Page 41 of A Winter in Wonderland
Climbing back on the snowmobiles, I motioned to the group to wait for my signal to get going … and then my snowmobile wouldn’t start.
Through a fixed grin, I said into the microphone, ‘Just a moment!’
Behind me, Josh shifted in his seat, turning his head towards me. ‘You all right, Adventure Guide Myla?’
‘Yep, no problem!’ I sang back, trying to match his singsong voice.
I pulled the handle and nothing. I rattled it … nothing. I’d checked the fuel, I’d checked it was all in working order … what had I done wrong? Shit shit shit.
‘Wait a minute!’ said Josh, leaping back off the snowmobile. ‘We didn’t take a jumping photo!’
With cries of, ‘Oh my god, yes,’ the whole group scrambled off the snowmobile train again and ran back up the fell, with Josh leading the way.
I breathed a sigh of relief, and sent Josh a silent thanks for buying me some time. Hopping off the snowmobile, I checked the fuel levels, but they were all fine.
A few minutes later, Josh appeared at my side again, the group still at the top, just starting to make their way down.
‘How are you doing?’ he asked in a whisper. ‘I don’t know. I don’t know what’s wrong.’ My eyes searched his, my breathing shallow.
‘It’s OK, we’ll fix it.’
‘You can fix it?’
‘No, I have no idea how snowmobiles work,’ he shrugged. ‘But you’re not alone. Just breathe.’
At that point, the group arrived back at the snowmobiles, and Josh plunged back into Elf Josh mode. He kept them entertained while I phoned the activities’ lodge and explained what happened. I could hear my voice shaking. I could hear the panic seeping out. What if Daan or Zoë were angry at me? What if they made me pay for the snowmobile? What if they realised I didn’t belong here and fired me and my sister then got fired and—
‘Myla?’ said Zoë’s voice coming onto the line. ‘They told me what happened, are you OK?’
‘Yep, great, well, stuck actually.’
‘All right, don’t worry, let’s talk through what could have gone wrong and how to fix it.’
With my heart racing and my brain trying to focus on the task ahead instead of zooming off into panic mode, I followed her instructions, and was a little incy bit proud of myself for sitting here in the snow cleaning fuel lines.
A short bit of tinkering later, Zoë said down the phone, ‘That should do it. Try the on button again.’
I took a breath.Please work, please work, please work.Oh, I was going to look like such a massive twat if it didn’t.
For one second that felt like ten hours, nothing happened after I flicked the snowmobile switch. And then, suddenly, thankfully, the machine roared back to life. Catching Josh’s eye as I exhaled, I took my seat on the snowmobile again, relieved but shaken, and confused at my reaction. Was what happened really that much of something to panic about? Or had I just so conditioned myself to expect the worst at this time of year I’d jumped forward in time before the situation had even caught up with me?
‘All right, adventurers, let’s see if we can get this thing going,’ I said, as jovially as I could. I was more on edge now, more convinced something else would go wrong.
I inhaled deeply, and that’s when I felt Josh give my padded arm a squeeze, leaving his hand there until I’d exhaled slowly. It was a simple gesture, but a kind one, one that made me feel like we were in this together. One that kept me present. And with the final thought that maybe he wasn’t too annoying after all, even in elf mode, I turned the handle of the snowmobile, and we were able to pull away.
