Whiteout (8 page)
Robin shuddered. What if it had been her family? “You must think about it all the time.”
“I did at first,” said April. “I was afraid to go to sleep in case I dreamed it all over again. It’s a bit better now. Your mom’s been really great to talk to.”
Robin nodded. “Aunty Liz...her injuries?”
She listened quietly while April explained about pins and traction. “I have to be in Vancouver,” she finished. “I have to be closer to Mom. It’s got nothing to do with you. Do you get that?”
“I do,” said Robin. And she
did
. It was what she would want too.
April grinned suddenly. “Best out of five for double solitaire. Come on, it’s what we always do.”
“Best out of ten,” said Robin. “It’s time we changed the rules.”
Dad had said he would come for them in the morning on the snowmobile. That meant they had all night to talk and be together. She planned to make the most of it.
Chapter Twelve
“Done,” said Robin in a satisfied voice. She stepped back and surveyed their project. Kim had come over after school, and she and Robin and April had started putting the castle together right away. It was perfect.
An ice castle. Stephanie had come up with the idea on the phone yesterday afternoon. She had read about it in a kids’ magazine.
The castle was built from different sizes and shapes of blocks of ice. Mom had helped with that part last night when she got back from Vancouver, contributing ice-cream pails, a muffin tin, yogurt and margarine containers and an ice-cube tray. They had filled the containers with water and let them freeze overnight.
April had thought of putting red and blue and green food coloring in some of the containers. It gave the castle...
distinction
, Robin decided.
At first the blocks of ice kept falling over. Then Dad suggested mixing water and snow together to make slush to stick the blocks together. Dad’s Marvelous Mortar
,
he called it
.
It had worked perfectly
.
“I love it,” declared Molly.
Kim frowned. “It needs something...Wait!” She clumped through the snow to the porch. She reached up and broke off a long icicle. “A spire!”
When the spire was carefully “glued” to the tower with Dad’s mortar and three more were added (to give it balance, Dad said), the ice castle was declared finished.
“How are you going to get it to school?” said Molly.
“We’re not,” said Robin. “This is a practice. We’ll make another one at school on Thursday.”
“Will April be gone by then?”
“No. April has five more sleeps.”
She was going to miss April, Robin knew that for sure. But in some ways, she was looking forward to life getting back to normal. Mom had brought back good
reports from Vancouver about Aunty Liz and had assured both Robin and April that none of it was their fault. Her exact words had been, “Nonsense! My sister has always had a mind of her own, and she had made up her mind to come to the ranch for Christmas!”
Molly hopped around the castle. “Can I keep it?”
Robin looked at April and Kim. They nodded. “Sure. Until it melts,” said Robin.
She hugged her arms to her chest. It was getting cold. The slush had soaked her mittens, and her fingers were freezing. Kim was staying for dinner, and then Robin planned to dive into a new book about training colts that her mother had brought back from Vancouver. She wanted to be ready in the spring for Kedar.
Maybe in the summer Stephanie and April could both come up to the ranch. They could ride the horses and—Robin grinned. She
liked
making plans.
Mom stuck her head out the kitchen door. “Anybody on the work crew need a hot-chocolate break?”
“Before
dinner
?” said Molly ecstatically.
“Ummm...why not?”
“Marshmallows?” said Molly.
“Don’t push your luck,” said Dad. “Mom is still Mom.”
“Come on, Mol,” said April. “Race you in!”
Robin lingered behind. Someone turned on the Christmas lights and their tiny reflections winked in the walls of the ice castle. She loved Christmas lights. Someone should invent spring lights and summer lights and fall lights.
The door opened. It was Molly. “Robin, everyone’s going to play Madeline.
Madeline
! Hurry!”
Robin took one last look at the glittering castle. It was perfect for as long as it lasted.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank my editor, Sarah Harvey, for her amazing attention to detail and her ability to get at the heart of my stories. I would also like to thank my sister, Janet, for her invaluable insight and suggestions.
Becky Citra
is the author of more than a dozen books for young readers. She has written two popular series for Orca: the Ellie and Max historical novels and the
Jeremy and the Enchanted Theater
time-travel books. Becky lives on a ranch in Bridge Lake, British Columbia.
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