A Weekend at Grandpa’s Mountain Lodge by Josefine Kress

Friday after school Leo quickly did his homework, packed his suitcase and then his dad came with the car to drive him up the mountain to his grandpa’s mountain lodge.
When he had arrived, he thanked his dad for driving him up the high, snowy mountains and said goodbye.
His grandpa was very happy to see Leo because they hadn’t seen each other in such a long time and because it was already getting late, and he knew that Leo loved them he made some tacos with chicken for dinner.
Before they went to bed grandpa showed Leo the old map of Ahoy. The old map of Ahoy was very special and has always been given from father to son or daughter and one day it was going to belong to Leo. His grandpa also taught him how to read the map because it was different from most other maps.
The next morning the alarm clock rang early and Leo wondered why, it was weekend. When he looked out of the window he saw the most beautiful rainbow he had ever seen in his whole life. His grandpa was already standing at the window taking many pictures of the rainbow (with the camera he had got as a present from Leo and his parents last Christmas).
After breakfast Leo and his grandpa wanted to go for a hike, so they put on their warm coats, beanies and the thick winter boots. In front of the lodge Leo and his grandpa granted themselves a snowball fight, one after the other the snowballs come flying through the air.
When they had enough of making snowballs and throwing them, they hiked to an old cave. At the cave, grandpa told Leo that last time he hiked to the cave he saw a dragon sleeping in it and maybe the dragon still lived there.
When his grandpa had said that Leo got goosebumps. Not because he was cold, but because he was scared. As I told you in the start of the story, Leo was afraid of dragons but he didn’t want to tell his grandpa because eleven-year-olds shouldn’t be scared of dragons.
Then he saw something very big in the sky and pressed himself against his grandpa’s thick leather coat but it was just an aeroplane, not a dragon trying to get back to its cave.
Next to the cave, there were two little volcanoes, but because they did not erupt anymore and they were warm of the lava inside, Leo sat on one of them and warmed his body. After a while Leo and his grandpa went back to the lodge and had some warm lunch.
After warm spaghetti, Leo decided to go outside again and build little snow sculptures, so he put on his winter clothes again and went out in the snow. His grandpa didn’t want to come. He said he’d rather sit down at the oven, read a book and rest.
When Leo finished building a little snowman, him as a snow sculpture and his grandpa as a snow sculpture, he suddenly saw a very big shadow in the snow next to him. First he thought it’s just an aeroplane again but when he looked up at the sky he saw the most scary thing he had ever seen before… a dragon.
Leo took another quick look at the dragon, then forgot about his snow sculptures and ran back to the lodge as fast as his legs could carry him. When he got inside, he hurriedly closed the door behind him, took off his coat and washed his hands with warm water. When his hands were clean, he went to his room and thought again about what he had seen. Leo knew what he had seen, and it was not just a dragon, it was a girl riding a dragon, and not just any girl. It was Charlotte, the new girl from the parallel class.
A girl riding a dragon? Leo couldn’t believe it! Leo was no longer thinking about the dragon because his grandpa called him to come to the living room, so he could show him the photos he had taken of the rainbow this morning. The pictures were very clear and you could see the colours of the rainbow shining brightly.
After dinner, Leo was about to ask his grandpa if they could have a movie night but then he remembered that there was no TV in the mountain lodge, because there was no access to the internet anyway. Instead of the movie night, Leo grabbed the book he was reading at the moment called Nick, the winner of the giant salmon competition, sat down on the velvety couch at the fire and started reading. About ten minutes later, his grandpa came in and told Leo how nice it was to go out in the evening and look at the stars. Leo really wanted to see the stars too so another five minutes later Leo and his grandpa were standing in front of the lodge, covered in thick leather coats, while looking at the brightly shining stars in the dark sky.
At about ten o’clock Leo went to bed because he was getting tired. He put on his striped pyjamas and fell straight asleep. His grandpa extinguished the fire and then also went to bed.

 Read Part 1 here: https://storystudiosaustralia.com.au/back-at-school/