Like the sledding hill, the skate pond had a hastily erected rental booth, and a short line of kids and parents standing in line to pick through the available sizes of skates.
"You have to get here early to get skates in your actual size," Paula explained. "A lot of people bring their own, but we just don't go skating enough to be worth buying them for the kids as they outgrow them. Do you skate?"
Dan shook his head. "Couple of times when I was a kid, a really long time ago. I don't really know how."
"Okay, we are definitely doing it." Paula dug in her pocket. "I just need a few bucks for the skate rental. Kids? You want to go skating?"
Dan was expecting Austin to grumble and wander off, but instead the teenager looked interested, the first time Dan had seen him interested in anything. Dan had been prepared to beg off and just watch from the side, but now he thought that this might be a good opportunity to bond with Paula's kids.
"Okay, I'll do it, but you'll have to show me how."
Since most of the skaters out on the pond were kids, they actually had more trouble finding skates that fit Lissy from the remaining options than pairs for the adults.
"Here, she can borrow Sandy's," Gaby said, coming up beside them with a pair of skates dangling by their laces. "He's firmly stuck to the sledding hill right now. And I think their feet are probably close enough to the same size. They're about the same height."
Lissy plunked down and began lacing up the borrowed skates. Austin was already out on the skate pond with a pair of adult-sized skates. Out on the ice, the awkward teenager was abruptly graceful, spinning around and weaving in and out of the younger skaters. He neatly cornered at the edges of the small pond and whipped back around.
"He's really good at that," Dan said, as he crouched to change out of his boots. He wasn't looking forward to doing this with an audience. Although he could do it, tying laces was one of the trickier things to do with the metal clamps. He usually just left his boots laced up and pulled them off without untying them.
"I know. When he was younger, I actually would drive the kids over to the skate rink in Archerville, but ..." Paula frowned, jerking at her laces with her tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth. It was adorable. "I don't know what happened, I guess I got busy and he stopped acting like he wanted to do it, and I was having to buy new skates every few months because his feet were growing so fast, and we just stopped. I ought to ask him if he'd appreciate starting up again."
"Mom!" Lissy called. She had stopped at the edge of the ice. "Hold my hands!"
"Oh come on, you haven't forgotten how to do this. It hasn't been that long since last winter." Paula turned to Dan, who was still struggling with his laces. "Can I give you a hand?"
His automatic urge was to say no. He knew he could get it; it would just take longer than it would have with two hands.
Right after losing his arm, he had been stubbornly and angrily determined to do everything on his own. And he had in fact learned how to do just about any everyday activity that way.
But he had mellowed a little since then. He knew he could do it. That was the important part.
He didn't have to prove himself to Paula.
"Yeah, sure," he said, and let go.
Paula didn't make a big deal about it, just crouched and matter-of-factly began pulling the laces tight.
"Mom!" Lissy wailed from the edge of the ice.
"I'm coming! Keep your shirt on!"
"I got it, Mom," Austin called, and glided up to the edge of the ice, stopping with a flourish. "Come on, nerdbus. Give me your hands."
"Noooo, you'll make me fall," Lissy complained, but she let her brother pull her out onto the ice. He was gentle with her, Dan noticed. Austin skated slowly backward with both his hands wrapped around hers while Lissy got her balance, then let go of one hand, and the brother and sister gradually picked up speed, skating side by side.
"There, you're done." Paula stood up and tottered on her skates. She held out a hand. "Ready to go?"
"Not really," Dan admitted, but he took her hand. They both set their skates