Bergfors Family Forces

       Snow damped all sounds, and the town grew a bit quieter. Snow covered all dirt and defects and decorations, and the town looked neater. If you squint, snow-wrapped houses looked like sugar-glazed muffins, and the church was like some German gingerbread. We’re like Hansel and Gretel in a whole cannibal village, Hannu thought. Sanna nodded. He knew she had the same idea. Hannu disliked silly knitted beanies or cumbersome fur hats, and Sanna didn’t wear any. Hannu hated physical contact, and Sanna didn’t try to hold hands as couples are supposed to do. Hannu thought that all Christmas paraphernalia was stupid; so did she. She shared all his opinions on the motley glimpses of electric Xmas garlands, on obnoxious garden gnomes, on boring literature classes, on monochrome photos being the best, on the unnecessity of life on Earth, on winter as the best season (save for Christmas and New Year fuss, of course), on the utter idiocy of most humans. There’s Blue Moose bar, he nodded at the cabin with a matching electric sign and a hardly matching snow monster in front of the glass-pane window, supposed to be the said moose. It’s a place where stupid people pay money to get even more stupid.Sanna nodded and scrunched her nose. They walked faster to skip that hellhole; they might have gone by the parallel road, but there was a mini market and a skating rink. There would be more people outdoors, maybe even classmates. Hannu had no wish to see them. The two teenagers paused on the bridge to admire the river. It herded its oily black waters in the white frame of shores. Almost like reverted Sanna; her dark hair framed her face and stayed smooth under the cold wind. Even in silence, it felt different from walking alone. Houses and fields familiar since birth turned strange when he walked by with another person. As if Hannu watched it all from two points at the same time. And this way the town seemed smaller and even more boring. It didn’t hold enough beauty for two. Alright, Hannu said to himself. Let’s break up. Bye, Sanna. It just will not work between us. You’re an imaginary perfect girlfriend, but I still feel discomfortable. And he stopped imagining her. Good thing he had refused to go out with the real-life Sanna. It would have been even worse. He walked down the bridge and towards home completely alone and completely at ease.