he was looking down at his skis , mentally reviewing the steps necessary to come to your basic snowplow stop , reviewing as he would study for a test , wanting to pass , knowing he was still pretty new at this and annmarie was n't , and he somehow did n't think she would be so apt to come across if he ended up looking like frosty the snowman his first day off the beginners ' slopes ; he did n't mind looking a little inexperienced as long as he did n't look downright stupid , so there he had been , looking stupidly down at his feet instead of where he was going , which was directly at a gnarled old pine with the warning red stripe painted on its bark , and the only sounds were the wind in his ears and the snow sliding dryly under his skis , and they were the same soothing hush-a-bye sound : shhhhhh ...