Winter Is My Middle Name

Chapter 9

Halloween had come and gone and the weather had turned colder. The leaves had fallen and the trees were mere skeletons now. All the surrounding hillsides were a bleak gray and I couldn't wait for the snow to arrive and brighten everything up.

The snow would cover everything in a thick white blanket and hide all the unsightliness. It was the most beautiful time of the year. I would go up the hill and look over at the gas line high up on the next hill. It was much higher and the snow would always lay there first. When I saw snow there, I knew it would not be long until there would be snow on our hill. I would spend my time waxing my skis and thinking about skiing or sled riding. I couldn't wait. Winter was my middle name!

Tubby and I had set up a trap line. This would be useful when I went to Canada. I could eat the meat and sell the furs. We had bought two traps each. They were size 1 Victor jaw traps. They had a chain and a ring on them to fasten them to a stake.

We would go out every day after school and check the traps. We had been doing this for a few weeks and had no luck so far. I thought it would be cool to trap a fur-bearing animal and tan its hide. I would buy Field and Stream magazine and look at the ads. There were ads for hunting and trapping equipment, and want-ads for furs. I had visions of selling my furs and making enough money to pay for my move to Canada.

Then one Saturday morning, when Tubby and I were checking the trap line, we saw that I had trapped a rabbit in my trap.

"Look, Dandy! You got a rabbit," yelled Tubby.

"He's still alive!" I screamed.

"Of course he is. The trap just closes on his leg when it goes off. Foxes have been known to chew off their leg to get out of the trap."

"Now what am I supposed to do?" I asked him.

"Get a club and hit him over the head, then gut him."

"There is NO way I am going to do that," I told him. I went over and released the jaws of the trap and the rabbit ran off.

"Why did you do that?"

"I can't kill any animals like that. If that is how you trap, then I am finished with it."

"What are you going to do when you go to Canada? You will have to live off of fish for the rest of your life!"

"Then that's what I will do. But I am not going to trap, that's for sure."

That ended it for me. No more trapping. I gathered up my traps and headed home. I would have to find a different way to make a living when I went to Canada.

It was Thanksgiving and it was a cold gray day. The clouds were getting thicker and darker. I was on my bike riding around the neighborhood. No one else was around. The puddles all had a thin cover of ice that would break like glass as I rode over them.

Then it started to snow - just flurries, but it was a start. Soon the ground was covered with a light coat of snow. The gray landscape was now looking brighter as the snow piled up on everything. I couldn't wait to get home and put another coat of wax on my skis. I would even put wax on my sled runners to make it go faster down the hills. Winter was finally here!

It snowed all that evening. Not a storm, but enough for a few inches to pile up by the next morning. I got up and looked over at the graveyard. It was all white and just waiting for me to start sled riding. It wasn't deep enough for skiing, but sled riding was just as much fun.

After breakfast I grabbed my sled and ran as fast as I could to the graveyard. No one was there yet. I had the whole place to myself. It seemed like only a short time until other kids showed up with their sleds and snow saucers. Andy came with a huge wooden toboggan that could seat at least five. Then Tubby came with his Duralite sled.