Carlisle's Diary

Ski Party

Dear Diary: May 31, 2013

Boy do I have a lot to tell you. As the day of the ski party arrived, we were all getting ready to either go or do other things, when I got a call from Alice in Sweden. She said she had another vision and to be careful on the slopes. We figured it would be an avalanche, so we decided to stay clear of the real complicated slopes and tell the others the same. Then, just before 5pm, we—Esme, Jacob, Nessie, and I—loaded all of our ski equipment into our flatbed truck and took off toward the little inn that would be hosting our party. We all looked really stylish; I will avoid using the word spiffy or I'll get another eye roll from Jacob. I have no clue what's so "uncool" about that word. Teenagers!

Anyways, when we arrived at the slopes, some people were already there, while others were coming directly from their shifts at the hospital. As soon as I got there, Bill Connolly took me aside and told me that we lost patients at the hospital. Both went into cardiac arrest within 2 hours of each other. Bill thought that was strange because neither of these people came in with heart troubles. I thought this was strange as well, so I asked if Bill wanted to have autopsies performed on them both. He said that that would be improbable as both were Jehovah's Witnesses and they had some strict rules about that kind of stuff. Of course we had to follow with their wishes and those of their families. That put a bit of a damper on the party. But as more people started to arrive, we decided that we weren't going to mope around but rather enjoy this time with our coworkers and families.

I'd already met Bill's wife Theresa previously, and as both of their children were either in college or already grown with a family of their own, it was just the two of them at the party. Charlotte brought her new boyfriend. Melanie brought her husband, the two nurses from NYC brought their husbands and Shandy brought her two adorable 9-year-old twin girls. Betsy was feeling better but wasn't up to skiing so she just came with her husband to watch the rest of us do our thing. Ashley drove up in her own car. I didn't think she had a car. But within the next half hour or 45 minutes everyone was assembled.

We decided to make all of the introductions before heading to the slopes, I did mention that there were possibilities of avalanches and told everyone to steer clear of the complicated slopes. I had a lot of heads nodding in agreement. Once all of the introductions were made, we got our gear and headed toward the slopes. Nessie, Esme and I were on skis, while Jacob had a snowboard that he'd mastered since we moved here. The first time down the slope it was just my family and I. Then Bill and his wife joined us for the second round.

Later on we had a male vs. female race. The women beat us into oblivion. Esme, being an avid skier, out-skied everyone. She made it to the bottom in record time, followed closely behind by Nessie and Ashley tying for second place. Jacob all but rolled down the hill after his first tumble; his eventual landing sent Nessie into a state of giggles to the point where she fell off her own skis. We were all kind of laughing at him at that point. He looked like a cross between Gumby and a giant bouncy ball. Nessie whispered in his ear, which Esme and I—with our keen vampiric hearing—overheard. She told him she pictured him in his wolf form on that snowboard doing the same thing and it made her laugh even harder. Esme and I smiled at that one. Jacob started grumbling but looking at Nessie, he couldn't stay angry too long and started laughing along with her. Finally he pulled her up with him and gave her a giant kiss.

We all headed back up to the top and it was time for people to decide whether they wanted to eat or continue skiing. Esme and I opted to keep skiing and let the humans enjoy the food. She and I had a very romantic run on the bunny slope, much to the hoots and cheers of Nessie and Jacob, not to mention Bill and Betsy. That was the best. At one time we thought someone was following us but when we checked, it seemed to be just a rabbit trying to get away before becoming squashed. I still had a very uneasy feeling about what Bill told me previously. But there wasn't much we could do.