Post timing: 5 minutes

(Did you read Flapjax the Olympian? If not, we recommend starting the adventure there.)

Flapjax was officially obsessed. Each and every time he heard the glorious notes,“BUM-BUM-BA-bum-bum-bum-bum…”, resound from the TV, he marched to the beat until he was fixed directly in front of the screen. Perfect viewing position.

Libby loved the hockey games and would cheer with Dad whenever a fight broke out on the ice (which happened a whole lot, but for some reason the players only had to sit in time-out for a few minutes…if Flapjax got in a fight, he’d be punished for weeks! Unfair.). Hockey confused Flapjax though – it was so fast! And there was no music to move your tail to.

Flapjax preferred ice skating.

Ice skating was a fantastic sport. The skaters got to dress up and dance all by themselves on a big empty rink while everyone else watched. Ice skaters were stars.

And on top of it all, the audience threw flowers and stuffed animals to the ice skaters when they were finished! Now that was a Flapjax-approved sport.

Each night, Flapjax fell asleep dreaming of skating to glory at the Olympics…

But as I am sure you have realized by now, dreaming is never quite enough for Flapjax. And when the weather outside turned snowy and frigid, icicles dangled from the edge of the house, and the only sport on during the day was the luge (which scared Flapjax to death), he got an idea.

Flapjax figured that if it was cold enough for icicles, then it was cold enough for ice on the fishpond out back in the yard. Ice meant ice skating, and Flapjax was dying to test out his skills.

Now, Flapjax rarely had a hard time convincing Libby to do something fun, but when he told her about his skating plans, she looked at him with a crooked eyebrow that silently said “You’re crazy, Flapjax,” which naturally made Flapjax angry.

Libby refused to go tramping through the backyard when it was freezing out, just to find a pond that might or might not be frozen enough to skate on. Plus, she had hot chocolate and movies to watch inside where it was toasty warm. But chocolate was bad for bears, and Flapjax never got any, which always made him grumpy.

Libby suggested they make a big bowl of popcorn with lots of butter — a treat that normally made stubborn stuffed bears more agreeable. But Flapjax was already in a mood and was not to be convinced.

And so as Libby and Mom positioned themselves in front of the popcorn maker, and as the noise of the popping kernels drowned out everything else, Flapjax tip-toed through the kitchen and out the back door.

*****

Unfortunately for Flapjax, while a few inches may not be that much snow for most people, for a tiny stuffed bear gung-ho on hiking across the whole backyard, it was pretty devastating. Flapjax stared at the snow in front of him. It was already up to his tail!

But he wouldn’t give up – that’s not Flapjax’s style.

He made his way across the back porch and down the steps, slipping and sliding as he went. On the second step, Flapjax felt his feet move out from under him without his approval, and before he could think, he was flying down the rest of the steps until he landed hard on the cold concrete, smack on his backside.

But Flapjax was not to be stopped — not by Libby, not by the delicious aroma of popcorn he could still smell coming from the house, and certainly not by a little bit of snow. He kept picturing the ice skaters he had seen on TV, and he longed to be one more than anything. He had to at least try!

So Flapjax stood up straight, shook off the snow that had made its way onto his fur, and started on his march through the backyard.

*****

After what felt like hours of pushing his way through snow piles, Flapjax was pretty grumpy. He was going to make it to the pond if it took all night! (But he really didn’t want it to take all night – it was so cold, and Flapjax was still kind of scared of the dark (don’t tell Libby)). So he hoofed and hoofed, hoping he could get there before it was too late.

All of a sudden, Flapjax stumbled.

“Ouuuuuch!” Flapjax thought as he sat and rubbed his toe. What had he walked into? He felt around until he found a stone frog. It had been completely covered by the snow.

He’d made it! The fishpond!

Flapjax crouched down and used his paws to wipe away snow from the surface of the pond. Yup, it was nice and icy beneath the snow. He couldn’t see any fish though – he hoped they were warm enough!

Without another second of hesitation, Flapjax began walking out onto the ice, creeping gently across the surface of the pond.

*** Finish the Olympic adventure! ***

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