ski

and holding up his hand, he offered a warning for his great-great-granddaughter. "Watch your step, Lanie."
"Okay, Pops," she answered without meaning it. He knew she didn't mean it, because not only did she not take his hand, but she also looked up, waved gleefully, and jumped the last three steps.
Viktor stood at the head of the line of people waiting to greet the visitors, his arms outstretched. "Welcome," he roared, "welcome to the vacation Mecca of Earth."
Melanie giggled as she ran into his arms. "Uncle Viktor!" she cried.
Lou squinted into the distance. The desolate sweeps of ice and snow threw back a blinding glare of sunlight. Even Melanie's fire-engine-red ski coat and fluorescent yellow snow bibs seemed dim in comparison.
Lou pulled his jacket tighter. "Mecca my foot," he grumbled. "Dante put better vacation spots than this in his Inferno." He followed sound of a young girl's giggles playing a duet with an old man's bellows, into the drop port terminal.
* * *
"Another one." Reggie should