38 - The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena by R.L. Stine - (ebook by Undead)

 
 
1
     
     
    All my life, I’ve wanted to see snow.
    My name is Jordan Blake. My life has been twelve years of sun, sand, and
chlorine. I’d never felt cold, ever —unless you count air-conditioned
supermarkets. And I don’t. It doesn’t snow in the supermarket.
    I’d never felt cold, that is, until the adventure.
    Some people think I’m a lucky guy to live in Pasadena, California, where it’s
always sunny and warm. It’s okay, I guess. But if you’ve never seen snow, it
seems like something out of a science-fiction movie.
    Fluffy white frozen water that falls out of the sky? It piles up on the
ground, and you can make forts and snowmen and snowballs out of it? You have to
admit it sounds weird.
    One day, my wish came true. I got to see snow at last. And it turned out to
be weirder than I thought.
    Way weirder.
    “Pay attention, kids. This is going to be cool.”
    Dad’s face glowed under the red darkroom light. My sister, Nicole, and I
watched him developing film. With a pair of tongs, he dipped a sheet of special
paper in a chemical bath.
    I’ve watched Dad develop film all my life. He’s a professional photographer.
But I’d never seen him so excited about photos before—and that’s saying a lot.
    Dad takes nature photos. Well, actually, he takes pictures of everything!
    He never stops taking pictures. My mom says that once when I was a
baby I saw Dad and screamed. I didn’t recognize him without a camera in front of
his face. I used to think he had a zoom lens for a nose!
    Our house is filled with embarrassing pictures of me—me as a baby in baggy
diapers, me with food all over my face, me crying after scraping my knee, me
hitting my sister…
    Anyway, Dad had just returned from a trip to the Grand Tetons. That’s a
mountain range in Wyoming—part of the Rocky Mountains. He was all worked up
about the pictures he took there.
    “I wish you kids had seen those bears,” Dad said. “A whole family of them.
The cubs reminded me of you two—always teasing each other.”
    Teasing. Ha. Dad thinks Nicole and I tease each other. That’s putting
it mildly. Nicole—Miss Know-it-all—drives me crazy.
    Sometimes I wish she’d never been born. I’ve made it my mission to make her feel the same way. I mean, I try to make her wish she’d never been born.
    “You should have taken us with you to the Grand Tetons, Dad,” I complained.
    “It’s very cold in Wyoming this time of year,” Nicole said.
    “How do you know, Brainiac?” I jabbed her in the ribs. “You’ve never been to
Wyoming.”
    “I read up on it while Dad was away,” she explained. Of course. “There’s a
picture book about it in the library if you want to know more, Jordan. It’s just
right for you—it’s for first graders.”
    I couldn’t think of anything to say back. That’s my problem. I’m too slow
with the comebacks. So I jabbed her again.
    “Hey, hey,” Dad murmured. “No jabbing. I’m working here.”
    Dumb Nicole. Not that she’s dumb—she’s really smart. But in a dumb way—that’s my opinion. She’s so smart she skipped fifth grade—and landed in my class. She’s a year younger than I am and she’s in my class— and she
gets straight A’s.
    Dad’s pictures floated in the chemical bath, slowly becoming clear. “Did it
snow in the mountains while you were there, Dad?” I asked.
    “Sure, it snowed,” Dad replied. He was concentrating on his work.
    “Did you go skiing?” I asked.
    Dad shook his head. “I was too busy working.”
    “How about ice-skating?” Nicole asked.
    Nicole acts as if she knows everything. But like me, she’d never seen snow,
either. We’d never left Southern California—and you could tell by looking at
us.
    We’re both tan all year round. Nicole’s hair is greenish-blond from the
chlorine in the community pool, and mine is brown with blond streaks. We’re on
the school swim team.
    “I’ll bet it’s snowing at Mom’s house right now,” Nicole