Maija dreaded Friday night that was coming closer and closer; on Tuesday and Wednesday she could still avoid thinking of it, but as the morning light shone through her curtains on Thursday, she bit her lips with worry. Tommy was going on talking and talking about the great time they were going to have tomorrow night, and about how excited he was, thinking about his concert. Maija didn"t have the courage to say anything, but at the same time she felt her heart sinking.
"Maybe we shouldn"t go?" - Martin asked her on Thursday night, when they were sitting in Maija"s room and watching the grey fog outside. - "I mean, I have no objections to spending Friday night with you, but does it have to be at a concert of so-called music, that sounds like a thousand knives screeching on a thousand plates?"
Maija agreed with him completely, and she knew that it would be better for everyone, including Tommy, if they didn"t go to the concert, but how would she explain this to him?
An unlucky leap of the wheel of Fortune, surprisingly, helped to save the situation. On Friday morning, Maija felt that her forehead was burning. Her head was spinning and her body was so weak that she could hardly stand up.
"You"ve caught the cold, dear," - said Vlad as he touched her forehead with his lips. - "you have fever. It would be better not to go to school today, nothing will happen if you stay in bed for just one day. I"ll bring you a cup of tea."
Maija didn"t object at all - now she didn"t even have to make up any excuses to tell Tommy. She pulled her blanket up to her chin and relaxed.
Right after school, Sandra dropped by. As usual, she carried a wide smile on her face, which was replaced with a look of deep compassion as she saw Maija in her bed, burning with fever.
"Oh you poor thing," - she said, - "I should have known you"ve caught the cold. That"s such a shame - now your entire weekend is spoiled."
"Not really," - said Maija, sitting up in her bed. - "I"m going to stay in bed tonight - you know what that means, don"t you?"
"Well of course," - Sandra said, smiling, - "no Rippers for us tonight, huh? It seems like you"re very lucky. I"ll tell you everything about the concert tomorrow, but don"t expect to hear anything too exciting."
"No, I guess not," - Maija agreed. They"ve spent a little while talking, and then Sandra left. Maija felt sleepy and rather weak. She turned over with her face to the wall, pulled the blanket over her head, and fell asleep. She slept for a long time, and when she opened her eyes, dark shadows were already crawling over her room. She didn"t move - just lied with her sight wandering around the white wall right before her eyes. She thought about getting up and asking Vlad for some tea or supper, or maybe reading a book. But she felt so weak and tired that she just kept on lying in her bed, and she almost fell asleep again when she heard a screech of wood on the floor - as if someone was sitting on the chair by her bed, and moved the chair a couple of inches forward.
"Papa?" - she asked in a sleepy voice. In response, she heard a quiet, happy laughter of a young boy. She turned around, and a smile spread over her blush face when she saw Martin. He was sitting in the chair right next to her, and she wondered how she could not notice him for such a long time.
"I guessed you"ve got the cold, poor you." - he said, caressing her hair.
"It"s not too bad, really," - said Maija, feeling her stomach light with happiness. - "for how long have you been sitting here?"
"Well, I ran into Sandra exactly when she was leaving." - he replied. - "when I entered you were asleep, and I didn"t want to bother you. Silly Mai," - he said, kissing her on the forehead. - "don"t you know that you shouldn"t go out without a scarf in this cold?"
"It"s a virus," - Maija replied in a happy voice.
"Oh, look!" - Martin exclaimed as he pulled the curtains open. Behind the window, big white snowflakes were falling slowly. Maija never saw the snow falling before. It was a spectacular sight. They stood in front of the window, hand in hand, watching how the houses, the cars, the fences and the bare trees on the hill were getting covered by a soft, white blanket of snow.
"The first snow of this year," - said Martin, - "it"s my favorite day of the year. It"s so much better than the cold rain. How do you like it, Mai?"
"We"ve never had snow in the South," - Maija replied. - "I"ve only seen it in the movies and on pictures. It looks so lovely, like a Christmas card. Now our stone in the park will be covered with snow. And the bare roots of the old oak tree won"t be so cold anymore."
"When you get better, we"ll go out and we"ll play in the snow." - said Martin, his lips touching her cheek. - "It"s so much fun - when my dad still lived with us, we used to play in the snow."
"Why did he leave?" - Maija asked as gently as she could.
"I don"t know," - Martin replied, his sight seeking a point far away outside. He was silent for a long time and Maija already wanted to say something, when he suddenly continued. - "see how things are - my dad used to be so in love with my mom. I was small, but I still remember it. Whatever she wanted, she would get. I think that if she asked for the moon, dad would, undoubtedly, take the tallest ladder and climb up it without thinking twice. And then, all of a sudden, they got divorsed. I spoke to sister about it, and she told me that exactly the same thing happened with our mom and her dad. I don"t know. Mom is a wonderful woman. Was it bad luck, then? Or is it just the destiny of everyone?"
"Martin," - said Maija, feeling guilty for having touched a sensitive point. But he went on.
"And now the house is empty. Always empty. Dad and Rita live hundreds of miles away. Luna moved out too - I mean, I know she"s grown up and everything, but mom and me are all alone now. There are only two times each year, when everyone get together - my birthday, and Christmas. And you already saw it, you know what kind of reunions those are. Mom and dad stick mean sights at each other, mom hardly speaks to Rita and Luna is very, very cold with dad. It seems like it"s a torture for them all to sit in front of one table. Like one would gladly poison another"s food."
"Well, it didn"t seem that bad to me," - Maija tried to cheer him up. - "at least Rita and Luna got along well."
"Hypocrisy," - said Martin bitterly, not listening. - "what kind of a family is it? Everyone just can"t stand each other. If they get together only for me, well, I"d prefer them not to do it at all. Because it"s not like I enjoy it much. Soon it"s Christmas, and exactly the same kind of family dinner will repeat itself. And you know, I just wish I could celebrate Christmas with everyone separately - once with dad and Rita, once with mom and Luna - and I don"t even mind that idiot Adrian at the table with us, as long as nobody throws hateful looks at each other."
"If we"ll be invited again, me and dad will come," - promised Maija.
"I want to celebrate alone with you once, too," - added Martin. He took her hand clumsily and kissed her. Maija could swear that she heard the snowflakes clinking like silver bells as they fell to the ground. - "when you are around, I never feel restless, or bitter, or disappointed. I just wonder - why can"t it always be like that? Sure it can, we just don"t know how to make it yet. We have to try very hard to find the way."
"But you see," - Maija said seriously and thoughtfully. - "I didn"t have time to disappoint you yet."
They both laughed quietly and embraced. The snow was falling faster outside. In the air, there were thoughts of Christmas, of warm home, of delicious food made by loving hands. Maija thought about her mother - her own parents used to love each other a lot too. Would they too divorse eventually, if her mother didn"t die? How would she feel about it then?
They heard a knock on the door and quickly stepped away from each other. Vlad entered the room, carrying two huge cups of hot chocolate.
"There you go, kids," - he said, smiling. - "I thought you might want to drink something warm. How do you feel, Mai?"
"Better, Papa, thank you,"
"Thank you, Professor Vlad."
They were sitting on Maija"s bed and sipping quietly the chocolate, which burned their tongues and throats. It was extremely cosy, sitting like that and watching the snow fall to the ground.
"Imagine," - said Martin, - "if there was suddenly a storm - a really big storm - a tornado - and that it wouldn’t stop for weeks. I"d be so glad to stay here. I could call my mom and tell her not to worry, and I would stay here with you."
"What a shame - it"s quiet outside." - said Maija. A storm would be lovely. She felt that her fever was already gone, she felt wonderful, and she was very warm.
"You"ll see stupid Adrian at Christmas again," - he said, embracing her. - "and the spring will come. The ice will melt, and there will be blossom like you never saw it in the South, because there you had bright colors all year long. We"ll have warm, sunny days yet. We"ll see quiet, deep lakes in the midst of the forests. It"s beautiful here. I will tell you everything I know, even though it"s not much."
"I"m so glad we didn"t go to that concert eventually," - said Maija. Martin nodded. At that very second, they heard another knock on the door.
"Oh, it"s Papa who came to take the cups," - Maija explained. Securely, she stepped towards the door and opened it. At the second she did, she lost her ability to speak. She was expecting to see the broad, strong figure of her father and his red beard. But the one who was standing in front of her was a blonde boy in a leather jacket, torn jeans and military boots. Tommy, the leader of the Rippers, stood there, with a wide smile that had frozen on his face at the moment he saw Maija in her pyjamas, Martin sitting on her bed and the empty cups on the floor.
"Hello, Mai," - he said, stepping into the room. - "Professor told me that you"re not feeling too well. But he forgot to mention that you had company."
"Hi there," - said Maija, going slightly pale. - "I"ve caught the cold."
"Well yes, so I see," - said the boy, sounding quite rude. - "you didn"t come to school, and you don"t seem so ready to go to the concert either. I came to pick you up, but I guess you don"t intend to go?"
"I"m really not feeling so well, I have fever and everything - and besides, Tommy, why do you speak to me in that tone? You have no reason to be angry with me."
"Oh, don"t worry," - he said, furious, - "I need to get there early in order to get ready for the performance, so in a moment it will be nice and quiet here just like you want it to be."
Saying that, he went out of the door and slammed it behind him. Maija sat on the bed, a look of despair on her face.
"Well, you see," - said Martin, who was completely silent while she was talking to Tommy. - "didn"t you see the way he looked at you? Didn"t you see the way he looked at me? It"s just so obvious, he would kill me with his bare hands if he only had the chance to."
"No need to exaggerate," - said Maija with a weak voice. - "I admit - I admit that he might have been developing some illusions, but, well, it"s all clear now."
There was another knock on the door and she stepped aside, trembling. Martin opened it bravely and let Vlad enter.
"Oh, it"s you, Papa," - said Maija with a sigh.
"Well yes, of course it"s me." - said Vlad, collecting the empty cups from the floor. - "Who did you think that might be?"
"I thought Tommy came back," - Maija explained, - "Papa, why did you let him in?"
"Hmm?" - Vlad didn"t understand. - "He wanted to visit you, he was worried because you didn"t go to school today. So what reason did I have for not letting him in? Shame on you, kids, you let him leave without even offering him anything to drink."
At the thought of Tommy and Martin sitting next to her and having some refreshments, Maija shuddered.
"Tommy was busy, he has a concert tonight," - explained Maija.
She thought nothing could be worse than going to Tommy"s concert together with Martin. But apparently, having them both in her room led to an even more tense situation. She thought with horror about Monday.