This winter I went skiing with Emmaline and Elliot at the local Snowbird resort. This year they've had over 60' of snow. On this particular snowy day there was three feet of new powder and I felt sorry for anyone who had the misfortune of falling down. Some were half-buried in snow, others searching hopelessly for lost skis, etc.
On one run I pulled up next to Emmaline and through the blizzard we observed an especially stricken skier 50 yards away who only had a few pieces of clothing sticking up out of the snow. After about 10 seconds Emmaline said, "That's Elliot".
"What??!!!" I let fly a few choice words for not saying anything sooner and skied over to Elliot. Sure enough, there he was, totally covered in snow. He couldn't really get up on his own but to my relief he was ok - and seemed comfortable enough.
I had to get a photo, so here it is...
While I was taking the photo some guy 20 yds down the hill said, "Hey look, that guy's taking a photo of him!"
When I was done I put my camera away and worked on digging him out. When I got him out I realized to my surprise that it wasn't Elliot after all, but some other kid wearing the same color helmet and coat.
I stammered some mumbo-jumbo about how I thought he was my kid. Then Emmaline, who had skied over with me said, "Dad, I was trying to tell you it wasn't Elliot!" Apparently she had recognized immediately that it wasn't him and had tried to tell me.
I chewed her out again, this time for not trying harder to tell me. Confusion reigned on the mountain that day, I can tell you. The 'unknown kid' got rescued in any case.
Where was Elliot? Already safely down the slope waiting for us...
