Bergfors Family Forces

       Catching a cold wasn’t bad, in a way. You have a day or two off school. You drink sweet tea with raspberry or honey, and even the cough syrup is yummy. You nest under a warm blanket and sleep as long as you wish. Jukka didn’t wish to. Dreams were feverish, stuffy, and often frightening. Mom had told him he should sleep more to get better sooner, but he’d prefer longer and less stressful to sooner and harder. His brother Jussi was wrapped in another plaid on the top bunk of their double-deck bed, down with the same flu. He agreed with Mom and science but followed Jukka’s example. He’d look down from his bunk every now and then, and Jukka would wave at him and say hello. It was funny at first, then boring, then irritating. “Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere,” Jukka said at last. “I do not worry,” Jussi disappeared behind the bunk edge and added after a while, quiet and unusually timid. “I’m afraid of Joulupukki. Now that we know he’s real. What else is real? Will some scary fairytale monster come after me if I’m not nice? And adults won’t help or even believe me!” “You not nice?” Jukka was surprised and stared at the bunk frame above. “But you are. You do well in school, in all classes. Teachers don’t complain about you. You always help Mom, you say hello and thank you to neighbours. You don’t need to be scared of Joulupukki.” “Weeelll…” There was a long silence. Jukka could hear Jussi tossing and turning, and still he started when his brother confessed, “It’s just that I don’t leave evidence. I’m not that good, really.” It sounded so despondent that Jukka took pity and thought of anything encouraging to say. “But you can be good from now on.” He found a point at last. “Then you will be safe. Right, Joulupukki is very scary, but I’m not afraid of him at all.” He sighed. With all their differences, Jussi was his closest sibling, and Jukka wanted badly to cheer him up. Maybe with a confession of his own? “I’m scared, too,” he said. “But not of Joulupukki. He is not evil. He is good to you if you’re nice and punishes you if you’re naughty. Like the police. And viruses are evil. They eat you up no matter how good you are. That’s just so… so unfair!” Not very consoling when they both are ill. But Jussi sounded livelier this time. “Ha! Don’t be afraid! We have immune cells to fight that!” And not just cells, Jukka thought, staring up at the bed beam where he had drawn a green Hannunvaakuna, a looped square magical sign warding evil spirits off. “And what about Johannes and Johanna?” Jussi looked over the bunk edge again. “You know the way they are. They are in danger. And Hannu, too. And Jonne. And Jani. And only Jani would believe us about Joulupukki.” Jukka froze and shuddered. The other Bergfors kids were definitely a naughty lot. Well… At least Joulupukki had said he didn’t eat children. And some bad luck is something they know how to deal with.