In a little house on the edge of the estate lived a little boy. His name was Luke and he loved ice skating. He always cheered when the first flakes of snow started falling from the sky in winter, covering the dark, dirty streets. He knew the snow meant it wouldn’t be long before the bitter cold came and all the ponds froze.
Luke’s absolutely favourite activity was ice skating on the frozen pond. He enjoyed the sound of his skates scratching the ice, and he loved the warm tea from his mummy’s steaming thermos. Luke always skated about carefully at one end of the pond while he watched the older boys playing hockey at the other end. He wanted to play hockey with them too, but he didn't have a hockey stick.
"Be patient" his mummy told him. "First you need to learn to skate really well."
Sometimes, Luke picked up a long stick on his way to the pond and found a pebble and tried knocking it about on the ice like a puck. But it was difficult. And the boys wouldn't let him join them if he didn't have the proper equipment. You can't play hockey with any old stick!
Even when it wasn’t cold enough outside to skate on the pond, Luke always looked forward to Sunday, because that was the day his daddy took him to the ice rink. They bought hot dogs there and tickets to the hockey match, then they sat in the stands and watched the match on the ice. Luke dreamed of what it would be like to be one of the players. His eyes always lit up with excitement when one of the players scored a goal. One day he would love to…
