Continuation of “Where it’s White and Cold”

Everybody is still near Vladimera, gathering around her, some still rinsing dishes. I sneak in the room full of lockers, where we keep our clothes and get dressed. The room is as big as our sleep room. The lockers are assigned to two partners and those partners’ mittens, winter boots, furry coats, scarves, and soft, made-of-rabbit hats (my favorite) are in the shelves of the lockers. The reason we were assigned partners is to help us get dressed, with so many things to put on, it just goes faster to have somebody’s help. I got assigned Lena. I’m glad, not only because I don’t like the thought of somebody else helping her, but also because some people got assigned weird people. Since we have more boys in our group, some girls have to have guys help them. Masha has Sashka. Jania isn’t happy about that.

            The lockers are different sizes and different colors. I’ve always liked that for some reason, it makes it more fun I guess. Lena’s and my locker is faded yellow and the smallest locker out of the room. The locker is big enough though to fit our huge coats. There are two hocks, one is for Lena’s coat and the other one is for my coat. Our boots are on the bottom shelf and our scarves, mittens, hats were on the top, bigger shelf. I sneak to the locker room first, because the room gets crowded and noisy, so I take Lena and me to the bathroom to get dressed.

            I open the locker, put Lena’s and my mittens and scarves in the pockets of our coats, put our hats inside the coats’ hoods, grab boots and with all of that walk to the bathroom just as the other kids start to come in.

After putting clothes in the bathroom, I go back to the kitchen to find Lena still eating. Vladimera tried to get Lena to stop eating once, but got bitten and thrown up on. Now, Tatiana, the cleaning lady of our group waits for me to talk to Lena. Vladimera tries to stay away from Lena as much as possible.

            “What plate is that, fourth?” I ask Lena, sitting down next to her.

            “Yes”, she answers with a full mouth.

            “The clothes are in the bathroom” I tell her with hope that she would understand that I wanted her to come.

            “And they are waiting for us”, I add after a moment of her chewing silently, ignoring me.

            “Yes” is what I get for a reply.  

            I could tell that she’s not going to stand up just yet. So, I start telling her that there is more snow outside and that we are going on big, gigantic hills, that I’ll help her make a snow woman (she doesn’t like making “boy out of snow”, as she always says), and that I promise stay still when she throws a snowball at me. Lena begins to smile.

            “Can I burry you under the snow?” she asks.

            I knew it will get her out of the table so I nod.  Lena promptly scoots her chair away from the table and let’s me pick her up. I carry her to the bathroom and put her down on the wooden floor. Then, I turn around and close the white with pink flowers curtains. When I’m done I turn back to Lena who already has her coat on. I helped her button the coat up to her chin.

            “Now, be careful” I say, “its cold and we haven’t had our shots yet. So, if you get hot, do not talk your coat off. Understand?”

            “Yes”, she responds, as I put her white hat on her small head and tuck her hair inside it.

            “Also, it’s very slippery. So, promise to not slip on the stairs, okay?” I tell her and she lifts her foot up as I place her boot on it.

            “Yes…but can I slide on the road?”

            “No. Do you remember how last year you fell on your back and hit your head? Remember, how it hurt for a long time and you couldn’t sleep?”

            Lena frowns. She should be frowning at the memory, but I know she’s frowning at the “no”.

            “Promise you wont slide.” I order her and look at her straight in the eyes, even though I should be looking at my hands making sure I’m tying her scarf comfortably enough.

            “I guess so.” She answers in a small voice, her bottom lip pouting a little. but, I’m happy again, because a) at least she said something other than a “yes”, and b) she looks cute with her lip like that.

            “Okay” I kiss her nose “Wait, I’ll be fast”.

            And with that, I start putting my clothes on. When I was almost done with my scarf, we hear a knock on the door. Lena runs up and opens it, because if she didn’t they would, it’s not like the door has a lock. It would make situation worse if Lena didn’t open the door. I promised to remind myself to thank her later.

            “Are you girls ready, she’s waiting”, Tatiana’s calm voice says.

            “You’re making us late!” we hear Vladimera’s voice.  

            I finish my scarf, grab Lena’s hand, and walk out the door, mouthing “thank you” to Tatiana. I’ve always liked her. She let’s us call her by her first name even though she’s older than Vladimera and she let’s us get away with things like breaking the rules.

            When we get outside, it’s freezing. It was beautiful with the snow glistening in the sun and the way the snow made the roads look softer, but the cold air was still there. I feel it on my face as soon as we get outside and I’m glad for the scarves that cover up Lena’s and mine necks.