Page 42 of The Alien Reindeer's Bounty
“Why?” he asked.
She gave him a flat look, then huffed with amusement. “I’m sorry to disappoint you but nothing that I wore when I was sixteen fits anymore.” She finished lacing up Ruby’s boots. “There. How does that feel?”
“Stiff.” Ruby stood on wobbling legs.
“Tight but not too tight?” She squeezed the boot at the ankle, as if that could help her discern the fit.
“I don’t know.”
“Okay. Let me get my boots on,” Odessa said, sitting down on the bench.
They arrived in time for half an hour of free skate time before a beginner’s class began. Ruby agreed to try it when the attendant told her that kids her age signed up.
Mads found his center and balanced on the skates. He had not skated since he left Earth. Reilen did not hold recreational activities in high esteem. Physical activity for enjoyment—or any activity for enjoyment —was viewed as frivolous and foolish. A reilendeer’s four-legged form was better suited to traversing snow, ice, and other difficult terrain. To use specialized equipment to enable a two-legged form to move in such a manner was the height of pointlessness.
His father had said as much. Well, shouted and ranted as much.
“Ready?” Odessa’s patted him between his shoulders, derailing unpleasant thoughts of his father. Now was not the time to ruminate on his troubled relationship with Arne. Much as Mads did when he was an adolescent, he’d ignore Arne’s disapproval and enjoy himself.
His body remembered how to move on the ice. The moment his skate made contact, he pushed off and glided across it. How was the bracing cold against his face pointless? Or the subtle burn in his thighs? Or the exhilaration of speeding over the ice?
Odessa moved slowly with Ruby holding her hand. When they hit the ice, Ruby gave a little yelp and squeezed tighter.
Mads came to a stop before them. “Would you like some pointers?” Ruby nodded. He squared her shoulders, moved her feet a good distance apart, and had her bend her knees slightly.
“This is like roller skating in a lot of ways and you’re pretty good at roller skating,” Odessa said. “Push your foot out to the side to move forward.”
“Like this.” Ruby gave a push with her right foot and moved forward. Her arms flailed and grabbed her mother.
“Just like that. Hold my hand and try it again.”
Slowly, mother and daughter completed a lap around the rink. By their second lap, Ruby moved with confidence and no longer clutched Odessa’s hand.
“Want to see something cool?” Odessa left Ruby at the side of the rink and took off, pushing to gain speed. She held her arms out at her sides and raised her back leg, moving in a spiral.
Her skate wobbled and her back leg dropped. She gave a cry of distress and fell on her bottom, legs splayed out before her.
Odessa tilted her head back and laughed, then picked herself up. “Pretty cool, right?”
After her mother’s spill, Ruby moved with more confidence. She laughed off her falls and clambered back to her feet. When the beginner’s class started, he and Odessa watched from the sidelines.
“Don’t tell Ruby, but every part of me hurts,” she said, sitting on a bench.
“You took that fall on purpose.”
She nodded. “Can’t be scared of falling.”
He knew this to be true. Fear would keep a body stiff and tense; flexibility helped avoid injury when taking a tumble. It was one of the first lessons he learned from his father, albeit an unintentional lesson.
That realization soured in his gut. Arne never bothered to impart knowledge or wisdom to his son. What Mads learned had been delivered with fists and bruises.
Ruby grabbed onto a female child near her and they both toppled to the ice in laughter. The calf’s aura was a mellow gold with a shifting rainbow of colors, much like her mother’s. Human eyes were not capable of viewing the same light spectrum as reilendeer eyes, but he knew humans could sense auras. Moods were contagious, yes? Joy and laughter could spread uncontrollably, and fear and dread could move a crowd to panic. He hated for anything to diminish Ruby’s aura.
“Tell me about Ruby’s father,” he said.
“I wondered when you were going to ask.” Odessa unlaced her skates and eased them off. Her shoes sat on the ground, waiting. “Her dad is Jamie Becker.”
“That guy?” He remembered the male from school as affable and athletic. He also remembered Jamie flirting with Odessa. The top of his head ached from the pressure of his antlers, needing to display for his mate. “The resemblance is unmistakable.”
