. “I have to talk to you.”

“Okay, let’s try that wig on her,” the director of Rosie’s film told Raul. “And make sure it doesn’t come off when she does the flip.”

Lola smiled at Katie as Raul adjusted the wig. “Thanks so much for getting me this job,” she said. “It really makes up for getting fired.”

“Now you can be a stunt skier,” Katie told her.

“It’s not as good as being a movie star, but . . .” Suzanne began.

“What do you know about being a movie star?” Jeremy asked her.

Just then a real movie star entered the hair and makeup trailer. “Hi,” she said, holding her hand out. “You must be Lola.”

Lola leaped up out of the chair with surprise. The wig slipped to one side. “Wow! You’re Rosie Moran!” the skier gasped. “I can’t believe I’m meeting you.”

“That’s me,” Rosie replied. “And now you’re me, too. At least in this movie!”

Katie stared in amazement as Rosie and Lola stood side by side in the trailer. Even though Rosie was a kid, and Lola was a grown-up, they looked a lot alike. For starters, Rosie was really tall for a kid, and Lola was pretty short for a grown-up, so they were almost the same height. They were also wearing the exact same green and white snowsuit and the same ski boots.

Katie could see how Lola could look like Rosie during the movie’s skiing scenes. As long as the camera never showed Lola’s face, the people in the audience would be fooled into thinking Rosie was really skiing.

“Okay, now here’s the scene,” the director told Lola. “Maxie—that’s Rosie’s character—is being chased by two jewel thieves who think she has a giant diamond sewed into the lining of her coat.”

Lola nodded. “Got it.”

The director pointed toward the top of a high ski slope, where two skiers were already standing. “Those two men are going to ski right behind you,” he explained to Lola. “You have to zigzag between those trees, jump over the gray rock to the left, and then do a twist in the air before landing at the base of the mountain. Cameramen are planted at various points to film the scene.”

Lola nodded. “Sounds easy enough.”

Katie shook her head. “Not to me,” she said.

“I’m so glad it’s you and not me doing this,” Rosie told Lola.

Lola left the trailer and put on her skis. Then she took the ski lift up to the top of the mountain. Two other stunt skiers, who were dressed as the robbers, stood behind her.

“Is everybody ready?” The director was speaking into a walkie-talkie to a cameraman at the top of the hill. “Okay. Rolling and . . . action!”