Sir Buddy's Snowy Day

On a snowy day off from school, a boy named Buddy is lost in the latest volume of his favorite book series, The Knights of Yore, and his imagination has turned his whole life into a storybook, complete with a grand narrator who describes everything in the flowery language of knights and fair maidens. Buddy's dad, who loved the same books as a kid, passes along an invitation from Buddy's friend Matthew Parker to go sledding with Matthew and his sister Olivia. Buddy would rather stay under the covers, but the threat of being drafted into cleaning the basement sends "Sir Buddy" venturing forth into the storm.

On the way, Buddy is whacked with a stick by someone hiding in a bush. It turns out to be Jay Smouse, a boastful kid who left town for Hollywood and is back visiting "the little people." Jay wants something from Olivia: her friend Zoe Grant has a radio show, and Jay wants Olivia to talk Zoe into making him her co-host. He can't just ask Zoe himself, because he once insulted her for talking too much, and he'd rather trick someone into helping than apologize. Buddy suggests honesty; Jay insists that scheming is the only way, since in his opinion you can't reason with girls.

At the Parker house, Olivia comes down the stairs, and Buddy's imagination transforms her into a noble lady with raven hair, even as the real Olivia grumbles about a snag in her scarf. Ignoring her mother's warning, she refuses to wear a coat over her wool sweater, and the three kids head to McAlister Park. There Matthew points out the dreaded Gumpers Hill, so steep that legend says one sledder splashed into the pond and another was never seen again. While Olivia watches from under a tree, a heavy snow-loaded branch cracks above her, and Buddy tackles her out of the way just in time. In his daydream she swoons and calls him "Sir Buddy the Hunk"; in reality she is soaked, freezing, and ready to go home. Buddy gallantly volunteers to run back for her coat while she warms up in the warming house.

Jay ambushes Buddy on the errand and demands the coat so he can deliver it himself and win Olivia's gratitude. Buddy refuses, imagining just how furious Zoe really is; in his fantasy she declares, "Jay is a blockhead wrapped in an insensitive oaf stuffed inside a meanie." While Jay lectures Buddy on the art of manipulation, he fails to notice a snowplow bearing down and gets buried in slush.

At the Parkers' house, Olivia's mother guesses that Buddy has a crush on her daughter, and when he can only say that Olivia is pretty and nice, she gently tells him about her own childhood crush on an older boy she barely knew, who cruelly teased her when he found out. Infatuation, she explains, makes us build someone up in our imagination and sets us up to get hurt. Buddy thinks he understands, but he leaves promising instead that he won't let anyone trick Olivia.

Outside, Buddy spots Jay waiting for him and takes off running. The chase winds through streets and fields until Buddy finds himself at the top of Gumpers Hill, armed only with a trash can lid. Jay grabs for the coat, they wrestle, and both boys tumble onto the lid and rocket down the hill, missing a mighty oak, hitting a ramp of snow, and flying spectacularly into a snowdrift near the pond, right in front of Matthew and Olivia. Jay, furious and bruised, orders Buddy never to speak to him again and stomps off. Buddy finally presents the coat, but his triumph collapses when he invites the Parkers over to watch the Knights of Yore movie and Olivia announces that she can't stand those stories, since knights and dragons put her to sleep three pages in. As the narrator laments, "with one fell stroke, the fair lady Olivia was far less fair."

Back home, Buddy admits to his dad that he just doesn't understand love. His dad shares a secret: real love starts with truly knowing someone, understanding what they care about, and sharing passions in common, which is exactly what friendship is. The Bible, he adds, says to hold on to what's good and love everybody like family; the mushy stuff can wait for another day's adventure. Then he points out the neighbor girl, Zoe, shoveling her driveway faster than the snow can fall, and suggests a valiant knight might lend a hand. Buddy does, and as they shovel, Zoe mentions that even though Jay makes her angry, she tries to love those who persecute her, a lesson she first saw put into practice in the second volume of the Knights of Yore. Buddy can hardly believe it: she loves the books too. As the two friends discover their common ground, a faint chorus stirs in Sir Buddy's heart, but that, the narrator says, is an adventure for another day.