The ending of "Where it's White and Cold"

I get my sign when I hear a rough “You better give me your cardboard or it’s your head.” Masha. I take Lena’s hand in mine. There she is. Taking the cardboard from a boy who looks like he is about to pee his pants. I roll my eyes, feeling sorry for the guy. Lena saw her too and started jumping in place.

            “Masha! Let’s go slide with Masha! Let’s go!” she cried.  

            Masha hears Lena and turns her head towards us. I wave. She turns back to the boy and tells him to get lost, and then she strides towards us. She is smiling at Lena like she is going to eat her or something. Even though Lena sees Masha being mean to other kids, she trusts her. I guess its cause she sees me trusting Masha. I shouldn’t do that too much anyways.

            “Hey! Give me her!” Masha stands across from Lena and me. Lena lets go of my hand and hugs Masha around her waist.  

            “Hey, Lennok. Are you cold?” Masha picks Lena up in her arms.

            I smile as I watch Lena shake her head and them talking quietly. I’m glad Lena makes Masha smile. There are not a lot of people who make Masha smile. Of course, Lena with her green, bright eyes and dancing curls makes a lot of people smile. But, Masha doesn’t give in to people as much as she trusts Lena. She gives Lena the kind of attention that Lena needs. I don’t know if it’s because of me. I like to think that it is because Lena is cute and Masha actually has a heart, not because I’m Lena’s sister and she feels obligated to like Lena. You never know with Masha, though. But, when I see her talking quietly to Lena like she’s doing now, I believe she is being sincere. The way she grabs Lena by her shoulders and intensely in her eyes, telling her to be a good girl and beat up everybody who stand in her way. The way she touches her nose, playfully, with her finger tip and makes Lena giggle.

            “Tania, you can go play I can take care of her.” Masha says, still looking at Lena.

            “Thanks but no thanks.” I answer, folding my arms. I know she is being nice (which to most people she is not), but with today’s new snow, I want Lena by my side.

            She looks at me with shocked look on her face, “Why? Jenia is going to be with me.”

            I’m thinking how she and Jenia have been spending too much time together. They’re probably going out. This is a problem. What if they take Lena, but are too involved with each other to pay attention to her? Usually, they very good at bringing Lena safely back to me. Masha is definitely the kind of girl nobody wants to mess with, so Lena doesn’t get bullied. Jenia is huge and whenever Lena falls or get’s hurt, he just picks her up and makes her feel better. I’ve watched them play with her before, just to see if Lena is okay. I don’t watch them anymore. But, I did notice how much more they flirt with each other now. I can’t let Lena be with them.

            “No, it’s fine. I don’t think I’ll be playing with anyone today anyways.” I tell Masha.

            She looks at me, like, Really-I-Don’t-Think-So. Lena is looking from me to Masha back and forth as we talk. I could tell she wants to go sledding. But with who? Before I could bear her to it, Masha turns to Lena,

            “Who do you want to go sledding with, Sweetie Pie?” she asks her. I raise my eye-brow. It was really unnecessary for her to stick the “Sweetie pie” part in there.

            Lena looks at me, her green eyes pleading me to say something, to decide for her. But I stay quiet, because I can’t decide for her. Well, I can, but we all know what I’d choose.

            Instead I look at Masha and give her the I-Told-You-This-Wouldn’t-Work glare. She sticks her tongue at me puts Lena down. And at the very same time, we take Lena’s both hands. Masha and I look at each other. Lena looks at both of her hands. Poor girl. I don’t see why it’s so important for Masha to take Lena today. I guess she is always like this when it comes to her thinking that I should go have fun. Or when it comes to her showing off to Jenia how she can get good with kids?

            “Why are we making such a big deal…” I start and then see that Masha is not paying any attention. Instead looking at something to her left and smiling. I follow her eyes and see Jenia.

            Remember how I said that Sasha has good build? Well, Jenia has an even better build. I’m not going to start describing his build, but he does have one of those six packs and tan skin. When a girl sees Sasha, they want to talk to his and see his flirt. When they see Jenia, all they want to do is stare. Plus, he is like Masha; it’s too risky to communicate with him. Maybe he and Masha are meant to be. Not only are they the same way as far as personality and morals go, but also they both look like movie stars (um, the movie star in the orphanage…not in the real world, because I’m pretty sure real world stars do not have yellow teeth). Jenia has jet black hair that look naturally messy, chocolate brown eyes that always look dangerous, olive skin, and this deep voice.

            “What do I see? Are we fighting over Lennok? Again?” he looks at us as he comes closer. His voice has this drag to it, like he’s enjoying every word he is saying.

            “Aren’t you cold?” Masha actually stands a little straighter. I’m guessing that’s for looking more confident.

            “I asked you a question first”, he gives her his crooked smile.

            Masha rolls her eyes, trying to stay cool and says “No, seriously”.

            But it was a dumb question for her to ask because Jenia never has a shooba (those fluffy, big coats that smart people wear when it’s below zero outside) or mittens on. He says he always get’s too hot after sliding after a while. He doesn’t care how many times Vladimera orders him to find his shooba.  She doesn’t bother him that much though, because nobody wants to mess with Jenia. And couldn’t Masha see the sweat that is on Jenia’s neck and part of his sweater?   

            Masha looks at me for a moment and then says “Give me a sec”. She let’s go of Lena’s hand and walks to Jenia. They put their arms around each other and kiss. My eyes widen even though I’m not that surprised. Kids start to gather a little and I cover Lena’s eyes. I was right. They can’t keep Lena. I look at people who gathered. There are only two girls who look sickened and three guys who are laughing. I glare at the guys to shut them up because they are so not allowed to laugh at my friends. One of them says,

            “What? You don’t think this is funny? They are going to get in trouble.”

            No, not really. I don’t really think that’s funny. I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but seeing friends getting separated because they got in trouble together, does not make me laugh. I wait for Masha and Jenia to be done, looking around make sure no ladies are round. Masha finally turns away from Sasha, I uncover Lena’s eyes.

            “That was a lovely show, thank you, I’m going to go now” I say, glaring at Masha and turning around to go.

            She grabs Lena’s hand and says “Wait, don’t you want to go play?”

            Is she freaking kidding me? Was she trying to be funny?

            “No” I answer her stubbornly.

            “And why not?”

            “You just showed me why not.”

            “You didn’t have to watch.”

            “That’s not the point. The point is that I’m not letting you and Jenia play with Lena if you two are going to make-out the whole time”

            “We are not going to!”

            “How do I know that? You just proved me that you are going to.”

            “No, that was only one time!”

            “Well, one time was…”

            “You GUYS! Stop arguing!” Jenia breaks in. Oh sure, he decided to interrupt when I was speaking.

            “…enough.” I finished anyways.

            Jenia walks over to Masha and talks to her quietly. I look at Lena and was about to ask her if she was okay, but I saw that she had a smile on her face. That makes me relax and smile a little too.

            “You think this is funny” I pinch her red cheeks.

            She giggles, “They kissed” and points at Jenia and Masha.

            I roll my eyes “Yep, they did.” I pick her up.

            “Can we all slide together today like that one time, remember? You were so happy! Remember, Tania? Please?” she says fast and make a puppy face.

            I think about that. And as I’m thinking about it, Jenia comes over to me.

            “Why don’t we all just slide together? Mashka says she’d be fine with that.”

            I look at Lena who still has a puppy face on and then smile at Jenia and answer,

            “Well, tell that Mashka, that I am fine with that also”

            Masha passes by me, “I knew you’d say yes”, then she winks at Lena who happily says to Masha “You kissed him!”

            Then the four of us meet the steep hill. Get ready, leg muscle, you are about to climb that hill.

               

Continuation of "Where it's White and Cold"

“Len, it is okay, there are no bears in the forest during the winter”, Sasha was comforting Lena, as I tuned in their conversation. I didn’t even notice they were talking.

            “How about during summer?” Lena asks and I could hear a frown in her face.

            “Len, the bears sleep during the summer” I answer her and instead of walking behind Sasha, I ran to his side and put my hand on Lena’s back.

            “No, they sleep during the winter, but they are so nice during the summer don’t wont eat you, Len.” Sasha corrected me. Whatever, Mr. Smarty-pants.   

            “Well, what if they wake up during the winter? How do you know they are nice?” Lena asks quickly.

            “They don’t wake up because they are too warm and cozy.” I answer her first question and put her scarf on her red nose.

            “Bears have a lot of berries to eat during the summer, so they’re happy” Sasha responds to Lena’s second question, as he pulls Lena up. She was sliding down his back a little.

            “So, the bears won’t eat me?” Lena says, carefully.

            “Nope.” Sasha and I answer at the same time. We look at each other and smile briefly.

            “Not even Tania?”

            “No, Len, not even me. It’s okay.” I reassure her.

            “How about Vladimera?” Lena looks at me with this silly smile that makes me think she’s up to something.  

            “Not even Vladimera.” Sasha says. Even though I was supposed to answer her. She looked at me! Plus, I know what she’s thinking!

            “Dang it.” Lena replies, smile fading from her face.

            “No, I’m telling you. The bears can sense mean people, so they would eat Vladimera for sure” I tell Lena, giving Sasha a next-time-let-me-answer look.

            “Haha told you the bears would eat her!” Lena yells to Sasha and her left hand punches his shoulder. She never said such a thing. She might have believed it in her mind, though.  

            “Hey, you don’t want me to die or faint again, do you?” Sasha says teasingly to Lena.

            “No!” Lena and I both exclaim.

            “That’s what I thought.” Sasha smiles at us.

            We enter the forest. Some trees here won’t let the sunshine in, since they are so tall and big, but we see sin-beam spots in some places. Most all trees are tall and green.  All of the trees have snow on their branches keeping the trees warm. I always see the snow clearer here, because the sun is not shining on it as much. It always looks slightly blue. Most snow is covered by branches that fell from the trees on a windy night. The hills are all clear, because we sled on them so much. I find a spot in the sky where there were no trees in the way and notice that the sky is blue and clear with no clouds. The wind is calming down too. Good. It means that Lena might not get a cold sore this time. Speaking of Lena…

            “I can take Lena now, you go slide” I tell Sasha. He put Lena down on her feet, hugs her goodbye, waves at me, and runs off.   People are now running with their card boards on different hills, debating on which hill is the fastest. I look for any signs of Masha or Jenia.  Not that I want to give Lena away, I just need company.

Continuation of "Where it's White and Cold"

The snow under my feet is still so fluffy that I wonder how in the world Sasha is managing with carrying Lena on his back. Yesterday the snow was hard as wood. It would make squeaky sounds when we walked on it. Today with all the new snow on the ground, snow makes “snow tornadoes” as Lena calls them. Tomorrow the snow will get hard again and a lot higher too.

            There are not a lot of trees here on the field that we are crossing, but once in a while we pass a tree and it makes me feel tall. I love when the snow becomes deeper and deeper, because then I grow taller and taller; always makes me feel good.

            The snow started falling again. I stared at Sasha’s boots crushing through the snow and hiding under it with every step he takes, in front of me. My nose and cheeks are starting to freeze up; I could feel a tingle of wind on my skin. Licking my lips doesn’t help much either, seeing as how they are starting to split up. But lip is the only thing that I could bite in right now. My fingernails are hiding warmly in my mittens, and it’s not worth getting my fingers cold just to bite nails. Pretty much every time we go to the forest, I get nervous like this. Because pretty much always someone get’s hurt, whether it is a small injury or big. This last week, a small, weak boy his arm when he landed on it after a bump on a hill. The hills are huge in the forest. We call them giant hills, because for giants they would be hills also. They hills also have ice on them. That’s mostly why kids get hurt. Ice makes the hills fun, but with ice hard. Everybody thinks the ice is worth it, though. We try to ignore the fact that ice is the main reason we get hurt. Even the ladies ignore that fact. Kids love the icy hills; they can go fast. Lena loves it too and that makes me smile for a little.

            Still, as I’m walking in the wind, I frown again. Lena is small…tiny actually. I always have to go down the hill with her or else her light body will get tumbled in someone’s huge body, down the hill. Or someone takes her cardboard that she found to slide on. Sometimes, Masha and Jenia would bug me about how I’m not having fun and take Lena with them. I do have fun with her though. Her giggles always echo around the forest and she tries to cover my eyes when we go down the hill.  Plus, usually I don’t trust anybody taking care of Lena. I worry that something will happen to her and I’m not there, so whenever I’m not with her I constantly think where she is and who she’s with. I’d trust Sasha, but he is usually helping girls have fun or the girly-girls who broke their nails. Brother. I try to tell him that he has better things to do than help girls who just want his help for attention, but he turns to me and says that he can say the same thing to me about Lena. But hello! It’s different, she’s my sister. And he, being such a good church boy that he is, says that the girls are basically his sisters too. How sweet. Not.