Chapter 20

"What a wonderful evening, dear!" - said Vlad excitedly, when they came home. - "I"ve had such a great time, didn"t you?"
   "Well yes," - Maija agreed uncertainly. - "it was really nice, until Tommy came and brought his friends with him. I think he crossed the limit this time. Maybe you should talk to him, papa? He respects you."
   "Oh, don"t be so heavy, dear," - Vlad said easily. - "the boys were just having some innocent fun. And besides, some of the guests even like that - that little show which they arranged."
   "Oh, really?" - Maija laughed. - "name one - except for Adrian."
   "Even so, I had a wonderful time," - said Vlad, stretching his legs with a content smile on his face. - "and the best thing is, that the holidays begin. You won"t spend your days in school anymore, you"ll go out to movies, to the shopping center, to the skating rink - and I, well, I will finally have a break from my tiresome work."
   Maija looked at her father, as if looking for signs of craziness on his face. Never, not even once, she has heard Vlad call his work "tiresome", and he never wished for any breaks either. She didn"t ponder about it much, though. It was already late and soon both of them went upstairs to sleep. For a while, Maija couldn"t shut an eye. She was lying still, smiling to herself in the darkness. She thought she heard her father pick up the phone and talk to someone, but decided it"s impossible in such a late hour, and thought that she was probably already dreaming. Within a short while, she fell asleep.
   A couple of days went by, and then a couple more. Those were happy days, days when it snowed outside and the sun rose in people"s hearts. Not a single shadow, not a single grey bird of sadness flew over the city. Sandra disappeared with Will for entire days, and from sunrise to sunset nobody would see them. Vlad decided to start taking care of his health and spend less and less time writing his book, and more and more time - jogging, exercising and simply running around with a happy smile on his face. Tommy and the Rippers spent their entire time in the empty garage, rehearsing and improving a couple of themes which didn"t get any better at all. Maija and Martin would walk the streets of the city hand and hand, thinking nothing more than enjoying those bright, cold winter days. Maija couldn"t wait for New Year"s eve, when there was a big celebration at the center of the city. Martin, on the other hand, was quite reluctant about it.
   "It means another family dinner, that we"ll have to tolerate before the celebration begins. That"s always the difficult part about this period - my birthday, and then the holidays begin. Three family dinners with so short breaks!"
   "Maybe this time it"s going to be more successful," - said Maija hopefully. - "at least I don"t think Tommy will appear in the middle of the dinner again."
   "That"s true," - Martin agreed. - "this will be at least one change for the better. But apart from that, everything"s going to be the same. Mom and dad won"t speak to each other, and Luna will bring her idiot of a boyfriend. Well, but at least I will have a chance to see my sister, which doesn"t happen very often since she started dating that - that -"
   "Adrian doesn"t seem so bad to me," - said Maija, - "he might be a bit weird, but he"s not a bad guy. I mean, he sure has something if Luna finds it in him."
   "The only thing which can console me is that this dinner is going to be very short," - said Martin, - "we"re only going to stay there for a little while, and then we"ll go out to celebrate. I"m sure all the rest are going to do the same. And I don"t think dad and Rita will even come, it"s too far for them to come here so often."
   Martin was right. When the evening of the dinner came, and she crossed the doorstep with her father, she noticed that Erik and Rita were absent. Elisa seemed to be much more happy, cheerful and free. The sour expression that Maija noticed on her face at the previous dinners was gone. She guessed that the relationship between Martin"s parents was really worse than just a bit tense. At first she thought it would look impolite if they"d get up and go in the middle of the dinner, but the rest of the guests, including  Luna and Adrian, left pretty soon as well. To Maija"s surprise, her father didn"t mind either. So she and Martin went out without drawing much attention to themselves. They headed right to the center of the city, where happy music was playing and where people were celebrating. It was cold but it seemed like nobody noticed after having a couple of drinks. 
   "It seems like everyone"s here," - said Maija, holding Martin"s hand tight so that she won"t be lost in the crowd.
   "Yes, many people," - he agreed, - "but, have you thought of it - when there are so many people together, and you don"t know even one of them, they aren"t people anymore, they"re just a mass, a crowd - they aren"t even alive anymore - they"re just like - furniture."
   "Furniture," - laughed Maija, looking at three completely happy boys who were walking around, embraced, and singing in uneven voices. They seemed to be having difficulty to walk in a straight line, though, and because of that they kept doing one circle after another.
   They walked around for a while. There was a lot to see - bright colorful lights, loud lively music, voices of talking and singing people. There wasn"t one single face without a smile on it. Still, somehow, it was quiet and respectable. It was very different from the celebrations of the south, where people climbed on roofs and trees and yelled wishes of happy holiday from above. But no matter where, when and how - happiness is happiness and it"s always the same.
   "Maija," - said Martin, - "let"s make a wish."
   "A wish?" - she looked at him, surprised.
   "Let"s stand right there, in that quiet corner, and let"s wish to be right here in exactly a year from now. Let"s wish to stand right here, on this same spot, on the next New Year"s eve."
   "Let"s wish," - agreed Maija in a whisper as he took both of her hands into his. They stood quietly for a couple of minutes, and then Martin kissed her on the forehead.
   "Now we"re sure going to return here," - he said.
   "I believe in that," - she replied, - "what a beautiful night - just look up at the stars, they shine brighter than the electric lights. It seems that everything will come true, if we only believe in it."
   Maija smiled. For a second, all the people around really seemed to be no more than furniture. It was cold, and fresh, and bright, and it was easy to believe that it"s going to be like that every winter, every year. It was easy to believe that this night would never end, but it also wouldn"t seem impossible if someone told them that a year has gone by already.
   The magic was broken by familiar voices of a red-haired girl and a tall clumsy boy.
   "Maija, Martin! What a miracle, to find you here in the middle of this crowd!"
   Those were Sandra and Will. Both of them looked very happy, and their cheeks and ears were red because of the cold. Both of them were wearing costumes that could seem quiet weird. Sandra was wearing a long, bizarre, glittering yellow dress under her black coat, and Will had green high boots on his feet, and a wide red hat with a long blue feather.
   "We thought it would be nice to get something unusual to wear on New Year"s eve," - explained Sandra. - "we got those outfits in a nice little shop around here. We"re having a great time, aren"t you?"
   Martin nodded, still holding Maija"s hand and smiling. Maija noticed that Will was looking somewhere, narrowing his eyes, with an expression of worry on his face.
   "What happened, Will?" - asked Maija, - "what are you looking at?"
   Instead of answering, Will pointed silently at a group of four boys in leather jackets with beer bottles in their hands, who were standing not far away, half-hidden behind the frozen fountain in the middle of the square.
   "Tommy," - Martin said with bitter fury, - "he"s following us."
   "Maybe they"re only here by chance," - suggested Sandra, - "the whole city is here."
   "I didn"t want to tell you, Sandra, but they have been after us the entire evening," - said Will, shaking his head, - "I"ve seen them behind our backs several times. They probably thought we were supposed to meet Martin and Maija here in the first place. I think it"s a misfortune that we met. Now Tommy won"t leave you alone.
   "This is called stalking, damn it," - said Martin, getting angrier with every second. - "I"m going to confront them - or should I say him, because these guys do nothing but following Tommy"s orders," - he added and turned around sharply.
   "No, Martin, it"s not very wise," - said Sandra reasonably, pulling his sleeve. Maija had to agree with her, even though seeing Tommy here made her just as angry as Martin.
   "What I would really like to know, is who told them we"re going to be here," - she said thoughtfully, - "it"s hard for me to believe that it was just they lucky guess. If they wanted to be sure to get on our track, why didn"t they start following us right from Martin"s house? They had to be completely sure we"re going to be here."
   "I could think of only one person who could have given that idea to Tommy," - said Sandra - "we all know whom I"m talking about."
   "But how could Helena possibly know," - started Maija. Then, they got silent as Tommy approached them. Everyone immediately felt a strong smell of alcohol. 
   "Mai," - he said in a broken voice, - "forgive me for following you. I didn"t mean to be so - so - well, you know. Mai, we"re finally becoming successful. For the entire holidays, we"re going away to perform all around the area. I"m not going to be here, you won"t see me if you don"t want to - but you know, Mai, if only you wanted to come with me!"
   "Tommy," - she said, - "I think you had a bit too much to drink,"
   He didn"t say a word but turned around and walked away. The Rippers got lost in the crowd. Still, there was a nasty feeling in the air, as if something was spoiled. There was no point in staying there and everyone decided to go home.
   When they were already standing on their street, under the windows of their homes, they kissed and embraced and stayed like that for a long time, under the cold bright moon.
   Tommy disappeared for the entire holidays.