Freestyle with Avery by Annie Bryant Page B

held it up for Marty to see. “What do you think, pal? A real Snurfer sweater all for you! Pretty cool, huh?”
    Marty sniffed at it and barked happily. Cute little Marty sweaters were Maeve’s thing … NOT mine. I mean, come on! He’s the Marty man … the M-Dawg. He’s waaay too cool for cutesy-pootsy sweaters. But a
Snurfer
sweater—well, that was another story. Snurfer Marty was going to look like one put-together pooch, and boy, did he know it!
    I took out a bowl for me and a bowl for Marty. His breakfast was obvious: kibbles, kibbles, and more kibbles. But what about mine? Dad was totally right … eating a good breakfast was
crucial
for a day of sweet boarding. Plain old cereal wasn’t going to cut it.
    First, I stuffed two pieces of thick wheat bread in the toaster. Then I grabbed a box of granola and some vanilla yogurt and poured them both in my bowl. I sliced a banana, an apple, some strawberries, and even sprinkled on blueberries. A yogurt parfait all for me!
Bing
went the toaster and up popped my toast—golden brown. After I smeared on butter and raspberry jam, the toast was super delicious smelling. Not too shabby, if I did say so myself … and I did.
Eat your heart out, Scott!
It was the perfect pre-mountain breakfast.
    “Okay, widdew Marty, ready for a widdew walk?” I held up the Snurfer sweater. The lady on the plane wouldhave loved widdew Marty in his cutesy-pie sweater.
    Marty
arf
ed and trotted over to me. He must’ve loved the sweater too, because he popped his little head right inside! For Marty, that was huge. After I helped him get his paws through the armholes (a tricky operation), he took off prancing around the room. Marty looked like a total stud in his new outfit, and he couldn’t wait to show it off. He was leaping and barking and going crazy while I put his leash on. When I checked out the window, I knew what was up. There was a dog coming around the corner—just about Marty’s size, black and white with spiky fur. A very cool-looking dog.
    “You want to make a new friend, don’t you, Marty? New friends rock!” I thought of
my
new friend, Jason. We were going to have a blast snowboarding for sure. I grabbed my backpack, put on my big yellow coat (Okay, Scott’s big yellow coat), and reached into the pocket for my ear warmer.
Oh, no!
It wasn’t there. I checked the other pocket just to be sure and found NOTHING! I could’ve sworn I put it away there last night. What if I’d dropped it in the snow behind Jason’s house? I knew I could always pick out a new ear warmer from Dad’s store, no problem, but still … my ear warmer was a Kgirl original, and I wanted it back!
    Marty looked at me with his big dog eyes. “Okay, okay, we’ll go.” I made a mental note to ask Jason about the ear warmer later.
    The dog and his owner were on the sidewalk right in front of the house when we got outside. “Hi!” I called tothe dude. He was wearing a red jacket and bright yellow hat. I couldn’t see his eyes because of his sporty sunglasses (that sort of made him look like an insect!), but his nose was covered with freckles. “My dog wants to meet your dog, I think. He’s new in town.”
    “Radical! Join the club,” the guy said. He gave Marty a friendly rub on his head, then stood up and pulled off his hat. A huge blast of yellow hair puffed out. He pushed up his glasses to hold his crazy hair back. This dude was smiling real big like he knew an inside joke … but a joke that I was supposed to know too. It took me a second to figure out where I’d seen that hair before. Then I remembered—the cover of
Mountain Monthly
, my favorite snowboarding magazine.
    “No way! You’re … you’re … the Egg! The Golden Egg! Donnie Keeler!”
    “‘Fraid so,” he said with a laugh. “I guess you’re a boarder, too.”
    “Wow! How’d you know?”
    Donnie Keeler bent down and patted Marty. “‘Cause only snowboarders know who I am off the slopes. Which is totally cool. I like