Free Freddie Ramos Stomps the Snow by Jacqueline Jules Page B

pulled a sled behind him.
    “Climb out, Freddie,” he said.
    Our apartment is on the first floor. With the snow so high, stepping out of the window was almost as easy as stepping out of a bathtub. Mr. Vaslov helped me onto his sled.
    “Where are we going?” I asked. “To my tool shed,” Mr. Vaslov said. “I have a new invention to show you.”

3. The Human Snow Shovel

    Inside the tool shed, Mr. Vaslov moved some tools off his workbench and asked me to sit down.
    “Here you go,” he said, snapping what looked like mini-sleds under my sneakers. “Zapato Snowshoes.”
    “Cool!” I said. “What do they do?”
    “Let’s go outside and see.” Mr.
    Vaslov smiled.
    Walking with the snowshoes wasn’t easy. I felt like a duck. “The snow is deep, Freddie,” Mr. Vaslov pointed around Starwood Park. “People can’t get around.”

    “How can I help?” “Put on your goggles,” he said, “and press the button on your wristband. Starwood Park needs some Zapato Power.”

    My feet smoked as I zoomed ninety miles an hour in the heavy snow. Everywhere I ran, snow blew out behind me, just like a snow blower.

    In less than fifteen minutes, Starwood Park had paths on all the sidewalks, just wide enough for people to get through.
    “Your new invention is great!” I told Mr. Vaslov.
    “Thanks, Freddie!” He grinned. “Now you can help me rescue some friends.”
    He put my snowshoes in the tool shed and handed me a shovel. We spent the next hour shoveling out apartments blocked by the snow.
    When we cleaned Maria’s door at 28G, her mother rushed out to kiss us.
    “ Gracias , gracias ,” she said.
    “ No hay problema .” I grinned.
    Sometimes I didn’t need Zapato Power to feel like a hero.
    Maria came out of 28G wearing pink boots and gloves. Her little brother, Gio, was behind her, pulling a yellow plastic sled.
    “Can you go to the hill with us?” he asked.
    Mr. Vaslov took my shovel. “I can’t. But Freddie can if he asks his mother first.”
    “Yippee!” Gio yelled, running through the snow paths I’d made on the sidewalks.
    By the time we got there, every kid from Starwood Park was at the hill. But most of them were watching because only six kids had sleds.
    Gio walked to the top with his yellow sled, then stopped, dead still, his eyes glued on the long way down. “Have I ever done this before?” he asked.
    “Not sure,” Maria said. “You might have been too little the last time we had a big snow.”
    Gio didn’t remember sledding. But I remembered the winter my dad came home from being a soldier for a little while. We rode together in the sled, laughing all the way down the hill. I’m proud that my dad was a hero, but I’ll always miss him too.
    “Do you want me to go with you?” I asked Gio.
    “Yes!” He hugged me. Little kids don’t mind being mushy.
    We climbed onto the sled and Maria gave it a push.
    “WHEEE!” Gio yelled.

    As we swooshed down the hill, I noticed all the kids without sleds, watching with big eyes. Suddenly I had an idea so good, it felt like it came from my super zapatos, not my brain.
    “Let’s all double up!”
    “Then everybody gets a turn!” Maria said.
    She asked her friend Jasmin to share. Soon all the kids were pairing up. Now more kids were sledding than watching, with lots of happy cheering.
    “Faster! Faster!” Gio shouted all the way down the hill.
    At the bottom, he jumped out and grabbed the rope pull. “Let’s go again, Freddie!”
    “Not so fast!” A girl in a green coat stepped in front of us. “I want a turn!”
    The girl chomped on a wad of purple bubblegum. I recognized the grape smell right away. Erika! She was not one of our favorite people at Starwood Park.
    “On my sled?” Gio gulped. “Yeah!” Erika grabbed the rope out of Gio’s hand and ran up the hill. “Stop her!” Gio cried.
    It was too late. We waited forever until Erika came back down.
    “Here!” She dropped the sled at Gio’s feet as she popped a purple