38 - The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena Read Online Free Page B

monster is real—and he’s a killer! You’re taking a
big risk, chasing after him. No one has ever caught him. Anyone who goes out
after him… doesn’t return.”
    “We’ll take our chances,” Dad said. “I’ve heard stories like this before, in
other parts of the world. Stories about monsters in the jungle or weird
creatures in the ocean. So far the stories have never turned out to be true. I
have a feeling the Abominable Snowman will be no different.”
    Part of me really wanted to see the snow creature. But part of me hoped Dad
was right. I don’t deserve to die, I thought—just because I want to see snow!
    “Well,” Dad said, wiping his mouth. “Let’s get going. Everybody ready?”
    “I’m ready,” Nicole piped up.
    “Me too,” I said. I couldn’t wait to get out in the snow.
    Arthur said nothing. Dad paid the lunch check.
    We waited for change. “Dad,” I asked, “what if the Abominable Snowman is
real? What if we run into him? What will we do?”
    He pulled something small and black out of his coat pocket.
    “This is a radio transmitter,” he explained. “If we get into any kind of
trouble out in the wilderness, I can radio the ranger station in town. They’ll
send a helicopter to rescue us.”
    “What kind of trouble, Dad?” Nicole asked.
    “I’m sure there won’t be any trouble,” Dad assured us. “But it’s good to be
prepared for emergencies. Right, Arthur?”
    Arthur smacked his lips and cleared his throat. But he didn’t reply. I
figured he was angry because Dad didn’t believe his stories about the snow
monster.
    Dad returned the radio transmitter to his coat pocket. He left a tip for the
waitress. Then we spilled outside into the cold Alaskan air, ready to head out for the frozen
tundra.
    Was an Abominable Snowman waiting for us somewhere out there?
    We would soon find out.

 
 
8
     
     
    Smack!
    Bulls-eye. I hit Nicole in the middle of her backpack with a snowball.
    “Dad!” Nicole cried. “Jordan hit me with a snowball!”
    Dad had his camera in front of his face, clicking away, as usual. “Good for
you, Nicole,” he said absently. Nicole rolled her eyes.
    Then she ripped off my ski cap. She stuffed it with snow and smushed it on
top of my head.
    Snow trickled down my face. The cold burned my skin.
    At first I thought snow was cool. I could mush it up in my hand to make
snowballs. Fall down in it without getting hurt. Put it on my tongue and let it
melt into water.
    But I was beginning to feel the cold. My toes and fingers were getting numb.
We had already walked two miles out of town. When I looked back, I couldn’t see
it. I could only see snow and sky.
    Only eight more miles to the cabin, I thought, wiggling my fingers inside my
mittens. Eight more miles! It was going to take forever. And all around us,
nothing but snow—miles and miles of it.
    Dad and Arthur trudged beside the dogsled. Arthur had brought along four
Alaskan huskies—Binko, Rocky, Tin-tin, and Nicole’s favorite, Lars. They
pulled Dad’s big trunk and the other supplies in a long, narrow sled.
    Nicole and I each carried a backpack filled with emergency food and other
supplies. Just in case, Dad said.
    In case of what? I wondered. In case we get lost? In case the dogs run away
with the sled? In case the Abominable Snowman captures us?
    Dad snapped pictures of the dogs, of us, of Arthur, of the snow.
    Nicole threw herself backwards into a snowdrift. “Look—an angel!” she
cried, waving her arms up and down.
    She jumped up and we checked out the snow angel. “Cool,” I admitted. I lay on
my back to make one, too. When Nicole came closer to inspect it, I whopped her
with a snowball.
    “Hey!” she cried. “I’m going to get you for that!”
    I leaped up and darted away. The deep snow crunched under my shoes.
    Nicole ran after me. We raced ahead of the dogsled.
    “Be careful, kids!” Dad called after us. “Stay out of trouble!”
    I stumbled in the snow. Nicole pounced