KATY GOES ICE SKATING by Rose Miller. This is the third story of my book featuring Flicker, the magic dragon egg cup where Alex's sister, Katy, meets Flicker for the first time. Enjoy.

Hello fellow Steemians,

I hope you have enjoyed reading my first two children's stories - 'Breakfast Time' and 'Horrible Homework' which are trending on Fiction, Writing and Story.

‘Are you ready yet?’ shouted Katy’s father.

‘I’ll be down in a minute,’ cried twelve-year old Katy from her bedroom. She stood in front of the mirror admiring her new long-sleeved, blue velvet glittering skating dress that her mother had recently bought for her. It fitted her perfectly. Now all she needed to do was tie up her long dark hair with the matching hairband that came with the dress. Satisfied with her appearance she picked up her rucksack in which lay her new white, ice skating boots and hurried downstairs.

‘Alex, do you want to come with us?’ asked her father. ‘You might find it interesting to watch, and if you like it you can join the class next week.’

Alex gave it some thought. He didn’t really think that ice skating was for him because football was his favourite sport. However, he thought it might be amusing to watch his sister learn how to ice skate, especially if she fell down once or twice! ‘Alright, I’ll come with you.’ He put on his jacket then picked up Flicker, his magic dragon egg cup, from the kitchen table to take with him in case he got bored.

‘Katy’s mum helped her on with her jacket, gave her a hug and said, ‘I hope you’re going to be warm enough out there on the ice because it’ll be very cold.’

‘Don’t worry Mum, I’ll be fine,’ replied Katy. ‘Come on Alex, let’s go! Bye Mum!’ and they both went out of the house to the car where their father was waiting.

Katy was excited at the thought of taking ice skating lessons. She had often watched the ice skating competitions on TV, and now that a new ice skating rink had opened in town she had persuaded her mum and dad to let her take lessons. Tonight was going to be her first lesson in the Junior Skating Club.

Upon arrival, they entered the new building and saw the sparkling ice rink ready and waiting for Katy and the rest of the class. Katy saw her coach, Miss Merrigan, already practising on the ice. She looked very pretty in her bright red jacket, black leggings and white skating boots. On her head she wore a red, woolly hat that covered her lovely long, blonde hair. In her hands she carried a clipboard with all the children’s names on it.

Katy’s father found three seats and, after removing her jacket, helped her to change into her new ice skating boots. Whilst Alex was waiting for her lesson to begin he began to play with the green dragon egg cup his mum had bought him for his birthday. Katy looked at him and noticed how happy he was playing with it, but for the life of her she couldn’t understand what was so special about it. It was quite an ordinary looking dragon really with a cheeky looking face and closed eyes. She thought it would have looked much better if they were open. She even saw him talking to it one day when he thought he was alone. Not that it mattered really as he was only an eight year old boy who loved dragons. She smiled at him and said, ‘Wish me luck Alex!’

A bell rang and Miss Merrigan called for the children to line up on the ice rink at the barrier so that she could check off their names against her list. ‘Remember to leave your skate guards in the box behind the gate before you come on to the ice!’ she shouted. When all the names had been checked off against her list Miss Merrigan explained that the lesson would last for half an hour and by that time she hoped that most of the children would be able to skate on their own away from the barrier. ‘You may find it difficult to keep your balance at first, children, but you’ll soon get used to it. Now for those of you who can already skate, you may practise by yourselves until I come to give you further instructions.’ She skated towards a little room at the back of the rink and shouted, ‘We’re ready for the music now Mr. Brown!’ and the quiet ice rink suddenly burst into life with blaring music!

The more advanced children left the barrier to practise on their own or with a friend, leaving Katy and the other beginners with Miss Merrigan who taught them how to start, how to stop and how to skate slowly around the rink with and without the aid of the barrier. Katy practised stopping and starting with the others but found it difficult to let go of the barrier in case she fell.

After struggling to skate around the rink for a short time she stopped for a rest and watched the more advanced skaters practise with Miss Merrigan. She wished that she could be more like them instead of a hopeless beginner. Suddenly, she decided to stop feeling sorry for herself and take the plunge. She would join the other skaters in the centre of the rink and try and copy what they were doing. She took her hand off the barrier and began to skate shakily towards the other skaters using her arms to help keep her balance, but despite her determination not to fall down, she did and hurt herself! The ice was freezing cold and was so slippery that she kept falling down every time she tried to stand up. Oh, where was Miss Merrigan?

Suddenly, from out of nowhere, came a young girl of about Katy’s age who quickly skated up to her and stopped. She had a pretty little face, long, dark hair and sparkling blue eyes. She wore a red, satin skating dress, red leggings and white skating boots. ‘Are you alright? Did you hurt yourself? Here, let me help you up,’ the girl offered.

‘Thanks,’ replied Katy as the girl helped her to stand upright again. She wiped the ice from her dress and rubbed her sore knees. ‘My name’s Katy,’ she said, ‘what’s yours?’

‘Lucy,’ the girl replied. ‘If you’re feeling up to it, would you like to hold both of my hands and we’ll skate around the rink together?’

‘Oh no, I couldn’t possibly do that,’ cried Katy. ‘I’m not good enough yet.’

‘Nonsense!’ replied Lucy. ‘I’ve been watching you practise at the barrier and I think you’re strong enough to skate with me It’s very easy once you get started, and I promise not to let you fall!’

‘Well, if you’re sure I’m strong enough,’ said Katy nervously, ‘I’ll give it a try!’

No sooner had Lucy taken hold of Katy’s hands she began to feel stronger and more confident, and her fear of the ice suddenly seemed to disappear. She looked at Lucy and said, ‘That’s odd. I feel all tingly inside, but the pain’s gone and I feel a lot better now!’

‘I’m glad to hear it,’ replied Lucy. ‘Now just follow my instructions and we’ll see how much I can teach you. She began by skating backwards, pulling Katy along slowly in front of her. As soon as she saw that that Katy was skating well she changed positions with her allowing Katy to skate backwards. Katy couldn’t believe she was actually skating backwards without falling down. She felt like a bird and wanted to fly!

They waved to Miss Merrigan and shouted ‘Hello!’ as they quickly skated by. Miss Merrigan was practising with two young beginners and was very surprised to see Katy doing so well for a beginner. She shouted back, ‘You’re looking good Katy. Keep it up!’

Katy was now able to skate forwards, backwards and side by side with Lucy holding one of her hands. She happily showed off her new skills to her father and Alex as they passed by. They waved back to her shouting something but she couldn’t hear them because of the loud music. She was having such a good time that, when the bell suddenly rang out, she couldn’t believe that half an hour had gone by already. ‘Oh, what a shame that the lesson’s over’ said Lucy. ‘We’ll have to stop skating now and leave the rink.’

‘Just as I was getting used to the ice too!’ laughed Katy. They made their way towards the exit with the other children.

‘Did you enjoy your first lesson, Katy?’ asked Lucy.

‘Oh yes. I loved every minute of it,’ she replied. ‘Will you be coming back again next week?’

‘I’m sorry Katy,’ she said. ‘I can only come when someone asks for me.’

Katy wondered what she meant by that, but only said, ‘Well, perhaps another time then.’

‘Anything is possible,’ replied Lucy smiling, ‘but now I need to practise a little longer before I leave here. Goodbye! It was nice meeting you.’

‘Goodbye,’ said Katy as she watched Lucy skate towards the centre of the ice rink. Excitedly, she re-joined her father and Alex, and said, ‘Well both of you, what did you think of my first lesson?’

‘You were really good Katy,’ said her father as he took off her boots. ‘Wasn’t she Alex?’
‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘You weren’t bad at all!’

‘Not bad at all? Is that all you can say?’ laughed Katy. If it wasn’t for Lucy’s help I wouldn’t have been able to skate at all!’

‘You mean Miss Merrigan?’ asked her father.

‘No, not Miss Merrigan. Lucy!’ replied Katy pointing towards the ice rink. ‘The girl in the red dress practising on her own.’

Her father looked out across the ice and said, ‘I don’t see anyone in a red dress.’

‘Oh, Dad, you need glasses!’ teased Katy. ‘Come to the edge of the rink with me and I’ll show you!’ Once at the rink she pointed to the centre and said, ‘Look, both of you. That’s Lucy, the girl in the red dress!’

Her father looked at Katy and began to laugh. ‘Are you having us on? There’s no-one there at all!’

‘I’m not having you on,’ she insisted. ‘Look! She’s performing a spin in the centre of the rink now. You'd have to be blind not to see her!’

‘No, I still can’t see anyone,’ he said. ‘Can you see anyone, Alex?’

‘No, Dad,’ he replied a little nervously.

She gave them both an angry look and said, ‘Why are you both playing games with me!’

Her father tried to calm her down and said, ‘Look Katy, we’re not playing games with you. We really can’t see anyone on the ice! Now are you really sure you can see a girl in a red dress skating on the ice rink?’

Of course I can, and she’s a very good skater too!’

‘That’s strange,’ said her father in a more serious tone, ‘because if you can see her and we can’t, it can only mean one thing.’

‘What do you mean?’ cried Katy.

‘Well, it means that she must be a very special person that only you can see - an imaginary friend perhaps.’

‘An imaginary friend!’ she exclaimed scornfully. There are no such things as imaginary friends. They don’t exist.

‘Now what makes you think that?’ asked her father. ‘I’ve heard that lots of children have imaginary friends that only they can see, so why shouldn’t you have one too?’

‘Because it’s only supposed to happen with young children,’ said Katy. I’m too old at twelve to have an imaginary friend.’

‘I think you’re wrong Katy,’ insisted her father. Maybe someone saw you fall on the ice tonight and thought that you might need a special friend to help you with your skating. Maybe that person was Lucy, but whoever she was she did a very kind thing tonight by teaching you how to ice skate. Don’t you agree?’

Katy agreed as she continued to stare at Lucy skating on the ice. As far as she was concerned Lucy was just like any other girl she knew, except for the fact that no-one else could see her. Was she really an imaginary friend like her father suggested? If not, what else could she be?

After they arrived back home their mother said, ‘Go and sit down in the kitchen everyone, dinner’s ready,’ but Katy couldn’t sit down until she’d told her mother all about Lucy. ‘Well, I never!’ said her mum. ‘Fancy you meeting an imaginary friend on the ice skating rink. You’re very lucky because Lucy chose you to help instead of one of the others. Do you see what I mean?’

‘Yes Mum,’ replied Katy smiling, but she was still uncertain about what to believe.

‘Well there you are then,’ said her mother. Now come into the kitchen and sit down with your dad. I’m going to put the meal out on the table now.’ She returned to the kitchen. Katy was about to follow her when Alex grabbed her by the arm and whispered, ‘I’ve got something to tell you. Let’s go to my bedroom.’

‘Can’t you tell me here?’ she asked.

‘No, I don’t want Mum and Dad to hear us.’

‘Mum,’ shouted Katy, ‘we’re just taking our things upstairs and we’ll be down in a minute.’

‘Alright,’ said her mother, ‘but remember, a minute!’

Alex dragged Katy upstairs into his room and told her all about Flicker, and that it was his magic that had brought Lucy to help Katy with her ice skating.

‘Oh come off it,’ cried Katy. ‘A magic dragon egg cup? That’s ridiculous!’

‘Alright, if you don’t believe me I’ll show you!’ said Alex. He took Flicker out of his pocket and placed him on the desk. Flicker immediately opened his eyes and looked directly into Katy’s. ‘Well, hello there Katy,’ he said. ‘I was wondering when Alex was going to introduce me to you and let you in on our little secret.’ Her face went white with shock and she found she couldn’t speak or move. He smiled at her shocked face, spread out his wings and flew around the room a couple of times before coming to land on the table. He stretched out one of his little hands towards her and said, ‘My name’s Flicker. Pleased to meet you! Did you enjoy your ice skating lesson tonight?’

Katy still couldn’t move or speak so Flicker continued. ‘Katy, I have something important to tell you. Alex and I were watching you try to skate tonight and were worried when you kept falling down, so when he asked me if I could do something to help you, I did.’

Katy finally found her voice and asked him nervously, ‘So what did you do?’

‘Not much really. I just flicked my tail a few times like this,’ and he thumped his tail up and down on the table a couple of times making her jump, ‘then I created a little magic to help put you out of your misery. It worked rather well, didn’t it?’

Lucy was amazed. ‘Are you trying to tell me that you performed some magic and sent Lucy to me?’

Flicker gave her a cheeky smile and said ‘Yes I did. You see, I just couldn’t bear the thought of having to watch you keep falling down on the ice for half an hour!’

Katy was quite shocked to hear this revelation, and for a few moments didn’t believe him, but then she suddenly remembered something Lucy had told her earlier. ‘I can only come when someone asks for me.’ Katy now understood what she meant and realised that Flicker was telling the truth after all. She gave him a big smile, picked him up and kissed him on his scaly cheek before putting him back down on the table. ‘Thank you so much for helping me, Flicker. If it hadn’t been for you I’d have spent the whole lesson wobbling around the ice rink holding on to the barrier.’

‘The pleasure was all mine,’ he replied as his green face turned bright pink!

‘Now, do you finally believe me?’ asked Alex.

‘Yes of course I do,’ she said, ‘but tell me something. Did you, or did you not, see Lucy on the ice rink tonight?’

‘Yes I did!’ he admitted, ‘but I couldn’t tell you the truth at the time because Mum and Dad don’t know about Flicker’s magic powers, and I don’t want them to know either.’

‘I think you’re right,’ she said, ‘especially now that they believe I have an imaginary friend! In future, if they ask me about Lucy, I’ll tell them that she only appeared once when she taught me how to skate, and that I haven’t seen her since. By the way, Flicker, I think it’s really cool that Alex has you for a friend, and I hope you’ll be my friend too. By the way, please don’t forget to ‘magic’ Lucy back to me next week when I go for my next lesson!’

Flicker grinned at Katy and said, ‘I’ll see what I can do. Hey Alex, maybe Lucy could teach you and I how to ice skate as well!’

‘Yes, and pigs will fly!’ laughed Alex cheekily. ‘Now let’s go and eat.’

                                                                                                             THE END