The snow fell steadily for eighteen hours before mid-day temperatures changed it to rain. Then, a high-pressure system moved into the area and replaced the moisture laden, steel gray clouds with bright blue skies and a brilliant sun, but the temperature plummeted. By sunset, the thermometer hovered near zero.

The six neighborhood boys spent the day shoveling the heavy snow. It was backbreaking work, but it had to be finished before the falling temperature turned it to white rock. They had made a pact, an agreement to meet after dinner for tobogganing; and so they met at the top of their favorite hill.

There were two sets of brothers, Frankie and Bobby, Barry and Keith. There was Eddie, and there was William. Not Billy. Not Bill, but William. William was the "odd man out." He was tall for his age, and his muscles hadn't caught up with his bones, so he appeared gangly and uncoordinated. He also wore heavy glasses and spoke softly. William dressed differently. His mom wouldn't let him wear sneakers or blue jeans to school. Those subtle differences made William the butt of all the practical jokes and snide comments that fourteen-year-old boys made. However, William took it all in stride, keeping his mouth tightly closed and his head bowed.

The night was magnificent. There were millions of stars set against a velvet-black sky, and a nearly full moon cast an eerie bluish-white glow over the snow swept countryside. Sometimes it gets so incredibly cold that even sound seems to freeze. This was one of those nights.

After just three runs down their favorite hill, the six boys clamored for more adventure, something more challenging. After several minutes, William nearly shouted out, "I've got it!" The others were surprised by his sudden animation. "There's a house up on Mt. Kemble. It sits at the top of a huge field, and there's a long driveway that cuts across it down to the road. That would be a great place to go." Everybody agreed to go along with William's suggestion, and off they went with the toboggan in tow.

Twenty minutes later, the procession arrived at the base of the long drive, and everybody's initial excitement quickly gave way to disappointment. "Oh man, this won't work. They sanded it!" Frankie cried out.

Eddie suggested that, "Since we walked so far, let's at least give it a try." Huffing and puffing up the steep incline, the six boys finally made it to the top. Try as they might, though, they simply couldn't make it work. The toboggan kept getting stalled in the sand. They had to stay right in the center because the left side was a steep embankment where the driveway had been cut into the side of the hill. The right side had a string of tall pine trees.

Grudgingly accepting the futility of the situation, Frankie and Bobby started walking back home, when William nearly shouted, "Wait a minute! I've got another idea! Let's go up to the top of the hill, up by the house. We can toboggan down across the field, across the driveway and down the other side to the road."

"What about the driveway?" asked Keith?

"We'll be going fast enough, and since we'll be crossing it, the sand won't slow us down much at all," William said without pausing a second.

"Yeah, but what about the steep embankment on the one side and the trees on the other?"

"We'll just ride the toboggan down the steep part, cross the driveway and steer through the wide gap in the trees." William did not want to give up, and the others finally agreed to go along.

Climbing the hill proved to be a bigger challenge than they had expected. The top layer of the snow had frozen solid in the sub-zero temperatures. Not even their weight would allow their feet to break through. The hill had become a frozen, vertical pond. The only way the boys could make progress was by grabbing the tips of bushes and weeds that protruded from the icy surface and pulling themselves up.

Finally reaching the top, the boys turned around only to discover how high they had climbed. From their new vantage point, they could see for miles. Slowly, anticipation turned to trepidation. "What if we can't steer? What if we get going too fast? What if something goes wrong?" A thousand questions and no answers.

They finally agreed that since this was William's idea, he would get to ride in the front. He climbed on quickly, moving as far forward as he could. His feet were jammed up tightly under the front roll of the toboggan. Frankie climbed on next, wrapping his legs tightly around William's mid-section. Bobbie, Barry, Keith, and Eddie each climbed on in order. While each one was getting positioned, the others held onto branches to keep the toboggan from slipping away.

"OK! Now, if anything goes wrong, or if we get going too fast, we just bail out! Right?" That was the agreement.

On a count of three, "One, two, three," twelve hands simultaneously released their grip on safety and security. The toboggan plummeted into the darkness. Sailing across the top of the glistening white frozen snow, it filled the boys ears with the sound of a runaway freight train. Their screams of delight and fear were like a thousand steam whistles.

Forty miles per hour. Eddie bailed out. Sixty miles per hour. The toboggan rocketed through the frigid night air. Eighty miles per hour. The wind bit at their cheeks and brought tears to their eyes. Keith, Barry, and then Bobby all bailed out. One hundred miles per hour. William wanted to bail, but Frankie's legs held him tight, and his feet were tightly wedged.

Nobody had noticed the lip at the edge of the steep embankment that dropped down into the driveway. As the toboggan hit it, the passengers and the toboggan were launched up into the air, just as though they had gone off a huge ski jump.

William released his grip on the ropes, and began to sail up, up, up in the air. He spread his arms wide and could feel himself soaring like an eagle. WHAM! Time and experience stopped suddenly as William made contact with the pine tree. It took a minute to shake out the cobwebs, another to realize just what had happened.

Working carefully, William made his way down to the ground where the others had gathered. Eddie, Bobbie, Barry and Keith were all laughing and whooping wildly. "Man, did you see how fast we were going?" I couldn't see!" "I lost my grip, and accidentally fell off!" "When Barry fell off, he took me with him!" "William, you and Frankie were awesome!" "You were flying like birds."

Frankie and William stood there assessing the damages. Frankie wasn't too much the worse for wear, but William's glasses were missing, and his nose was bleeding. He had a couple of other little cuts on his face, too. He used the handkerchief his mom always made him carry to stem the flow of blood. The others helped look for his glasses. They were quickly found, but they had been broken into two pieces.

Without his eyeglasses, William was nearly blind. He had no choice. He had to leave the others and return home. As he began the long walk, William began to steel himself for the anger that would confront him as his mom met him at the door. The broken glasses and the crimson stain on his winter jacket would merit a tirade of immense proportion. His steps slowed to a crawl as his feet began to feel like lead.

How had he allowed this to happen? It was his fault. It was he who had proposed hiking over to the house on Mt. Kemble. It was he who had talked the others into climbing up the hill for the ride of a lifetime. It was he who had been chosen to ride in the front of the toboggan. He had been the leader. He had been the LEADER!