The Great Peach Experiment 3: Frozen Peaches by by Erin Soderberg Downing

Author:by Erin Soderberg Downing [Downing, Erin Soderberg]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Holiday House
Published: 2023-04-04T00:00:00+00:00

11

MAGIC SKY

Lucy had spent the better part of the afternoon helping Herb and Philip feed and harness dogs for various dogsledding trips Icehotel guests had signed up to go on. Herb was obviously very much in his element at the kennel, and the dogs all seemed to love him. But try as she might, Lucy couldn’t seem to get the hang of the harnesses—they always ended up tangled when she touched them, and both Lucy and the dog she was dressing would wind up frustrated—so Lucy was leaving.

While Lucy had studied their sled for the competition, trying and failing to come up with a clever way to decorate it, she had gotten to witness Herb helping Philip put tiny harnesses on the litter of sled dog puppies. They didn’t get to pull anything just yet, but Philip had explained that they had to get used to the idea of wearing their harnesses early in life, so that it would feel more comfortable and natural to them when they got older and got to practice joining the team. Herb had convinced Philip to let him try a harness on, too, and then Herb spent much of the rest of the day wearing his own sled dog harness around while he did his kennel chores. He looked adorable, if a bit uncomfortable.

Lucy waved goodbye to her brother, asked Philip to ensure that Herb got back to the warm hotel safely, then zipped up her puffy snowsuit and headed out into a brisk wind. There were plenty of frigid days in Duluth during the winter (and sometimes in the summer, too!), but somehow the cold air at the Icehotel felt different. With only her nose and eyes poking out of her warm layers, Lucy wandered around the little town-like area that surrounded the Icehotel.

As she walked around the charming little winter village, she couldn’t help but think about how much her mom would have loved this place. Mom had been a huge fan of Christmas romance movies that always started showing on TV each year just after Halloween, and before she died, she had even started to let Lucy watch some of them with her. Lucy remembered that, at the time, she didn’t like any of the mushy stuff in those movies—luckily, there wasn’t that much kissing in them—but she loved that special time with her mom. Mom would make a cup of tea for herself, and a cocoa for Lucy, and then they would curl up under a blanket on the couch together and groan as they watched silly and improbable love stories set in very fake-looking towns.

There were lots of big things Lucy missed about her mom, but it was the little things that were hardest to live without. Watching movies and cooking shows together, going for walks and talking about Lucy’s day, coming up with silly crafts to do on a boring Sunday. Her mom had liked to work on those adult coloring books, but she’d always get bored after filling in the first corner and would leave the rest for her family to fill in.

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