Page 96 of Walk on the Wilder Side

“Thank you, Johanna. We can’t wait.”

She bid us goodbye and left, then the Widows and I took a moment to appreciate the gorgeous surroundings.

“Cool wish, Sylvie. Two thumbs up,” Marge said. “Never would have dreamed such a place existed.”

“It’s like a fairytale!” Doris spun around, staring at the sky. “A real fairytale!”

“I’m taking this dome,” Alice said. “It’s too cold to go back out there and look at the others. Plus, it’s closest to the bar.”

I chuckled. “That’s fine, Alice. You can have this one. We’ll go get settled in ours. We’ll meet back here in an hour to go on the sleigh ride.” Before she could open her mouth to argue, I pointed a finger at her. “And yes, you are coming. It will be chilly, but dress warm, and you’ll be fine. After we see the lights tonight and fulfill my wish, you don’t have to leave your little warm bubble.”

She frowned but nodded. “Fine. But I’m not wearing snowpants.”

“Deal.” I laughed, then the other two Widows and I left her to go find our own domes.

***

After we had settledinto our domes and unpacked, the Widows and I all met at Alice’s dome. We were bundled up warm and toasty in our wool hats and snow jackets, but Alice stepped out in a giant fur hat and coat.

“Wow. You look like we should be calling you Natasha,” Marge said as she appraised Alice’s outfit.

“Well, when our pre-trip packing list said to bring an outfit for cold weather, I had to run out and get something that wouldn’t make me look like a marshmallow.” She looked at us, giving us a judgmental swipe of her eyes. “Like that.”

“We may look like marshmallows, but you look like you slaughtered an entire family of mink for that.” Marge scowled.

“Don’t worry, it’s not real fur.” She swiped her hand down the long coat. “It’s as high quality as it can get though. And warm. Since you’re forcing me to embark on some nature journey into the artic, I’m going to be as warm as I can. This muff will keep my hands warm.”

We looked at the matching fur muff she stuffed her hands into.

Marge snorted. “You’ve got a muff.”

“Can it, Marge. It’s warm. And the one with a real muff is you, as we so horrifyingly learned in Scotland.”

Marge grinned a sinister grin. “I’m gonna start wearing kilts every day now just to mess with you.”

“Metal chastity belt. I’ll do it.”

They continued their silent stare-off, and I shuddered remembering the horror of seeing Marge’s nether regions ... twice. “No kilts without underwear, Marge. We’re making that a Wilder Widows rule from now on. You abused the privilege.”

“Oh, shoot! I don’t have any mittens!” Doris interjected, looking down at her exposed hands. “I forgot to pack mittens, and I don’t have time to knit any quick!”

“Johanna said they have extra stuff. When she gets here, we’ll ask. In the meantime, take one of mine and we can keep one hand in our pockets.”

“Thanks.” She smiled as she took my extra wool mitten.

“Oh! Look!” Marge pointed, and we turned to see the reindeer parade coming toward us. “So cool!”

“Wow!” Doris clapped. “Look at them!”

Olavi sat in a sled-like contraption hooked up to a reindeer in front of him, with two more reindeer and sleds hooked to him and following behind. The majestic animal pulling the caravan stopped right beside us, and I could barely breathe being so close to it.

“Hyvää päivää!” Olavi was so bundled all we could see were his eyes and big smile. “I’m honored to take you on your first reindeer safari!”

“Can I pet it?” I asked as he got out and stepped to the head of his lead reindeer.

“This is Rakas.” He stroked the face of the beautiful animal. “He loves to be petted.”

We each took turns petting Rakas, then he walked us back to meet the other reindeer.

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