Lord Malinov wrote in my diary - "How about a story for me?" I was inspired, and I wrote this story.

Katerina Bronislow was a picture of beauty and grace. The young champion glided to an abrupt stop, sparkles cascading from her silver blades as they bit into the ice. A moment of silence, then the music came back to life in a burst of joy, as the young woman flexed at the knees to push herself into another change-double-three.

Katerina concentrated on nothing but her routine and the sound of her skates slicing through the fine layer of liquid crystal that glazed the surface of the ice. Her next movement took her into the air as she spun three full revolutions counter-clockwise, landing on the left back outside edge of the blade. Her heart swelled with pride as she completed the difficult jump perfectly. In the distance, as if coming from another world, she heard the audience roar of approval. Now that the difficult triple-axel was done, the rest of her performance would be a piece of cake, she thought.

Katerina went through the remaining portion of the program almost without thinking, as she had done a hundred times before. Spiral, lutz... spreadeagle, a small-axel... change-to-double-three, change-loop... loop, bracket, double-three...

She began to hear the audience again, as she neared the end of her program the world began to come back into focus, her mind relaxed its complete concentration on each coming motion. It was like waking up, or breaking the surface after a deep dive into water...

Then she was done, she struck the final pose and froze, body held perfectly still, arms flung above her head as if reaching for the heavens.

A split-second of silence (it seemed an eternity to Katerina), then the audience started to applaud, then one-by-one they stood, screaming their approval, throw- ing flowers, cheering. The young woman was stunned by the sudden deafening noise; faltered for a moment, then began to cry and laugh at the same time as she began the four corner bow required by tradition.

Kasha Malinov stood by the score box waiting for Katerina to skate her way there. As she finally approached; they hugged and kissed briefly as he added his praise to the general audience. "Kat, you were wonderful! I think I've never seen you skate better! I'm so proud of you."

Katerina could barely hear her friend over the crowd's acclaim, but she knew he was congratulating her, she knew that she had done well.

Coach came to sit beside the young skater, hugging her and yelling almost louder than anyone else. They sat side-by-side as the scores popped up one by one.

5.9 - 5.9 - 5.9 - 5.9... Katerina couldn't believe it, as 5.9 after 5.9 lit up on the judges score board.

She had won the women's singles!

She had won, and the pressure was over. The adrenaline had already begun to drain from her veins at the moment the music had stopped. And now with the competition over, she felt tired, almost lethargic, as Coach helped her to stand, and they left the score box.

Katerina knew that Kasha would be the last of the men to skate, but now that the strain of competition was over, she wanted to see all the men perform. She certainly wanted to be in the audience to cheer on her team-mate, she couldn't miss watching him in action.

After helping the young woman remove her skates, Coach left Katerina with security in the competitor's area and went back down to the rink to be there during the final moments that every skater needed with their coach prior to taking the ice.

Davis Mandalay was on the ice as Katerina took her place in the stands, still breathing hard after her workout. She noticed Davis perform a perfect triple-lutz, then a double loop. Her gaze went to Kasha Malinov, she knew exactly what he was going through down there. She had just come though it herself. She knew that he, like her, would be saying to himself, 'Why am I doing this? I hate this more than anything in the world'.

But, both of them knew that when a performance went well, there was almost nothing better. She smiled, remembering Kasha's saying,. "A good skating performance is the most fun a person can have with their clothes on."Coach always got upset when Kasha said that, but Katerina liked the saying, and always imagined her friend at those moments without his clothes on, 'having fun.'

They had both come to Portland, Oregon from their native Poland to train with Coach Kalaman. There was no place like America to train. If one wished to attain a world-class reputation, training in America was almost a necessity these days. Coach had found Kasha Malinov shortly after he had won the European Championship. Katerina had competed there also, but at 15, she knew she was too immature to make a real impression on the stodgy judges.

But now at 18, and with much help from Coach, plus the rigorous 60 hours of practice each week, Katerina had felt ready. She felt good. Perfect, in fact! The results had proven her correct.

Kasha was limbering up now. Between performances, the men were doing minor jumps and spirals, trying to work the nerves out. Katerina knew it wouldn't help, but they all did it anyway. Kasha was wearing his black satin dancer's costume. Katerina loved that outfit, it made him look so manly, she thought.

His body was so fine to look at. Suddenly she felt guilty; Kasha was married and Katerina knew it was a sin to dream about a married man in such a way. Kasha and Diana Malinov had been married for almost five years. Katerina felt herself flush in a familiar feeling of jealousy. At times she almost hated Diana for her good fortune. Katerina was in love with her team-mate, and hated the thought of another woman pawing Kasha's perfect body.

Katerina was brought back to the present when she heard the familiar strains of 'A Prelude To Love' by Brahm's. That was Kasha's music!!

The young woman leaned forward watching her team-mate take the ice. She sat with every nerve on-end, every muscle stretched tight, as if she were the one ready to perform.