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It’s been bad this year. From what I’m hearing, every week here at Big Bear thousands of dollars of ski equipment has been stolen.”
    He whistled. “Add that up. Even if you sold the stolen equipment for half price, that’s a lot of money by the end of the season.”
    I thought of Cassie and Sid walking away with two snowboards. That added up to eight hundred dollars. And it only took them five minutes.
    â€œBoy,” I said, “thousands of dollars every week. Isn’t it time somebody did something about it?”
    I wanted to reach the Pipeline run so that I could see Cassie. I thought she would probably be there with the other snowboarders. I was going to ask her to give me some snowboard lessons. I thought that would be a good way to get to know more about her. And to ask a question or two.
    To get to the Pipeline, I first needed to ride the chairlift to the top of the mountain and then take a small run that met up with the Pipeline.
    As I got off the chairlift at the top, I fell. It was the first time I had fallen getting off the chairlift since I was eleven years old.
    It did not get easier. I fell down so many times that I wished I had bought a butt pad to protect myself.
    Little kids on snowboards passed me. Old people on snowboards passed me.
    Every time I got up, I wobbled a bit and then fell. At the speed I was going, I wasn’t going to reach the Pipeline run until after Christmas.
    Then, slowly, I began to catch on. Because I had skied so much already, I knew a little. As I cut across the side of a hill, I learned to dig the uphill edge of my snowboard into the snow to slow down or stop. I learned to turn by skidding one board edge or the other.
    I also learned to sink into my turns by bending at the knees and to rise out of my turns by standing again. It helped when I kept my arms level with the slope of the hill.
    I decided not to go to the Pipeline right away. Instead I used other runs to practice as I went to the bottom of the mountain.
    I moved slowly.
    On my skis I could make it all the way down in less than three minutes.
    On the snowboard, thirty minutes had passed before I was halfway down. But it wasa fun half hour, especially because I didn’t go so fast that I was afraid.
    I started carving my turns the way I did on skis. I would lean over the inside edge of the snowboard and dig into the snow in a long curve. Then I would shift my weight and curve the other direction by leaning on the other edge of the snowboard.
    I was not an expert by the time I reached the bottom of the mountain. Riding a fakie? Nope. I only snowboarded backward by accident. An ollie? No way. My only jumps had happened when I was not able to avoid the big bumps. Wheelies? Nope. I could only dream about getting the nose of my snow-board in the air and riding the back half like a surfboard.
    Still, I felt okay. I felt like I wouldn’t make a fool of myself by the time I rode the chair-lift up again and got on the Pipeline.
    And I was right. I didn’t make a fool of myself. Sid did it for me.

chapter eleven
    I saw Cassie’s purple ski suit and blonde hair right away. She was standing with Sid at the top of the Pipeline. He was wearing his blue knitted hat. They were looking down the hill, away from me.
    There was a slight wind. It blew uphill in my face as I snowboarded down toward them. I was snowboarding slowly and carefully, so I wasn’t making much noise. Also,the wind must have kept them from hearing what little noise I did make.
    They were talking. The wind carried their voices right up to me.
    â€œI’m supposed to have dinner with my dad first,” Cassie was saying to Sid. “Then I can sneak out of the hotel.”
    â€œJust don’t forget,” he told her. “They want to meet you at nine o’clock.”
    â€œHi guys,” I said. I pretended I hadn’t heard what they had said. I pointed at the snowboard strapped to my boots. “What