The Sky’s the Limit: My Journey with Maryellen

I feel like I’m flying. My skis skim across the top of the snow smoothly. With the blue skies above and white snow below, I’m flying down the mountain as fast as a shooting star. But I’m not skiing for fun. I’m skiing to win a race. And skiing to win is very serious. I’d love to go wherever I want to go, but I have to stick to the planned route and follow it exactly as marked. My team is depending on me to win.

It wasn’t my idea to be on the ski team. It was my twin sister, Emma, who suggested it. She loves to compete. And she loves to win. And she almost always wins when the two of us disagree. Emma isn’t only my twin sister, she’s also my best friend. And I want to make her happy. That’s how I ended up on the ski team.

Suddenly, a burst of wind makes the powdery snow swirl up around me. The reflecting sun blinds me as the trail breaks into two narrow branches. I squint and look for a route marker. But if there is one, it’s hidden by the whirling snow. Then somebody waves, as if signaling me towards the left branch, so I take it. The trail winds through the dense woods as I burst out into the open. It sends me over a huge mogul, and suddenly I’m airborne. That’s fine with me. I love jumps. The higher the better! But it’s risky and unusual for a race route.

I zoom down the mountain, crossing the finish line and pass by the time clock. I won the race. I’m happy, though not as excited as Emma would be. Winning means more to her than it does to me. I take off my gloves, skis, and goggles, and change my boots. My team cheers me on. They gather around me and thump me on the back. And even Coach Stanislav is smiling. But where is Emma?

The judge comes over to me and gives me a congratulations, handing me my prize. It’s a fabulous vintage watch that is also a stopwatch. I take it out of its box, and I’m strapping it to my wrist when Emma appears. Emma says that I cheated. She says I took a shortcut.

I gasp. The plummet from happiness to humiliation takes one second. How could she think that I would cheat? She’s my sister. I know things have been intense between us since our grandmother came to live with us and we’ve had to share a room. But is she so mad that she would lie about me? I tried to read her face, but she won’t meet my eye.

I struggle to explain. I say that I must’ve made a mistake. I was blinded by the sun and I couldn’t see a flag. I thought someone pointed me down the trail. Coach Stanislav interrupts me. Coach says that if I cheated, I should be honest about it. I insist that I didn’t cheat. It was a mistake. My mom slips her arm around my shoulder to comfort me. The judge says that they’ll have to look into what happened. She turns to me and holds out her hand for the watch. I undo the strap with trembling, clumsy fingers. By mistake, I touch the stopwatch button, and then I feel a swoosh.