Elisa’s room so inconspicuously that she succeeded in startling the trio waiting inside.
“God, you almost gave me a heart attack,” Elisa whispered. “Now get in the closet.”
“Why?”
Lumikki didn’t understand Elisa’s train of thought. Tuukka and Kasper were happily sprawled on the couch without any intention of hiding.
Heavy steps approached up the stairs.
“I’ll explain later,” Elisa hissed, pushing Lumikki into the walk-in closet and quickly shutting the door.
“Do you have a friend over?” Elisa’s dad asked from the top of the stairs.
“Yeah. Tuukka and Kasper came to keep me company,” Elisa answered in an overly cheerful voice that anyone could tell was fake from a mile away.
“Weren’t you supposed to have a migraine?” he asked suspiciously. “And aren’t you boys supposed to be in school?”
“Oh, it just went away,” Elisa said.
“Math class was canceled ’cause the teacher’s sick,” Tuukka answered.
Lumikki watched through a crack in the door as Elisa’s dad looked over the threesome. He had short blond hair and an upper body that suggested time spent in the weight room. The closet was dark but roomy. It smelled of girl. Lumikki’s closet never could have smelled like that.
She was hiding again. Trying not to be seen.
Lumikki closed her eyes.
You can’t run. We’ll always find you. And when we find you, we’re gonna to kill you.
Kill.
You.
A midsummer pole stretching high into the sky, festooned with garlands of flowers and ribbons and leaves. Balloons, balloons, and more balloons, some escaping into the blue. The most beautiful evening of the year in the Åland Islands, already turning to night but still as bright as day. All of Dad’s family there. The scents of summer, the distant screeching of gulls, the twittering of the swallows. Lumikki wearing a white dress and a garland of dandelions Mom made. She was singing Astrid Lindgren’s “Ida’s Summer Song.” She didn’t have a beautiful voice, and she wasn’t used to speaking Swedish in front of people, but that didn’t matter.
Cousin Emma, one year older, suddenly stood before her. Lumikki tried to get past. She wanted to go see the midsummer pole. She wanted a balloon too, the ones Uncle Erik wasfilling with helium and passing out to the kids. A red one. Or blue. Not yellow under any circumstances. Maybe red would be best.
“Want to play?” Cousin Emma asked in Swedish. Lumikki shrugged.
“How about we play that you’re my slave and you have to do everything I say?”
Lumikki shook her head.
“Well then, I could be the queen and you could be my horse.”
“No,” Lumikki said.
“You have to. I get to choose because we live here and I’m older.”
Lumikki started to cry.
“No,” she said again.
Just then, Auntie Anna, Cousin Emma’s mother, came up with Lumikki’s mom.
“Lumikki doesn’t want to play with me. She just says no to everything I suggest,” Emma whined to her mother. “She isn’t even close to as fun as—”
“Shh . . .” Auntie Anna stroked Emma’s blond hair. “Maybe Lumikki is a little shy,” she suggested. “Come on, let’s go get you a balloon.”
Auntie Anna took Emma by the hand. After a few steps, Emma turned back and stuck her tongue out at Lumikki. Auntie Anna and Mom didn’t notice. Mom was looking out at the sea. It looked as though the salty wind was making her eyes water. Wiping them with the back of her hand, she sighed and,in Finnish, said to Lumikki, “It isn’t good to always say
no
. If you say
yes
a little more often, you could make some friends.”
Friends? Did Lumikki want friends? Did that mean she had to do whatever people wanted?
The next line of the song didn’t want to come out of Lumikki’s mouth anymore.
“No.”
Lumikki tried to say it in a voice that precluded any further discussion on the topic.
Elisa looked at her with her big eyes. The Bambi-just-lost-his-mother look didn’t work on Lumikki,
“God, you almost gave me a heart attack,” Elisa whispered. “Now get in the closet.”
“Why?”
Lumikki didn’t understand Elisa’s train of thought. Tuukka and Kasper were happily sprawled on the couch without any intention of hiding.
Heavy steps approached up the stairs.
“I’ll explain later,” Elisa hissed, pushing Lumikki into the walk-in closet and quickly shutting the door.
“Do you have a friend over?” Elisa’s dad asked from the top of the stairs.
“Yeah. Tuukka and Kasper came to keep me company,” Elisa answered in an overly cheerful voice that anyone could tell was fake from a mile away.
“Weren’t you supposed to have a migraine?” he asked suspiciously. “And aren’t you boys supposed to be in school?”
“Oh, it just went away,” Elisa said.
“Math class was canceled ’cause the teacher’s sick,” Tuukka answered.
Lumikki watched through a crack in the door as Elisa’s dad looked over the threesome. He had short blond hair and an upper body that suggested time spent in the weight room. The closet was dark but roomy. It smelled of girl. Lumikki’s closet never could have smelled like that.
She was hiding again. Trying not to be seen.
Lumikki closed her eyes.
You can’t run. We’ll always find you. And when we find you, we’re gonna to kill you.
Kill.
You.
A midsummer pole stretching high into the sky, festooned with garlands of flowers and ribbons and leaves. Balloons, balloons, and more balloons, some escaping into the blue. The most beautiful evening of the year in the Åland Islands, already turning to night but still as bright as day. All of Dad’s family there. The scents of summer, the distant screeching of gulls, the twittering of the swallows. Lumikki wearing a white dress and a garland of dandelions Mom made. She was singing Astrid Lindgren’s “Ida’s Summer Song.” She didn’t have a beautiful voice, and she wasn’t used to speaking Swedish in front of people, but that didn’t matter.
Cousin Emma, one year older, suddenly stood before her. Lumikki tried to get past. She wanted to go see the midsummer pole. She wanted a balloon too, the ones Uncle Erik wasfilling with helium and passing out to the kids. A red one. Or blue. Not yellow under any circumstances. Maybe red would be best.
“Want to play?” Cousin Emma asked in Swedish. Lumikki shrugged.
“How about we play that you’re my slave and you have to do everything I say?”
Lumikki shook her head.
“Well then, I could be the queen and you could be my horse.”
“No,” Lumikki said.
“You have to. I get to choose because we live here and I’m older.”
Lumikki started to cry.
“No,” she said again.
Just then, Auntie Anna, Cousin Emma’s mother, came up with Lumikki’s mom.
“Lumikki doesn’t want to play with me. She just says no to everything I suggest,” Emma whined to her mother. “She isn’t even close to as fun as—”
“Shh . . .” Auntie Anna stroked Emma’s blond hair. “Maybe Lumikki is a little shy,” she suggested. “Come on, let’s go get you a balloon.”
Auntie Anna took Emma by the hand. After a few steps, Emma turned back and stuck her tongue out at Lumikki. Auntie Anna and Mom didn’t notice. Mom was looking out at the sea. It looked as though the salty wind was making her eyes water. Wiping them with the back of her hand, she sighed and,in Finnish, said to Lumikki, “It isn’t good to always say
no
. If you say
yes
a little more often, you could make some friends.”
Friends? Did Lumikki want friends? Did that mean she had to do whatever people wanted?
The next line of the song didn’t want to come out of Lumikki’s mouth anymore.
“No.”
Lumikki tried to say it in a voice that precluded any further discussion on the topic.
Elisa looked at her with her big eyes. The Bambi-just-lost-his-mother look didn’t work on Lumikki,
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