Legacy of the Dreams

Chapter 6 - The Tournament

It finally stopped snowing around mid-morning, the day after Christmas. The snow plows around Lake Tahoe managed to clear the main roads, making it possible to get around ... provided one of them could get their car out of the driveway where they were staying.

"How do we do that?" Aaron asked his grandfather when he made the observation, an hour or two before lunchtime.

"We shovel the snow off the driveway," Greg told him.

"There's a snow shovel in the garage," Alan remarked.

"I think there might be more than one," Greg said.

Aaron looked at his grandfather doubtfully. "I don't know, Grandpa. The driveway is really long."

"We have five healthy teenaged boys and four men available to help. I suggest we all take turns," Greg said.

"Sounds good to me," Elliot said, and Stephen agreed.

All nine of them trooped to the garage. Greg and Alan found the snow shovels and they opened the garage door. On the other side, the snow was more than four feet high.

"How do we do this?" Jake asked.

"Watch me," Greg said.

He took one of the snow shovels and began cutting himself a path, lowering the level of the snow a half foot or more at a time, until he reached the level of the pavement on the driveway. He worked steadily for ten minutes, piling the snow beside the house and creating a path the width of the shovel and three to four feet long, before handing the shovel to one of the boys.

"Okay," Jake said, and he and Aaron took a turn.

They switched every ten minutes so no one got too tired. And so as the weather cleared, five boys and four men worked in shifts to clear the driveway of the house they were renting of snow, one section at a time.

"Tell me again. Why are we doing this?" Chris asked his dad after his second round with the shovel.

"Your aunt and uncle have friends flying in this afternoon to join us," Stephen told him.

"Who?" Chris asked.

"Their names are John, Karen, and Peter Wilson," Greg said. "They are visiting the U.S. from Australia and have never had the opportunity to visit the snow before."

"Well, they should get plenty of it here," Chris remarked.

"Are you tired of the snow already?" Matt asked.

"No, but it was a lot more fun the day we went skiing," Chris said.

"And we can't go skiing again during this holiday, until we can get out of the driveway," Stephen reminded him.

"Yeah, okay," Chris said. "I suppose that's the reason Grandma didn't go to church this morning?"

"That is the reason," Greg confirmed.

"Maybe we don't have to go skiing," Zack remarked.

"Oh yeah? What else could we do?" Aaron asked.

"We built an igloo day before yesterday. That was pretty fun, and we don't need to get out of the driveway to do that," Zack remarked between strokes with his shovel.

"No, but we used the shovel to make the blocks, so we still had to shovel snow to do that," Chris said. "I'd rather go skiing."

"Me too," Aaron remarked.

"Does your family ski?" Stephen asked Elliot.

"I do. The boys prefer to snowboard," Elliot said.