Page 30 of A Winter in Wonderland
Chapter 14
This was so bad. I had never felt more out of depth in my life. And while my fellow guides were standing tall in the snow, confident postures and big smiles, I was dying from nerves on the inside.
‘So that’s all there is to it, really,’ Zoë stated, releasing the handle of the absolutely massive snowmobile in front of her and it shuddered into silence. ‘Does that all make sense?’
‘Hahaha, yes,’ I said, trying to sound as oomph-ful as the others. My stomach churned and I looked at the vehicle.
‘When you take out the guests, they’ll each be on either their own vehicle, or two-person ones where they share the driving, so you might have someone travelling behind you. Or perhaps you’ll pull children along in a sled, if they aren’t tall enough to travel in the back of the adult snowmobile,’ Zoë said, patting the small seat at the back of the main one. ‘You need to make sure the snowmobiles are all good to gobefore you head off, with enough fuel and drinks and snacks to see you through the day.’
In case we crash and stare death in the face.
‘You’ll talk to the guests through your microphone, and you’ll tell them all about all of the beautiful nature and wildlife you’ll be passing. Don’t worry, thanks to the snow coming in nice and early and deep this year, you will learn all of this during practical training over the coming days.’
It would be different if I were here on holiday and just having a simple snowmobile lesson to then putter about on for a few hours. But I was expected to havepassengerswith this thing. Children, even. People who came here to have a Very Merry Christmas, not a Very Messy Catastrophe.
‘Who wants to try first?’
Almost everybody shot their hands into the air, including Esteri, though she must have been on these a lot if this was her fourth year in Lapland. Not wanting to stick out like a sore thumb, I raised my hand too, but deliberately avoided eye-contact with Zoë.
‘Great, let’s start with you, Myla.’
Damn our name tags!
‘No,’ I said, almost reflexively.
‘Come on, everyone has to start somewhere.’ She beckoned me towards her so I crunched my way over, the snow creaking beneath my feet, cursing my sister and all of Christmastime.
Flakes started to drift down from the sky, which made everyone but me joyous, because now I had two words zipping about my mind:reduced visibility. Sliding on myhelmet, I looked down at the snowmobile, dark and sleek and threatening, and everything Zoë had taught us dropped out of my head like an avalanche. I looked up at her. ‘I’m a little nervous,’ I admitted.
‘That’s OK, you can do it. You wouldn’t be here if you weren’t already brave and fearless, right?’
Hahaha, or had lost a bet.‘Right … ’
‘On you get.’
I climbed aboard and sat down, my arms stretched out to the handlebars, my feet on the snowy ground below.
‘Now, Myla, remember to relax your arms, you need to keep yourself able to move with the movement of the snowmobile,’ Zoë said.
I loosened my arms, but my nerves stayed tensed.
‘And what did I say about feet?’
‘Oh,’ I said, bringing my snow boots into the feet trays either side of the snowmobile. That was a silly mistake – Zoë had stressed how important that was only minutes ago.
I gulped and looked at the two levers on either side of the handlebars. Left for brake, right for accelerate. ‘Should I go?’ I asked Zoë.
‘Where is the safety cord?’ she countered.
‘Oh, right.’ I clipped the cord to the front of my snowsuit.
‘Ready?’ Zoë checked, as she switched on the engine.
I nodded, took a breath, and squeezed the right-hand lever, and the snowmobile shot forward with avroom, sounding to my untrained ears like an extremely angry lawnmower that wanted me to stop straddling it immediately.
‘Slow down!’ Zoë called, and I squeezed the left-handlever and the machine shuddered to a stop, my body shuddering along with it.
Zoë jogged over and checked over the snowmobile. ‘OK, no damage, but remember not to press both levers at the same time because you could flood the engine and harm it.’
