Lionel’s Christmas Adventure
Lionel Learns the True Meaning Of Christmas
By Paul R. Hewlett
The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Copyright © 2012 Paul R. Hewlett
All rights reserved
This book or any portion thereof may not be copied, sold, or reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review
ISBN-12: 978-1480239685
“Isn’t this awesome!?!” said Skip.
“Yup, sure is,” agreed Lionel, a huge grin on his face.
The boys had just made their way back up the hill after sledding down it for the umpteenth time. The snow was still falling, heavy and wet. Lionel had yet to make it down the hill without falling off of his sled, but he didn’t care. He had trouble holding on to his metal saucer. He couldn't steer it, and the handles were real small on the edges. That was one reason he wanted a Turbo 5000. His mom and Feeney—who was too lazy to sled—were nowhere in sight though, and Lionel was having a blast. He had forgotten about them altogether as he prepared to sled down the hill again.
“Be careful not to break your neck, Snodgrass!” he heard. “I’d rather you did that than break my science project again, though. Stay far away from me! HA, HA, HA!”
There stood Tad Winters. His buddy Willy and a group of boys behind him chuckled at Tad’s comment. Lionel felt his face burning, even in the cold. He pushed his glasses back up off of his nose and got ready to launch himself down the hill, trying to ignore Tad.
“It’s okay, Lionel. Just ignore him,” said Skip.
Except that it wasn’t okay, and he couldn’t ignore him. He pushed off down the hill with all his might. He hadn’t gone thirty feet when he lost his grip on the sled and flew head over heels, somersaulting down the slope. When he finally came to a stop, his glasses were cockeyed on his face and he was covered in snow.
He heard laughter from the top of the hill and looked up. Tad sat down on his saucer sled. He barely fit on it, as big as he was. Tad then started to push off down the hill. Lionel reached into his pocket without thinking and squeezed his Walbaun foot.
I wish Tad wasn’t here!
There was a bright flash. The next thing anyone knew, Tad’s sled was shooting downhill as fast as a speeding train. He hit the snow ramp, launched in the air over a half-buried fence, and landed in a cow pasture. He rocked this way and that, trying to avoid running straight into a cow. His screams could be heard from the top of the hill. Still, his sled would not stop. It soon vanished from sight. Willy and his buddies just stood there with their mouths hanging open, looking at each other, and wondering what to do. They finally snapped out of it and Tad’s whole crew ran off down the hill after him.
Lionel knew he had to be more careful. When he used the Walbaun foot without thinking, it made his wish come true in its own strange way, but that was very risky. It was best to be careful what he wished for, because he never knew what might happen. And now he had to follow behind to make sure Tad was okay. As much as he disliked Tad, he felt bad and wanted to make sure that Tad was all right, even if it meant ruining the rest of his afternoon. It was—after all—his fault this had happened.
I should never have used that darn Walbaun foot! It never gets anything right! After rounding up Skip, he started off after Tad.
Thirty minutes and a little more than half a mile later, Willy and the crew finally found Tad still on his sled, clutching it as tightly as he could. His mouth was wide open in a silent scream, and his eyes were wide in terror. Lionel peaked around the side of the tree he was hiding behind.
“He's fine, buddy,” he whispered to Skip, who was standing behind him.
“Thank goodness. I thought for a minute he might really get hurt when he jumped that fence,” said Skip.
“Uh oh!” said Lionel, his voice rising, no longer worried about being quiet. “C'mon, Skip! Let's get outta here!” Lionel turned and grabbed Skip by the jacket and dragged him away from their hiding spot.
“Whaaa—” Skip started, but never finished as he saw Tad, Willy, and the rest of their friends running their direction.
Lionel and Skip took off in the other direction as fast as they could run to get away from them.
