Irene's Life Story

Chapter 2

The Mumfords had finally reached their destination. They grabbed their first items out of the van and stepped into their new cabin.

"Hey, it's freezing in here! Do we have to run an igloo?" Matthew complained.

"Come on, Matt, it's not that bad," Mr. Mumford said. "After all, being cold builds character."

"Daddy, when you opened the door, 3 penguins waddled out," Melissa said. Irene felt unsure and whispered into her ear.

"Really?" she asked. Melissa responded no and the two snickered. Apparently, the penguins were Melissa's way of expressing how cold the cabin currently felt.

"Knock it off, girls," Mr. Mumford said. "You'll like it." He managed to find the light switch and the entire cabin lit up with electrical light. Everyone was amazed by the cabin's gorgeous sights. The wood was neatly sanded and furnished, there is no mess anywhere, and the furniture was as neatly set up as a normal house.

"Oh, Cameron," Mrs. Mumford exclaimed. "What a beautiful cabin!" Melissa looked toward the ceiling and saw something that caught her eye.

"Look, Irene!" she declared. "There's a loft!"

"Oh, cool!" Irene responded. Melissa acknowledged the response as everyone set down their things by the door and Matthew closed the door. Afterwards, Mrs. Mumford took off her jacket and hung it on the coat hanger by the door before lying on the couch with her shoes removed. Matthew found a notebook of the cabin on a nearby desk and immediately started looking through it for the cabin's WiFi password.

"Irene, please start a fire in the fireplace," Mr. Mumford said as he looked through an open phone book while holding his iPhone.

"What?!" Irene exclaimed from the other side of the cabin. "And take the arctic kill off the room?!"

"Just do it, Irene," Mr. Mumford said as he dialed a phone number. "I gotta make this call before it is too late." Mrs. Mumford sat up on the couch as Matthew entered the cabin's free WiFi.  Irene went to do as she was told while Melissa started checking out the loft above the main floor.

"Dad, whatever you do, I don't want to take ski lessons!" Matthew called out to his father, who was on the phone with a ski lodge.

"Yes, I want to find out about some ski lessons for my son and daughter," Mr. Mumford spoke into the phone.

"Dad!  I already know how to ski!" Matthew groaned as Melissa overheard him.  Irene finally started the fire with the natural gas fireplace.

"Hey!" Melissa called down. "Maybe this year, you can learn how to do it standing up!" Mrs. Mumford chuckled as Matthew became annoyed.

"Ha ha, Melissa," he responded sarcastically as Irene approached the couch and Melissa came downstairs.

"Come on, Matt," Irene assured him. "It is kind of like that water skiing that we did last year, except on frozen water."

"Really?"

"Yeah, all you gotta do is take those fears and let it go..." Irene replied as she starting singing from Disney.

"Let it go..." Melissa sang as she joined beside Irene..

"Can't hold it back anymore!!" Melissa and Irene sang in harmony before laughing.

"Shut up, girls!!" Matthew yelled in fury as the girls were laughing. By then, Mr. Mumford finished his call with signing up Melissa and Matthew with skiing lessons as Matthew groaned in annoyance.

"The lessons last only half a day, you can spend the rest of the day doing whatever you want," Mr. Mumford told his son, who flopped onto the couch.

"Couldn't it involve something that doesn't make my teeth chatter??" Matthew groaned again.