Free What Happens in the Alps... by T A Williams Page B

her desperation, she struggled through it until she reached her objective. Rita kept guard while Annie sidestepped across to a thicket on the other side of the track. Having seen the trouble that Paolina had had, she decided not to unclip her skis. She took a good look round, pulled down her trousers and squatted, praying that nobody would choose that moment to come skiing down the path.
    She had just about finished doing what she had come into the trees to do when, to her horror, she saw something charging straight towards her. She just had time to realise that the big black shape was a very friendly Labrador, when the dog reached her. He was clearly delighted to find her down at his level and he put his paws up on her shoulders and set about licking her face. She put up her hands to fend him off, but he was insistent. Unfortunately, the effect of this weight suddenly pressing against her began to push her backwards. She felt herself moving, slowly at first, but gradually gathering speed, and she realised she was sliding backwards towards the main piste. She ran over a clump of some kind of plant, probably heather, covered in snow, and got a frozen, wet bottom as a result. She had ditched her poles so she scrabbled desperately at the passing branches until, mercifully, she managed to get a grip on something solid enough to arrest her descent. She glanced up and around her. The dog had stopped following her and was sitting in the snow, looking on with what could have been a smile on his face. Another six feet and she would have emerged onto the open mountainside, bare bum on display for all to see. As it was, she was still just about hidden and was able to pull up her trousers without being spotted by anybody. Well, almost anybody.
    From behind her she heard hoots of laughter as Rita and Paolina followed her trail in the snow. As Annie got to her feet and zipped herself up, her face glowing with embarrassment, Rita handed over her poles, still unable to utter a word, such was her mirth. Behind her, Paolina concentrated on petting the dog, her shoulders shaking as she creased up with laughter.
    â€˜Well, that’s a lesson learnt.’ Annie was conscious that some of the snow, if not the heather, she had run over was still sticking to her under her clothes and she felt it begin to melt. It was an uncomfortable feeling. ‘Always, always, always take your skis off before having a pee.’
    â€˜Oh, Annie.’ That was all Paolina managed to say. The dog, in the meantime, came lurching through the snow towards Annie and stood up on his hind legs to greet her once more. She looked down at his collar and spotted the same medallion she had seen before.
    â€˜Well, Leo, it would seem you’re fit and well again.’ Instinctively, she looked around, just in case the man with the blue eyes might appear. There was no sign of him and, although this meant he hadn’t been around to witness her recent debacle, she felt a sense of disappointment. ‘Just you watch out next time you decide to cross the piste.’ She grinned at the other two. ‘And I’ll be sure to watch out next time I have to pee in the snow.’
    In spite of a strong coffee after her salad that evening, by ten o’clock Annie was feeling really tired and she headed for her temporary bedroom. Without turning on the light, she made her way across to the window and looked out into the night sky. This room was on the west side of the building and the view from the window was amazing. It was a crystal-clear, moonlit night and, to the left, she could see all the way down the valley, the steep sides rising up like walls, while, to the right, her eyes could make out the high Alps beyond which lay the French and Swiss borders. Ahead of her, snaking up the mountainside, was the road to Montalto, with faint clusters of lights marking numerous little hamlets dotted across the mountainside. Headlights showed tiny, distant cars picking their