Time went on incredibly slowly the next day. Every lesson seemed to last for hours. Maija couldn"t take her eyes off a big clock which was hanging on the classroom"s wall. When the classes ended, she and Sandra sneaked out of the classroom quickly, without saying goodbye to anyone. At the entrance of the school, Will was waiting for Sandra.
"Well, off we go," - Sandra said, winking. - "good luck, Mai."
"Thanks," - Maija replied, watching them further and further away.
"Hey," - she heard a voice behind her back. She turned around - it was Tommy, smiling at her.
"Hi, Tommy," - she said.
"You know, today I"m not going home with Professor and you." - he told. - "I got a detention - three hours, during which I"ll have to sit still and copy down all the history notes that I have missing. I"ll come home later - I was wondering, what are you doing this evening? Can I come and see you?"
"Oh, it"s impossible today," - said Maija, trying to sound as natural as possible. - "you see, I"m going to a birthday party - with Papa," - she quickly added.
"I see," - said Tommy, and gave her quite a suspicious glance.
On their way back home, Vlad seemed to be strangely cheerful - he whistled a march under his nose, and a smile didn"t leave his face - he only smiled like this twice before - when Maija was born, and when a newly discovered species of bird was named after him. When they came home, Vlad went to his bedroom, instead of going to do some extra work. That was somewhat awkward, considering his usual behavior, but Maija didn"t have time to think about it - she climbed up the stairs to her room, threw her schoolbag on her bed and opened her closet. She got dressed quickly and viewed herself in the mirror - the same thin, tiny girl that she saw in the mirror every morning was looking back at her, but today she looked rather nice - her eyes were sparkling with anticipation and her cheeks and lips were bright red. It was still early - she was sitting on the bed, so excited that she couldn"t read or do her homework, and the time seemed to go even slower than at school. After about an hour, she heard a knock on her room"s door.
"Come on in, Papa," - she said. Vlad opened the door and entered her room. Surprisingly, he too was dressed up. He wore a tidy grey suit without a single wrinkle, and a matching tie. His black shoes were clean and shiny, his beard and mustache were in perfect order and even a slight scent of expensive perfume was coming from him. Maija looked him up and down - she has never seen her father so elegant before.
"What, you"re already prepared?" - he asked her, looking very surprised. - "You look lovely, dear. I exactly came to let you know - but maybe I already told you and forgot?"
"Tell me what, Papa?" - asked Maija. - "You didn"t tell me anything, not that I remember."
"Well, I"m invited to a dinner this evening," - said Vlad. - "actually, we both are. I came to let you know about that, so you"ll have time to get dressed, but I see that you already did."
Maija"s heart sank. Going to a dinner with her father wasn"t in her plans for tonight - maybe it was a heavenly punishement for the excuse she gave Tommy at school?
"Papa," - she said, her voice shaking, - "I can"t go to a dinner with you - I have plans - you see, I promised - if you would only let me know earlier - I"m really, really sorry -"
"But, dear," - Vlad said, unmovable dtermination on his face. - "I can"t make you go, but we were invited, you and me - and it would be extremely unpleasant for me to show up alone. I"m not asking for too much, am I? It"s just one evening, and it"s very important to me. Please, make an effort for me - we"re already late, let"s go right now if you"re ready."
There was nothing Maija could do. That"s the end of all, she thought bitterly - now Martin will never speak to her again. She was given a second chance and she blew it - maybe it wasn"t her fault, but it"s the result that matters. Following her father, she left her room and went downstairs, to the living room, and then to the chilly, dark street. She wished she could yell something that would express how sad and angry she was, but instead she just said:
"If we"re in a hurry, Papa, let"s get into the car - it"s very cold."
"Into the car?" - Vlad looked at her as if she said something very strange.
"What is it?" - asked Maija, feeling very awkward.
"But of course - I didn"t tell you where we"re going!" - he exclaimed, hitting himself on his forehead with a huge fist and laughing. - "It"s our neighbours across the street that have invited us. See, Elisa"s boy has a birthday today and she said she"d love to see both you and me at the dinner."
To the great surprise of her father, Maija couldn"t stop laughing for long minutes. It was such a relief - she felt warmth in her toes and fingertips.
They crossed the street quickly and rang the doorbell. A small, gracious woman with shiny golden eyes and long eyelashes opened the door with a smile. Her dark hair was tied in an elegant knot at the back of her head - that was, without a doubt, Martin"s mother.
"How nice to see you, Vlad," - she said, - "come on in, you are exactly on time - we were about to sit down at the table this very second."
"Thank you, Elisa," - Vlad said, - "meet my daughter, Maija,"
"How nice to meet you, Maija dear," - Elisa looked at Maija with kind eyes. Maija nodded politely and returned a smile.
The living room was warm and lit brightly. They passed to the dining room, where stood a dining table, and apparently, all of the family was sitting there. Martin and Maija looked in each other"s eyes for a quick second, and Maija blushed slightly.
"Nice to see you here, Maija," - said Luna, who was looking happy and very pretty. Maija thanked her silently with a smile. Vlad shook hands, although rather reluctantly, with a tall man who was probably Martin"s father.
"Why don"t we all sit down - make yourself comfortable, dear," - suggested Elisa, obviously thinking that the girl is simply being timid. Eveyone sat down - Maija sent a smile to Martin across the table.
When they started eating, the conversation stopped for a while and Maija had time to look at the people who were sitting at the table. Beside Martin, his parents and Luna there were two others that she didn"t know before. One of them was a shy young man sitting next to Luna - her boyfriend, Adrian. The other was a young woman, who turned out to be Martin"s another sister - his father"s daughter, Rita.
Elisa"s cooking was excellent, and the meal couldn"t be described in any other way but delicious, but the atmosphere around the table grew unpleasant at times - Elisa and Erik, her former husband, avoided looking at each other, and Vlad didn"t exchange a single word with Erik - something that surprised Maija a lot - she expected neighbours of many years to be more friendly than that.
But except for the tension between the adults, everything was more than fine. Both of Martin"s sisters, although not blood relatives, treated each other in a friendly manner. Luna didn"t stop talking for a second, and Adrian nodded approvingly to every word that came out of her mouth. It was funny to watch him - when Elisa said "would you please pass the salt, Adrian dear?", his face got the color of a ripe tomato and he fulfilled Elisa"s request, muttering something that sounded like "humblemumble". But the one who really tortured him was Martin - he was talking to him rather sternly, and when he asked something about his studies in the university, Adrian looked as if he was about to admit something so shameful, that it would be appropriate for him to look for shelter under the table.
"Er," - he said, looking at Luna with pleading eyes.
"Adrian studies medicine, Mart," - Luna told her brother, putting her hand on her boyfriend"s sleeve. - "he"s going to become a pediatrist - he"s the best student in his year."
"And what is your favorite hockey team, Adrian?" - Martin continued investigating with a wicked smile, - "You do support the local team, I hope? All the rest are a bunch of losers."
Adrian looked totally defensless - he said something unrecognizable in a squeaky voice and went silent.
"Actually, Adrian isn"t a fan of any of the local teams," - Luna interfered quickly. - "but he always watches international hockey games on TV."
Martin went silent for a couple of seconds. He took a tissue and quickly scribbled something on it. Then, he passed the note to Maija under the table. Their hands met - Maija felt the skin of her face burning, and thought that she was probably the same color as Adrian. She opened the note and read it. It said:
"That dweeb can"t put two words together!!!"
Both of them burst out with silent giggles. Meanwhile, Adrian told Elisa with a huge struggle that he already had enough meat in gravy on his plate. Maija thought Adrian was nice and polite, and that it"s worse being rude than being shy, but she also could understand why Martin had so much fun picking on him.
Elisa disappeared quickly into the kitchen, and came back in a couple of seconds, carrying a huge round tray with a delicious-looking birthday cake on it. It had one single candle on it.
"Why only one candle, mom?" - asked Martin, looking hurt. - "Was it such a big effort, to put fourteen candles? It"s not that expensive, either."
"It"s not that - it"s just that we weren"t sure you"d be able to turn them all off, and we didn"t want to make you look bad in front of everyone," - said Rita, trying to look serious.
Martin turned off the single candle with a slight blow and everyone clapped happily, saying "happy birthday Mart!"
"You see, dear, so many candles would ruin the cream decorations," - explained Elisa and gave Rita an amused look. - "Some cake, Adrian dear?"
"You know Adrian, it isn"t good for you to eat so much," - said Martin, cheering up immediately and forgetting about the candles in an instant. Adrian turned to Elisa and opened his mouth to refuse a piece of three-layered cake, but before he had a chance to do so, Luna grabbed his plate and cut a big slice of cake for him.
"Adrian loves your cakes, mom," - she said, and looked at her brother angrily, - "and he hardly ate anything at all this evening," - she added, giving Martin a meaningful glance.
After they were done with the cake, and each one drank at least two cups of strong sweet coffee, the dinner ended. Everyone went to the living room, and splitted into groups - Elisa and Vlad were sitting on the sofa, Luna and Adrian somehow squeezed into one armchair. Erik was conversing quietly with his daughter Rita. Elisa turned on the radio and old-fashioned music filled the room.
Maija and Martin were still in the dining room, left alone. They looked at each other and smiled quietly.
"They went to talk about their boring things," - Martin said, - "want to go and see my room? Nobody will notice."
He took Maija"s hand and led her up the narrow, stip wooden stairs. There were also stairs in the living room - both of them leading to the second floor.
Martin opened the door of his room - it was rather small, or maybe it only looked like that because of the clothes that were thrown on the uncovered bed and on the floor, Martin"s tattered schoolbooks that were piling up on his desk, and his gym shoes that were, for an unknown reason, tied to the lamp by their laces.
"Umh," - he said, eyeing the room, which looked like an abandoned battlefield. - "it"s a bit messy here - I should have cleaned up, but anyway sit down, make yourself comfortable - if you can find an empty space."
"Don"t worry about that," - said Maija, sitting down on the bed. Martin sat next to her. For a while it was very quiet - they just listened to the drops of the rain knocking on the window.
"Look how slow it rains again," - whispered Martin. - "doesn"t it seem to you that things have always been like that, and that they always will stay the same way?"
He took her hand and kissed her. The magic of two hearts, beating strongly in the same rhythm, is unbeatable. It cannot be deceived and cannot be avoided - and if it dies, the young heart dies together with it. He played with her hair and the corners of his mouth smiled without him noticing. They sat quietly, hand in hand.
The rain was getting stronger, and flashes of lightning cut into the sky like shiny knives. The thunder was making the earth shake. All of a sudden, the little lamp flashed weakly for a couple of seconds and the room got dark. They look outside - there wasn"t light in any house on the street.
"Electricity," - said Martin, - "it went off. It happens here often."
Maija saw his face at the flashes of lightning - in the sudden flash of light his face seemed pale. They were looking at each other happily with big shiny eyes. A quivering, uncertain feeling of immense happiness was taking over Maija"s body. "It"s always, always, always going to be this way and it will never change" - she heard an echo in her head.
Suddenly, there was a strange sound, scratching of sharp nails on wood - it sounded like a mouse.
"What is it? Do you have mice here?" - Maija asked.
"Oh, no," - Martin laughed. - "it"s just Pete."
He lifted a heap of clothes from the floor, and uncovered a wooden cage. In the cage sat a fat, brown guinea-pig. It was probably old - some of his fur was silvery. When uncovered, the little animal made squeaky sounds, strangely resembling Adrian at dinner.
"That"s Pete," - said Martin, - "our guinea-pig. He"s old, fat and senile, and when he"s afraid he makes scratching noises. The thunder probably scared him."
Then, they heard voices downstairs.
"Where are the kids? Adrian dear, have you seen them?"
"Er,"
"Adrian couldn"t possibly see them, mom, he was with me all the time and I didn"t see them."
As much as they tried not to giggle, Maija and Martin couldn"t help it. For a couple of minutes, they couldn"t handle their quiet, uncontrollable laugh.
"Oh my," - Martin gasped with laughter, clutching his ribs, - "my sister is dating such a moron!"
"Don"t say that," - Maija tried to defend Adrian, although she was almost rolling on the floor, unable to stop giggling, - "he"s just shy. We"d better let them know we"re here, or they will turn the whole house around, trying to find us."
They went out of Martin"s room, and at the end of the hall they ran into Elisa, Luna and Adrian. Elisa was holding a candle which produced some weak light.
"Oh, finally we found you," - she said, - "where have you been? Come on, dears, let"s go downstairs," - she continued, not waiting for them to reply. - "it"s simply horrible, the whole street is left with no electricity, and probably the rest of the neighbourhood as well. I just hope they fix it soon."
They went downstairs, and sat together with everyone, listening to the howling of the storm outside. It was getting late. To Maija"s surprise, Vlad offered Erik and Rita to stay with them for the night, explaining it by saying that he has more room in his house than Elisa. He insisted on it so strongly, that Erik reluctantly agreed.