The road back home was short and pleasant. Tommy was sitting at the back seat with Maija. Tommy was trying to catch a glimpse of Maija"s face, and she was staring out of the window. It didn"t rain, but it was still grey and gloomy. To think about it, she didn"t feel like going to see any Rippers today. All she wanted to do was open the window at the living room and look across the street. It was so easy - yet she had a feeling that it would be impossible today.
Finally they were on their quiet street. Tommy jumped out of the car, smiled at Maija and said "see you soon", and shaked Vlad"s hand.
"You look more cheerful today than you did yesterday, dear," - said Vlad when they sat at the dinner table. - "I"m very happy for that. Why this change?"
"Ah, papa." - Maija sighed. - "This is all such a long story. I will tell you later, maybe in the evening."
The dinner was finished rather quickly and cheerfully. Vlad enclosed himself in his working room and began taking his notes and shuffling his papers, and Maija went to the living room. She pulled the curtain away and looked. The curtain in the living room across the street was closed - a dark curtain, as if the person living there was hiding away.
"Open the window", - Maija whispered in her mind. - "pull the curtain away, look outside the window and notice me. I will smile at you. I haven"t seen you today - but tomorrow I will go to look for you in the school cafeteria, even if you"ll be sitting there with all of your friends. And there I will smile at you still. It seems like an empty day - a long, empty day. This is so strange. Open the window."
She saw a small, sparkling clean car driving closer to Martin"s house. Luna came out of it. The young woman noticed Maija standing at her open window. After looking at her for a moment, she recognized the girl and waved at her in a friendly way. Maija waved back. Luna was dressed very neatly and her hair was in perfect order. She probably came over for a family dinner.
The bell rang several times. Maija didn"t realize that until she heard her father"s heavy steps upstairs. Then she rushed to open the door and saw the pretty blonde Helena standing behind it.
"Hi," - said Helena, smiling. - "I thought you"d be ready, we"re supposed to go and watch Tommy"s rehearsal."
"Oh of course," - Maija replied, a bit confused. - "just slipped away from me. I"ll get dressed in a couple of minutes, would you come in and wait for me? Papa," - she said to Vlad who came downstairs, - "that is Helena, my classmate."
"Oh that"s very nice," - said Vlad. - "You"re going, girls? Just don"t try to come back before it gets dark, it"s going to be very cold outside."
Some minutes afterwards Maija and Helena were walking down the street. It wasn"t rainy or windy, but still cloudy and very cold. The coming of the first snow could already be smelled in the air.
"I was thinking," - said Maija in a doubtful voice, - "that maybe, if Tommy"d want to see me at the rehearsal, he would have invited me himself?"
"You think Tommy wouldn"t like to see you?" - Helena raised an eyebrow. - "Oh come on, how can you say that, after the way he looked at you today. If he didn"t invite you it"s probably because he thought you wouldn"t like to come and hear some noisy music - I"d say he"s not a big fan of his own music himself. Maybe it"s you who is trying to make a pretext not to see him?"
"Me? Pretext?" - Maija protested, blushing. - "No, of course not. If you say so then I believe you. Come on, let"s go - is there far more to go?"
Soon they stood at the rusty heavy door of the old garage. Sounds of extremely loud and not very melodic music could be heard clearly. Maija thought that if the neighbours didn"t protest, then it was probably out of fear.
"Come on," - said Helena, - "try to open the door, it might not be locked."
Maija tried to pull down the handle but it didn"t work. Seeing that, she knocked on the door.
"Oh you"re so naive," - Helena smiled. She picked up a heavy wooden stick that was lying beside the door and knocked with it on the door powerfully several times. The devilish so-called music stopped, and steps of three pairs of feet in heavy military boots could be heard. The door opened, and Maija eyed with curiosity the three teenage boys, all of them around sixteen, who stood in front of her.
One of them was short, skinny and had his head shaved. Another one was just as bony, but twice taller and had extremely long hair that, apparently, hasn"t been rinsed, combed, or even looked at, in ages. The third one was round and fat, and had violent-looking red eyes, and a nose that looked like a pig"s. The Rippers were dressed, like in uniforms, in military boots, torn jeans and leather jackets. Helena was probably very familiar to them, since no one of them has expressed even the slightest surprise at the sight of her. At Maija, on the other hand, they were looking rather suspiciously.
"What"s the matter, dudes?" - she heard Tommy"s annoyed voice from behind of the garage. - "Who"s that?"
He stepped over to the door, and a wide pleased smile lit his face. Like everyone, he was dressed in a pair of torn jeans and a heavy leather jacket. His shirt was clean though, and his hair looked more or less normal.
"Maija, it"s you!" - he smiled at her and put a hand on her shoulder. - "Well hello there, what a surprise! Dudes, that"s Maija." - he said to the gang. - "Maija, that"s my gang - Jean, little but tough, the long Niko, and Olli, a fat round ball."
The Rippers now looked at Maija respectfully and humhummed something that could be interpreted as a greeting.
"Want to hear us play, Maija?" - asked Tommy.
"Oh, of course." - she replied. - "That"s what I came here for, didn"t I - don"t stop the rehearsal because of me."
Something like a hand-made stage was build in the middle of the empty garage. A wooden bench stood there, too - near enough to the stage, but also far enough so that one won"t get deaf after an hour or so. Maija sat there, accompanied by Helena. Tommy and the Rippers jumped up the stage and started playing with a doubled energy - at least Tommy"s electric guitar was screaming desperately and at least twice louder than before.
"You see," - said Helena, - "he didn"t even give me a second glance. That"s how he treats people who don"t interest him anymore, even if they used to be his friends and have done him a whole bunch of favors. You don"t want this to happen to you, be sure of it."
"You sound bitter," - Maija looked at her, surprised. - "why is that? You seem to know Tommy very well. Why is he being so unfriendly with you?"
Helena said something, but her words were lost in the uproar of the guitar and the drums. Maija sighed. At home, they always used to hear classical compositions or nice quiet songs - Vlad has always said that his ears weren"t built for loud noisy music, and Maija was starting to feel that her own ears probably got the same quality.
The reahearsal went on and on - the Rippers were obviously keen on those sounds, which were very much like a pile of rusty, heavy iron doors rolling down a hill. Maija and Helena sat on the bench for over an hour, until Tommy, at last, put his guitar aside and said:
"Enough for today, dudes. Let"s get out of this stinky place, there"s no air to breathe here after a three-hour-long noise-making."
Tommy, with Maija by his side, followed by the three Rippers, went out of the garage. Helena walked behind. When they walked a couple of meters, Maija noticed four motorbikes parked at the side of the garage. The motorbikes were obviously a part of the Rippers" uniform, just like the military boots and
the torn jeans. She wondered if they were officially forbidden to use the shower, toothbrush and comb - maybe those were privilegies which only the leader could enjoy.
"Niko, dude, you"ll take Helena, won"t you?" - said Tommy. The long Niko nodded silently with his messy head. - "Well, dudes, see you at the old park today, not too early."
As this was obviously the end of this one-sided conversation, the three Rippers humhummed something that was probably considered to be "see you", since Tommy replied to the unclear noises with "yes, see you soon, dudes," and waved as the three motorbikes disappeared down the street with vicious roars. Helena"s long, silky blonde hair was waving behind Niko"s back. Everything about her, even that shiny golden wave, seemed to be extremely proud and stubborn.
"Well, now," - Tommy smiled at Maija. - "T"was so nice, that you came here, thank you. Did you like our music?"
"Your- music?" - Maija paused, trying to gain time. - "Well to say the truth I"m not a big expert on rock music so can"t say anything."
"Yes I know," - Tommy said sadly, - "it"s not your level, you and the Professor probably listen to much more classy stuff than garage band noises. But I think we might have future. Soon we have a concert and we"re even going to get paid for it - not much, but it"s out first concert for which we will get paid, so quite a big thing. Will you come?"
"Well - " - Maija made a heroic effort, - "Yes, sure I will, that"s a promise."
"And how did you like my Rippers?" - asked Tommy.
"Ah, your friends," - she replied, - "well, they seemed a bit tough to me."
"Might be, might be," - Tommy agreed. - "they might be the toughest gang around, but you can consider yourself to be their mistress. They listen to me - so they listen to you. Go to the old park and whistle, and they will come over. They are good dudes, my dudes. Live one day at a time. I have a vision about living off our own noise - they only look for a way to spend their time."
"Tommy," - Maija paused, - "why were you like this, with Helena? You didn"t even say hello, although it"s obvious that you know her well."
Tommy gave an ironic look to the direction in which Helena was taken away by Niko"s motorbike.
"Ah, Helena. This girl is just testing my patience, you know. She thinks she knows me so well. Probably told you a whole bunch of things about me? Well you don"t need that, Maija, whatever you would like to know about me, I will tell you." - he paused and then smiled, - "But hey, I won"t let this spoil my mood. Should I take you home now, Maija? It"s going to get dark soon. You"ll ride my horse of fire for the first time, now that"s an event."
Maija sat behind Tommy on his motorbike and he fastened her arms around his waist. With an uproar, which sounded almost like the uproar of his guitar, Tommy"s horse of fire went on the road. It was pretty fast - Maija felt the wind blowing in her ears and thought that she might very well get carried away by the wind if she let go of Tommy.
"Wohoo!" - he screamed happily. - "Now that"s a ride, isn"t it? Hold on, Maija! I"m speeding up!"
"No, please!" - Maija begged, but Tommy misheard her words as they got lost in the wind.
"From the right, you say? Yeah I know the street that leads to ours is to the right, but that empty terrain from the left is an excellent shortcut. We"re going to do some jumping, though, so hold on!"
Maybe some building was planned to be done on the empty terrain, but for now it was obvious that it hasn"t been even slightly cleared up. It was pretty much like a wild field and was totally unfit for riding. A couple of times Maija thought that this was the end of the way, since the motorbike was leaning to the left or to the right, so that she barely could hold on. But it probably wasn"t the first time that Tommy used this terrain as a shortcut, because he was quite confident and didn"t seem to be worried at all. At least when they crossed the terrain they were still in one piece.
When they reached Tommy"s house on the one end of the street, they still had a whole street to ride to get to Maija"s house on the opposite end. Still, Maija decided to stop Tommy.
"You know, you better leave your motorbike here," - she said - "if papa sees me on it, he won"t like the idea at all."
"Sure," - agreed Tommy, stopping the motorbike. - "I"ll leave my horse of fire here and walk you down the street. Are you cold? You"re shaking. Here, take my jacket."
"Thanks, Tommy." - it really got dark and cold, and she was shivering. Tommy"s leather jacket reached her knees and far below her hands, but at least it was heavy and warm. They sarted walking down the street. When they reached Maija"s house, she looked across the street and saw that the shiny car was still parked there.
"Oh, look." - said Tommy. - "Luna came to visit. Do you know her already? She comes here often, she"s really nice."
"Yeah, I"ve seen her at the cafй near the school." - Maija admitted. - "She was waiting for - for her little brother there." - she blushed slightly, but in the darkness Tommy didn"t notice.
"Speaking of," - he said, - "there they are, just opened the front door - Luna and Costello."
Tommy was right. Martin, apparently, went out to walk his sister to the car and now they were standing outside, talking. Maija wanted to rush into her house without even saying goodbye to Tommy, but it was too late - Luna had spotted them and was now waving cheerfully.
"Oh hello guys! Look, Mart, there"s Tommy and Maija. Nice to see you, kids! Tommy, I warn you - if I see your awful motorbike around Maija, I"ll tell professor Vlad about it and he won"t be too happy about it!"
"Don"t worry, Luna," - Tommy winked at her. - "we"re being very careful."
"Have a good time, kids! Bye, Mart," - said Hanna, kissing her brother on the cheek, which obviously made him rather embarrassed. Maija looked at him, and he looked back.
"Uh, Tommy," - she said, - "I need to go inside now. And you are supposed to meet your friends at the park, aren"t you?"
"Well of course," - he agreed. - "My friends can wait, though - let"s go inside, I"ll say hello to Professor. I mean, I can"t let him think that I let you walk alone in the darkness!"
Maija wished the earth would swallow her. She threw a last look at Martin, opened the door and came in, followed by Tommy. Vlad was waiting for her at the living room and was very pleased when he saw her in Tommy"s company.
"Oh, you brought her home safe, didn"t you Tommy." - he said, smiling. - "I was beginning to get worried, thought that Maija was walking down the streets alone. Would you like to stay and drink some tea?"
Tommy stayed with them for the whole evening.
The curtains at the house across the street were open. Martin was watching the three of them through the open curtains and nobody but Maija noticed his dark figure in the living room across the street.