Free Death of a PTA Goddess by Leslie O'Kane Page A

expecting an answer. Nevertheless, Nathan felt compelled to give me one, and though I was too busy holding my breath to listen, caught that his thinking was based on the theory that the ski-patrol members would have “really strong thumbs” to work the ski releases.
    Meanwhile, one young man was climbing the ladder while another steadied it. Fortunately, they were both muscular. Kelly continued to sob. Karen looked back at me. Even from this distance it was obvious that she was anxious. Her eyes were wide open, and her face pale.
    The man on top of the ladder managed to release each of Kelly’s bindings and to hand them down to his partner. Kelly let out a piercing scream as he pulled her out of the chair, and kept a grip on one armrest so that the whole chair was tilting horribly. I bit my leather mitten to keep from crying out at the sight.
    Karen managed to keep a grip on the chair herself and to stay seated. They brought Kelly down safely on the ladder. Only then did I feel as though I could breathe again.
    “Should I get down, too? To keep Kelly company?” I called down to the lift attendant.
    “Are you her mother?”
    “No, but I’m the nearest chaperone.”
    He hesitated, and I knew he was weighing the thought of having to get me out of my chair and onto a ladder. He shook his head. “She’ll be all right. Meet her in the lodge.”
    “I’ll be down as soon as I can, Kelly,” I shouted down to her. The chairs started once again in their squeaking, groaning ascent. “Her stepmom’s here someplace,” I called over the racket. “She’s a ski instructor. Amber Birch.”
    The attendant waved, but I wasn’t sure if he was signaling that he heard me or that I should shut up and let him handle things.
    I returned my attention to Karen, in the seat ahead— and above—me. Would she be able to ski down safely after all of this commotion?
    “That was so weird,” Nathan said to me after a while. “I thought Kelly skied here all the time.”
    “Her mother just died, Nathan. Thankfully, neither of us knows how that feels. I think it’s a good idea for you and Robert to meet up and ski together. I think I’ll be spending most of my time in the lodge with Kelly.”
    Karen was waiting for us at the top. “Jeez, Mom. I didn’t know what to do with Kelly. She seemed perfectly fine as we got into our seats. Then she, like, totally freaked.”
    “She’s had more trauma over the last couple of days than anyone should have to handle, especially at her age.”
    “I offered to come down the ladder with her, but it was like she couldn’t even hear me.”
    “I’ll check on her as soon as I get down. Don’t worry about it. She shouldn’t have come up here tonight in the first place.”
    “See you at the bottom,” Nathan said, clearly having grown too eager to ski to withstand any more of our chatter.
    I called after him, “Meet me at the lodge at eight p.m., okay?”
    “Okay,” he called over his shoulder.
    “I’ll just join up with Anna. She’s my friend Kimberly’s younger sister. Okay?” Karen asked.
    “Sure. Go ahead, Karen. Just be sure to meet me at eight, as well.”
    She, too, took off. I waited another moment, just to be sure that Karen had a good enough lead that I didn’t have to worry about crashing into her. Then I aimed my ski tips downhill and let gravity do its thing.
    I decided to go down along one side of the course and to go without stopping so that I could get to the lodge as quickly as possible. As is often the case when I don’t try too hard, I was skiing quite well now, which reminded me how much fun skiing was. It was a shame that we didn’t manage to ski more often.
    All of a sudden, someone came flying at me from behind some trees on the side of the course. “Hey!” I yelled, automatically turning and getting a shoulder up to block the impact.
    The skier barreled right into me and sent me flying. I managed to get one hand down to break my fall slightly. My body was spun