One year later….
“Come here, Haley!!” cried Lilly, “Oh that’s a good dog ! Now sit. Okay, search!”
Lilly commanded the search and rescue dog to look for the missing skier while Ellie, Angela and the rest of the ski patrol looked on. All three girls had trained the dog and today was her first real rescue.
“You three girls follow that dog. Patrick, you come with me bring the other dog over there. Bob and Aaron, you wait here. We'll all meet at the bottom in a half an hour." Angela’s dad Dave continued barking orders to the ski patrol. "Girls I want you to stick together, okay?"
“Okay Dad, we’ll be careful and stick together,” Angela said and sped off to follow the dog.
A few minutes of searching in the snow and….“Ruffffffffffffffffffffff!” barked Haley.
“She’s found something!” cried Angela.
...
As the sled with the injured skier sped down the hill, the junior ski patrollers showered the dog with praise. “This is so awesome!!!!” Ellie said to her cousin and friend, “I never thought that Haley would ever be good enough to go on a real search and rescue!”
“Yeah” Angela said, “neither did I. Do you remember what a hard time we had house training her? Wow, sometimes I thought we’d never get her up to the slopes.”
“Me too.” said Lilly, turning to the dog, “Yep, Haley, you’ve come a long way baby.”
Then Lilly turned to look at her cousin and her friend. She remembered their stormy history at school and the curious event last ski season that turned things around. She smiled. “Come to think of it,” she said, “we’ve come a long way too, we three.”
With a few chuckles and some big grins, the girls strapped on their skis and headed down to the lodge for a well-deserved hot chocolate.
“Race you to the bottom!” cried Angela.
