Coolness. Erick Poladov

truly pleased everyone. Unlike their husbands, the wives did not gather every day, but often enough: most evenings – especially in the cold months – they spent in noisy company. The previous morning Charlotte had been “lucky” to meet Roberta on the street, who advised her to get rid of that awful shawl. Of course, Roberta could not have known that the shawl had been a gift from Charlotte’s late mother, but she would hardly have changed her manners even if someone had told her about it beforehand. Charlotte, without saying a word, continued walking towards the well. That same day she went around to all her friends and invited them to her place for tea and poppy seed buns. Of course, she remembered Roberta. She remembered her so much that she kept her name off her guest list.

      Since Gustav taught everyone about life in the family, Roberta did it outside the home. She considered herself wiser and smarter than everyone else, simply because she was the oldest of all the women in the village. At the same time, she did not even care that, for example, Herman’s wife, Yvette, was only four years younger. In this regard, Roberta was not far from her husband. Besides not bothering about manners, Roberta irritated everyone by opening cabinets, rearranging objects, giving orders, giving signal to set a table and clear it, scolding for squeaky chairs and a crooked table, demanding that a hostess throw out spoons and get new ones, telling everyone where to sit and… In general, she felt at home in the literal sense. She was also the chief culinary expert, never missing an opportunity to make a comment about dryness of dough or lack of sweetness. The last time Magdalena made raspberry cake, Roberta, either because she couldn’t find anything to complain about or something else, said: “Next time, try adding some nuts, and more of them”.

      The absence of such a toxic spirit made the gatherings a real relaxation and an excellent opportunity to give free rein to their tongues without any fear that their secrets could be heard by someone to whose ears they did not want to convey these conversations.

      Soon Selma appeared on the threshold. Ludwig entered after her, holding a wide frying pan with the cooked hare. Having placed the dish on the table, the young man wished everyone a pleasant appetite and left.

      The first thing Selma did was go to Ava, who she did not allow to get up from her chair.

      – How is the baby doing? – Selma asked, glancing at Ava’s belly.

      – He’s butting – she said.

      – And he’s doing the right thing – Selma insisted. – Well done, don’t let Mom relax.

      Ava laughed.

      Selma hurried to take a plate, with some ease cutting off the best piece of hare, which she placed in front of Ava, adding:

      – I hope the baby has a good appetite?

      – Like an animal – Ava answered a second before she managed to put the first piece in her mouth. – I barely have time to swallow.

      – Well then! – Selma exclaimed. – So this time you have a real man living there, because a girl can’t hold that much food.

      Ava laughed again, revealing her snow-white teeth, which made it hard to imagine – even though she was the youngest of all the wives – that she had already given birth to four children and was carrying a fifth.

      – Thank you, sunshine – the hostess almost shouted after Ludwig when he was already closing the door behind him.

      6. Trembling and cold

      The first frosts have arrived. The ground underfoot is harder than stone. Over the course of a week, the frost has finally established its presence around the clock, whereas just a few days ago, when the sun was at its zenith, the soil underfoot thawed for some time. Now the frost did not let up, day or night.

      The villagers changed into the warmest part of their wardrobes. In cold weather, men wore woolen jackets and thick pants, and hid their feet in felt boots. Women wore fur coats, which were most often made from hare, fox or wolf fur; in rare cases, it was beaver wool. Women’s fur coats always had a hood, and their length reached almost to the ground. Younger girls wore fur coats that did not go below knees.

      This is exactly the fur coat Penelope was wearing that day. It was made of hare fur, which is much lighter than wolf or fox fur. She had gotten rid of the dress a couple of weeks before the first frost. Instead, Penelope wore deerskin pants from the waist down, as did many who climbed into the forest in winter or often fell off their sleds while sliding downhill. Such pants were very durable. A couple of years ago, Erikson had given her boots made of reindeer fur. For this, they used the skin from the chest part of the animal, where the fur was mostly white. The white boots were very noticeable, especially on those days when there was snow. Ava was the only one in the entire village who had boots like that, made of white reindeer wool, since it was a rare thing to come across a reindeer, let alone one with such snow-white fur. Although Penelope guessed that Andreas had shot the reindeer, she still pretended to believe in Erikson’s hunting abilities. That day she wore mittens on her hands, and on her head, as usual, she wore a hat made from the same hare that Ludwig had given her.