Most of my vacation was spent here in Marshall. After school got out on the 19th I took a ride down to Pilot Station with a whole bunch of my friends. It wasn't all that great there, but it was something to do other than stay here in Marshall. And I brought my sister down as much as I hated to.

The next couple of days I spent waiting for Ben to come back home. It was a long wait because I really wanted to see him. Finally one morning, when the sun was at it's brightest, I heard bang, boom, pow on my bedroom door. Slowly the door creaked open and I drew the blanket over my face and tried to ignore the loudness of the person who'd just trespassed in my room. Then I felt the blanket come down I opened my eyes and saw Ben sitting on the edge of my bed holding a red rose. From then on we spent much of our days together. We and others went out snowmachine riding in all places.

On Christmas day, I woke up early to help my mom get dinner ready and clean up. I was in the mood to help when I first woke up, but after I looked outside I didn't want to stay in at all. The sky was cloudless and the air wasn't too cold. I put on my ski pants over my shorts and a pair of socks and tennis shoes, then I went to check Doc who was awake already. We asked each other, "What are you up to?" Obviously the reply was, "nothing." Then he asked if I wanted to take a ride. I didn't refuse, and we left.

I thought it was going to be a quick ride, but he started going up towards the mountain. The tundra was rough and my knees were getting sore. Climbing to the top I was a little scared because I hadn't been way up there before. When we got to the top "cool" was the first word that came out of my mouth. Then we went to the other side and looked at the wide open country there. After being awestruck for a couple of minutes I remembered the cooking and the huge pile of pots and pans that I had to wash. We rode back down pretty fast and I started to get cold, so we stopped at his house and warmed up a little. Then I said, "Bye and Merry Chirstmas," and took off to my house.

The rest of the vacation I spent with Ben until he left. Afterwards it was boring. But it would have been even worse if Doc hadn't been around.

Cheryl Hunter