Nora's gloves tightly clasped her mount as she and her brother fought against the snow. She pictured them steering a rugged ship, sailing through nature's rejects. Boisterous winds hammered their main sail as they combed down the mountainside. The taste of sea salt lingered on her tongue, a sentiment of their long years fleeing down this same path.
"Ahoy!" Nolan jeered, unsteadily kicking at the hull of their sled.
He shrugged off Nora's annoyance at his careless mistreatment of the old ship. It's been through enough already. She hoisted a lengthy frayed paracord clipped to the front bow, navigating the treacherous boulders ahead.
Nolan snatches at the yellow rope, causing the sled to pry upwards. She labored against the force of her reckless crewmate and the snow. Just before they could flip, she swung the ship in a circle, evening out the pressure. Before she could celebrate, she realized she had forgotten a key detail. They were spinning. Nolan screamed, sending dribbles of his spit onto her new purple jacket. Too panicked to notice, she paved the mountain pass at uncomfortably high speed. Ahead, she spotted a large mound of snow swirling through her augmented vision. They were gonna crash!
Nolan and Nora barreled toward the snow pile, gripping the sled with all the strength the little 7-year-old kids could muster. Nora braced for impact, squeezing her eyes shut. The sled mounted the precipice, whirling in the air. Nolan shook her shoulder and she opened her eyes to see him smiling and whooping as they sailed. He beamed at her and she couldn't help but grin. Closing her eyes, not as tight, she sank into the serene feeling of her brother's laughter and the snow pellets ricocheting off her skin.
They pummeled the snow below, sinking and abandoning the ship. Nolan's arms burned from his stiff jacket as they rolled to the bottom. Nora snickered an action that soon led to full-blown laughter as they lay in white blankets. Nora smiled, basking in the warmth of their high-spirited laughter without feeling the stabbing of cool winter.
“Did you see that? We swooshed over that hill and smashed into the snow!” Nolan shouted, “Can we go again?”
“Is that even a question?”