Downhill Racer.

The hotel in Val d'Isere was really the last word in opulence. He had originally wanted us to stay in a little chalet but my pained expression told him that it would be the final straw. If I had to endure the snow I wanted to do it in luxury !! A skiing holiday had been his choice and, as usual, he had got his own way, even though he knew that I didn't feel confident on skis, in fact I hated the whole idea. We had had a turbulent few months and I wanted to break off our engagement as soon as I realised he was just a selfish pig. But he had persuaded me to come on this trip, it would restore my faith..... or so he said ! So that's how we came to be in this expensive playground,
             " Learn to ski, babe " he had urged, "then we can ski together, it will be fun !"
And so I spent every morning on the  nursery slopes, making abortive attempts to stay upright while little kids whizzed by, skiing like veterans and he raced down the  'black ' runs like Franz flipping Klammer ! And every afternoon I was left to my own devices, to sink or swim, so to speak, to make my own amusement while he was skiing the pistes , high on the mountains. Some holiday, the self-centred oaf.

We had been there for almost two weeks when he decided he needed a few advanced lessons ..... heaven knows why ! And so, next morning, he joined the small group of  poseurs queuing to pay for some exclusive lessons from an ex-Olympic Champion, who would teach them the finer points of the grande slalom.
I knew it wouldn't be long before he began to adulate the ex - Champion and I didn't intend to hang around to watch. I called out and waved, but he was already chatting ostentatiously with the instructor, who had started to tick off the names of the participating couples on his clipboard. I guessed I had become invisible, out of sight out of mind, a situation that had become more and more common as the days passed.
Lunchtime came and it wasn't until I had finished my meal and was just popping a sugar cube into my coffee, that he came strolling over and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I swear he had just remembered me ! Apparently his group were going to practice what they had been taught on some  Double Black-Diamond run and wouldn't be back for hours.

So off I went , donning my 'sunnies' and strolling in the bright sunshine, watching laughing children sledging down snowy slopes on their tummies and ending in a giggling tangle at the foot of the hill. Then I wandered back to the luxury of the hotel, following the same routine I had for the last fortnight.
I had to smile to myself when , some hours later, they carried him down the mountain on a stretcher. I was told that he had skied too close to some trees and got knocked off balance by some protruding bough, tumbled and fallen and crashed into some snow covered rocks , breaking an arm and both legs.  He was Medi-Vac'd back to the UK the next day, but I stayed on in Val d'Isere, in the  Penthouse  Suite. The suite that belonged to the owner of the hotel, the charming man I had been meeting every afternoon for the last fourteen days !


Yes, dear reader, you guessed didn't you ?  It's another story courtesy of Matt's word game and the words

            Tummies, Bough, Abortive, Tick, Adulate, Tangle, Pained, Sunnies, Sugar, Couples