LITTLE CHILDREN UNDER THE SNOW

PAR IMÈNE OULD-RAMOUL (I)

It was snowing. The snow may not have lasted, but it was enough to make Alva and Andeas happy. Twirling around in the flakes gives them so much energy. Seri sat on a flat rock, observing the children running between bushes and trees. She made the right choice to bring them here, a change of place and pace. This part of the forest, left untouched by the ever-present construction sites, made a perfect place to take a walk and breathe. Seri brought her hands together and blew a shaky breath on them, in an attempt to warm them. Winter had somehow turned into something cold and lonely when it was not before. “Alva, Andeas!” Seri called. She had to bring them home before the sunset, she promised. Then again, they could stay a little longer. She needed to take her problems out of her head and run with them for a while. Graceful steps hovered over the thin coat of snow. As she sneaked up to Andeas, Seri smiled, leaving behind what was on her mind. Just this time. This one time. For them. Andeas looked back. Too late. “What do we have here?” Seri lifted the boy and held him tight as she ran towards Alva. “Little children under the snow,” she caught her breath, “one last game before we go.” “Already? Come on, big sister!” Alva pouts, “I still haven’t found a great fir tree to show to Andeas.” In answer to his name, the boy fiddled in Seri’s arms, and joined his sibling in a jump. “Really? You haven’t found a place to hide your treasures?” The pair shook their heads no. “Okay, I’ll walk with you. I have to bring you angels home after. I could make you hot milk with cocoa if you want.” “Hot cocoa! Let’s go, Alva, let’s go!” Andeas knew how to engage his older sister into his adventures. Laughter rose between them. Next time they would bring Aaron, and they would make a snowman. Behind them, Seri followed, noticing the shadows of the trees and their own silhouettes growing. It got dark faster around this time of year. How busy they would get with the holidays, and how tiring work would become. Even if she found herself caught up in her studies and finals, she couldn’t refuse to help Aaron. His siblings loved her, and she found them adorable. They had come to appreciate Aaron’s first friend, they even considered her part of their family. Not to mention, she enjoyed the time they spent together, with them, with him. If Seri wanted to be back home in time, she would have to help them find a fir tree fast. A gloved hand grabbed Seri’s hand. “Seri,” Andeas said, “did you know? Alva has been going to middle school since last spring and doesn’t say anything about it.” “There’s nothing to say!” she replied. “It’s on the other side of town, so you’ll have to wake your sleepy bum early.” She seemed on the defensive.

“I’m not a sleepy bum!” “Yes, you are! Momma keeps telling you to stop jumping around so much,” she mimics. “Every single night. If you listened to her, maybe you wouldn’t be as sleepy in the morning.” Andeas turned and pulled on her arm. “Seri…” “You know, middle school isn’t so different from elementary school,” she tried. “You learn many more things, that’s for sure. And… it can slowly get more complicated.” Andeas looked at her expectantly. “But the most important thing,” she dropped down to their level to make sure they were listening, “is that you learn about yourselves. It’s a good time for that. You’re both growing up.” Alva sighed. “It’s boring.” “Boring, or too easy?” Seri asked. “Bo-ring!” She dashed forward.

Finally, they were below the fir tree. “Will you now tell me what you wanted to hide here?” Seri was starting to get exhausted, and the sun filtering between the branches made her eager to get home. Andeas opened his palm and held to Seri a ball of handmade bracelets. Red, green, blue and yellow, black and red. Alva and Andreas’ bracelets. Seri wore one herself alongside the red colored cotton thread that Aaron loved so much. “We wanted to tie them here, and it’s low enough for us to do that.” Andeas explained. Seri’s questioning glance became more pronounced. “I can’t wear my bracelet anymore. It became too tight and-” a glare thrown at Alva, “she cut it off my wrist.” The boy scurried behind Seri as he held his arms close to him. “And to make him stop crying like a baby, I cut mine too.” “Hey!” Seri followed the conversation back and forth between the two, a never-ending contest with no winner. Alva kept explaining to Seri, as if she paid no attention to the interjection that was thrown at her. “And, and, and! I told him I would ask Aaron to make us new bracelets again.” The last words whispered away; a silence fell between them. It was Aaron who taught them how to make bracelets out of threads. They all sat together when Seri went to his house. Despite the explanations, Alva kept making mistakes, untangling the threads between her fingers. She desperately tried to understand how a knot appeared in her work. Jealous of Andreas, who kept claiming how good his bracelet looked, she left the living room in a tantrum. I can’t do it, she had said, and Aaron, puzzled, looked away. He must have wanted them to spend a nice moment that evening. He promised Alva and Andreas he would make them each a bracelet. That was 3 years ago. Had they kept it that long? “Seri.” Alva took Seri out of her thoughts. “Can you ask him? He seems so busy every time I see him.” I can’t do it. She had tried and tried again. “I will.” She could do that too, for them. They could sit down together one last time. Alva joined Andeas, who was tying what was left of his bracelet onto one of the low branches of the fir tree. As they left, the two spots of color floated

in the wind, a promise that would maybe stay until spring came again. By then, they would probably have already left Melville. Down the road, past the surrounding fields, lights flooded the town in the valley and up the hill. Mari’s shop, the small food stand by the gate of the school, the river that separated the two parts of the town where they hung out when they got kicked out of the classrooms. How they laughed under the bridge, lighting sparkler after sparkler until they had none left. Andeas was running a few steps ahead, already dreaming of Seri’s promised hot cocoa.

“Do you really have to go?” So, she knew. Alva knew, and that was why she could not ask. They were renovating the only university campus in Melville, where Seri would have gone after high school. She kept on wishing for change, and now she had no choice but to accept the situation that presented itself before her. Alva sighed. “I guess you have to.” Seri and Aaron both had to move to the city if they wished to continue their studies. “You find it boring here?” Seri asked. Alva’s eyes widened slightly before she regained her composure. It was a familiar town, but it did not belong to her heart. Either Seri’s or Alva’s; they were more alike than they appeared to be. Every day appeared to be the same as the one before, but time wouldn’t stop flowing. If only she, like Seri, could search for the little things that made her want to discover more and more, find the mundane places, the people that would put a smile on her face. The boring things would not turn around so easily, but maybe working to turn them around was what had given her hope for a shinier tomorrow. For now, all they could do was wait. Wait for the spring to bloom again.