Sammy's Christmas List Read Free Page B

tomorrow, alright?”  
    I nodded, too embarrassed to do much more.
    I struggled my way out of the ski boots. I took the top of my ski suit down to dump out the remainder of the snow. As I flapped the material to free it of clinging clumps of snow, a family passed by me—likely Lance’s next class. The mother gasped and covered her son’s eyes, while the father gazed at me far too long. I smiled back at them, though I didn’t understand why they acted so strange.
    I looked down at my snowsuit as I slid it back on to discover that not only had I cut through the zipper of my snowsuit that morning, I had cut through my sweater underneath. I’d created a wide triangle in the material that showed off every inch of my bra. I pulled my snowsuit up as fast as I could, mortified that I’d flashed everyone in the surrounding area. At least I’d worn a bra!
    I hurried to the parking lot. When I reached it, it was full. There were cars everywhere. When I went to the parking space where I’d left my car—where I was sure I’d parked my car—someone else was parked there. I blinked and looked around the parking lot. I didn’t see my car anywhere. Then I turned around and looked toward the bottom of the parking lot. There was my car, half-stuck in the snow pile.  
    “I must have forgotten to put on the emergency brake!” I smacked my forehead with the heel of my palm. I walked over to my car and took a look at the situation. The rear wheels were pretty deep in the snow.
    When I started the car I hoped that I’d be able to get it to move. The wheels just spun.  
    “No! No! No!” I put the car in neutral and walked around behind it. I tried to push it, but after my tumble in the snow my snowsuit was slick and my gloves were caked in snow.   Every time I pushed, my hands slid off and I hit my chest against the back of the car. After a few rounds of this, a man walked toward me with a sheepish smile.  
    “Need some help there?”  
    “Please!”  
    “Here, all you need is a little push.” He placed his hands on the car and easily pushed it out of the snow pile. “There you go.”  
    “Oh, thank you so much. You wouldn’t believe the day I’ve been having.” I was about to rattle off the list of things that had gone wrong when he pointed to my car.  
    “It’s about to get a lot worse!”

Chapter 6

    My car slid on the ice in the direction of the other parked cars. I rushed forward and managed to get inside just in time to hit the brake before it collided. My heart raced, and despite the fact that my snowsuit was soaked from the inside out with snow, my body was covered in sweat. I got the car under control and drove away with the hope that the next half of my day would go much better.
    I stopped at home long enough to change into fresh clothes and then headed off for my orientation with the volunteer program.  

    On the way to the orientation I played peaceful music and attempted a few breathing exercises. My first day at ski class had been disastrous. That didn’t mean that the rest of the day needed to be.
    I arrived at the mall and parked in a clear spot. I double-checked the emergency brake. Then I headed inside. A small sign directed me to an office. I pushed the door open and stepped inside.
    The first thing that I noticed was how much larger I was than everyone else in the room, and not in the way I was used to. All of the other people in the room were much shorter than me.
    I smiled as I walked in. A few of them stared at me. Then the door of the office swung open with a bang. Everyone, including me, jumped. I spun around to see a very angry face. It belonged to a woman that couldn’t have been more than four feet tall.  
    “Well, well, looks like the recruits are all here. Line up! Against the wall!” She stomped her foot. A bell attached to the tip of her curled shoe jingled, which did nothing to make the command less frightening.
    I practically tripped over my feet to get to the back wall, as