And the snow came down.

For a whole year it sat undisturbed in the garage like a relic from the winter before, sitting and waiting. And then the snow came down.

Alice (who preferred to call herself George), rushed downstairs that morning, flung the door wide open, breathed in the crispy cold air and regarded the virgin snow, untouched by humans, but littered with soft bird and cat prints. Yelling for her sisters, Alice quickly got herself dressed in her favourite woollies and put her coat on. “You’re not going out like that!” father said as he searched for gloves and hats. “Same for you two!” he said as he inspected the other two sisters attire, adding extra items to keep them dry and warm.

Alice rushed to the garage to get her special sledge. She had spent last year’s Christmas money on purchasing the ultimate sledge which she had christened “The Hawk”. Looks of envy came from her sisters as they collected their “butt boards”. Theirs were plastic and crude, with butt prints to sit on and a handle to hold, but The Hawk was a traditional sledge with metal runners, wooden body and a rope to either steer or hang onto for dear life.

 After a short walk the girls finally reached the bottom of the park and Alice’s eyes widened, a big smile stretched her face as she surveyed the scene before her. In the snow blanketed  park, kids were yelling and shouting as they propelled down the hill on anything they could find.

The girls made their way up the slopes as fast as they could to jump on their sledges, speed down and then do it all again.

It was before the fifth rundown that Alice got a wicked glint in her eye as she looked for ways to make sledging more thrilling.  “Look at that slope! Wicked! Let’s do it!” she exclaimed. Before her sister could yell “wait!”, Alice had launched herself head first on The Hawk.  The lack of tracks told her nobody had been down this side. Nobody was crazy enough. The wind whooshed past Alice’s ears as The Hawk quickly gained speed.”Wooo-hooo!”. Alice clung on, her eyes dripping wet tears from the cold wind. Then, “thhhhrack!!” the tree’s were closer together and fir branches were low enough to start hitting Alice.  She ducked her head as low as possible as branches snatched at her. There was no more whoops of joy as she battled to stay on. With her eyes closed and head down, Alice could not see the edge of the dead drop ahead of her. The branches cleared as the sledge jettisoned into the air and then tipped to a near vertical position. Down they fell until the slope evened out. A root stopped The Hawk dead in its tracks causing Alice to tumble head over heels in the thick snow. She sat, dizzy, frosted and cut from branches, but wore a grin. The Hawk really could fly!