We waited, silent and still, listening for signs of the snowball bully. But all we heard was nothing. It was a perfectly quiet winter day.
We peeked our heads out and stared at the park across the street. Cindy Lee was gone.
Desmond waved a plan to us with his hands: He wanted us to split up and check behind all the trees in the park for the missing snowman.
I had a hand signal of my own. It meant Let’s go home and have a cup of hot chocolate! Unfortunately, nobody understood my signal.
So, we split up and searched the park. Desmond went one way, and Carter went the other. Before I knew it, I was all by myself.
Warm feet or not, I didn’t like being alone. Especially when I was looking for someone I didn’t really want to find.
Sure, there were other kids and parents in the park, but none of them knew that a snowball bully was on the loose.
I ducked from one tree to the other, expecting Cindy Lee to jump out any second. But I didn’t find her anywhere. I started to relax.
That was when a kid on a sled flew by me at top speed. He was moving so fast that I had to jump out of his way. I landed in a huge snowdrift.
“Ow,” I moaned, lying there. “That hurt.”
Leaning against the snowdrift, I had an idea. I could use this as a fort in case Cindy Lee came back!
I started making snowballs and putting them in a pile. Then I noticed something very weird about my winter fort. It had two huge, snowy feet. Looking up, I saw buttons, a long red scarf, and a black hat.
I stood up, forgetting all about Cindy Lee, and stared at my fort. It had a face . . . with a carrot nose and scary teeth!
I almost screamed. This wasn’t a snowdrift. This was the biggest snowman I had ever seen!
It looked so creepy that I waved my arms in front of it to make sure it wasn’t alive. The snowman didn’t move, but this was Kersville. Almost everything here was haunted. So I did the most logical thing I could think of: I climbed onto the snowman and tried to pull off its carrot nose. I tugged and tugged, but it was frozen in tight.
“Hey, Desmond and Carter!” I yelled. “Come here!”
A few seconds later, Desmond came over alone. “It’s just me. Carter was tired so he went home to get some sleep—Whoa! That’s a big snowman. Are you trying to climb to the top?”
“No,” I grunted as I planted my feet on the snowman’s chest to pull harder. “I’m trying to get this carrot.”
Desmond stared at me in awe. “You’re weird, Andres. Just let it go. This snowman isn’t going anywhere.”