Lauri's Universe

When his mother took him by the hand to take him home, in another city, far from his grandparents, I thought that Lauri's life would become even sadder than it was but, far from it, what we found through that experience... was strength...

A few hours later, we arrived at the house Siiri's father and Lauri's mother were renting. In the middle of the living room on a mat covered with a blanket, we found a shy, abandoned and dirty little girl. The first time Lauri saw her she was filled with anger and courage. We thought that her mother's love had been distributed to people who were not even her family, while Lauri had been forgotten in a faraway city.

Lauri slept for hours hoping that when he opened his eyes he would be back at his grandparents' house, and I would have wanted to fulfill his wish, although it was too late to undo his other previously realized wish. He opened his eyes in the middle of the afternoon and found a piece of chocolate previously opened and licked. Lauri looked at it in disgust and pushed it aside, but behind the armchair two huge blue eyes appeared.

—Don't throw it away... —exclaimed the girl.

—Eat it yourself... it's dirty for me —he replied with disgust.

—But there isn't always food here.

Siiri went out behind the couch a bit sadly. Her cheeks were dirty with various scraps of food, and her clothes looked as if they had been dragged by many carts before she was wearing them. With her hand on her mouth and hwe hair up and tucked into a cap, she walked slowly toward Lauri.

—They say you will live with us... —she spoke and tried to touch Lauri.

—Don't touch me... —he exclaimed, standing aside.

—You are not alone, —she said— we will no longer be alone. Don't put the chocolate away... I know what I'm saying.

Siiri took the chocolate and put it in his hands, walked away from it and went to the garden to play with the snow. Siiri did not wear any warm clothes at all, and yet he did not complain about the cold. Lauri and I watched her in surprise and admiration. For such a little girl, she showed the strength of an oak tree.

Siiri was different from all the children we had known before, all of them, every one, always complaining about something, and Siiri, only thinking about how to help something.

As the days went by, we understood the meaning of chocolate. Lauri's mother was sometimes too lazy to make food, and what she did was smoke to make herself less hungry. She would fill her little house with tobacco smoke while her little children fell asleep trying to pretend they were not hungry, because when they would ask for food their mother would yell at them and many times even beat them.

But Siiri had made a hiding place for reservations. She sometimes saved up from the money their mother gave them to run errands and bought sweets that she kept in a hiding place for the times when there was no food. She had made a small hole in the back of the huge, heavy wooden furniture that supported the television. Inside a small bag he carefully placed them so that they were almost imperceptible to the eyes of any human.

On one occasion, with the house full of smoke, with the cold invading the outside of the house, with the parents of both children asleep and snoring on a mattress inside a room of his own, Siiri sneaked out to look for food, finding Lauri on the way?

—Are you hungry? —Siiri asked— I have food for the winter, if you want to live here, you must learn to be clever like the animals, the adults are no good, they do not exist here, there are only you and me...

Suddenly Siiri's words didn't sound so far-fetched, suddenly the idea of being friends with that little blonde girl with blue eyes and pink cheeks didn't sound so bad, although the idea of being brothers for Lauri still sounded impossible or very distant, perhaps.

Siiri began sharing his treats clandestinely with Lauri from that day on. And the Universe of Siiri and I became friends and spoke to each other for the first time.

—Siiri is a very pretty girl —he said— she never complains about anything, she rarely cries...

—Why? —I asked in surprise.

—I suppose she's so used to her life that without realizing it inside her the fortress was born, outside this house, and her daily life knows nothing else, let's say she's not very sociable, in fact, she's unlucky for social relations in general. I hope your human will become her brother one day.

—Lauri's a good kid too, but we're getting used to all this. Lauri spends days without bathing here, the heating works with a lot of effort, and let's not talk about food, because as we can see.

—They'll survive, that's for sure... In this house you learn to be strong, —he exclaimed— what Siiri says is only the truth.

—I know, I know that we have bad luck with adults.

And after a few weeks it was time to go back to school, it was then that his parents paid a little more attention to their children. They had to at least look presentable to attend school, otherwise it would be their parents who were reported to the authorities.

Every morning Lauri and Siiri would get on the bus that took them to school, and the Universe of Siiri and I would get on it trying to take care of them. Siiri always looked out the window, liked to see people walking, to see the winter go by, and to smile. Lauri, who had sacrificed himself, sat in the middle of the corridor, but ironically, he also smiled on the way as he closed his eyes imagining how good it would have been to grow up in a different family, or how much fun he had with Ruth in Rovaniemi.

One morning on the bus Siiri turned to look at Lauri strangely, and took him by the hand. Siiri, although she was a normal-looking, tender-looking child, could be strangely strange. Lauri was frightened and stepped away from her discreetly. Siiri did not remain silent that day, and in trying to right her wrong, he made her bigger.

—One day I will marry you... —she muttered, staring at him.

—No, you are a half-sister. That would be very strange. Besides, I already have a girlfriend.

—Who's your girlfriend? —she asked weakly.

—Her name is Ruth and she lives in Rovaniemi.

Siiri remained silent for the rest of the trip, and tried again to smile as she looked out the window.

When Lauri was active in sport, I noticed that his gifts were located in his extremities, but I did not know exactly what sport his strength lay in, nor how to help him develop it. That made me keep his gifts a secret, for I felt somewhat useless and inexperienced, somewhat helpless and incompetent as well. Until one day in basketball class, Lauri jumped so high that he was caught by the basketball hoop. Then he didn't know how to get down from there, the teachers and students waited until he just couldn't take it anymore and fell, I ... I was dazzled by the idea.

Lauri's gift would be sport, basketball, to be specific. But, in the face of such malnutrition, it seemed impossible for him to achieve a considerable height for such a sport. But then, I remembered that we were not the only ones in the game.

—Tell Siiri to make a wish, —I commented to Siiri's Universe— if Lauri makes the same wish, we would already be two Universes working on the same thing.

—What do you wish for?

—That Lauri is maybe two meters tall...

—And how is Siiri going to ask for that? —Haven't you noticed? Siiri lives in the clouds.

—I have an idea, but follow my lead.

I created a magazine page where the famous basketball player "Michael Jordan" was, showing original data about him and an incredible picture of him shooting the ball.

I ran it with the wind and sent it to Siiri, who took it to Lauri totally full of encouragement and a bit of euphoria.

—Here you are! —exclaimed Siiri.

—Me? —he answered confusedly— Have you heard what happened at the school?

—It was great! -he exclaimed— everyone's talking about it. You could become like him...

—I don't think so, it sounds like something impossible, besides you know I'm very short. If I were taller, sometimes I wish I were taller.

"Human hints count as decrees, granted!" I thought.

—You don't need to be tall, just because you're talented is enough.

His mother's heartless, incredulous laughter interrupted the scene, after a terrible curtain of tobacco smoke.

—Listen, Lauri, —said his mother, holding him by the shoulders— do you want to be someone like this man in the magazine? Destroy everything in your path without hesitation, stop being so weak and learn to be a predator and not a prey.

Lauri remained silent and with his eyes open from the fright his mother was giving him, finding some sense in his words, but keeping his opinion to himself by forcibly swallowing saliva.

—Don't let any rival stand in the way of what is yours, —said his mother, slapping him in the face in a seemingly affectionate way— and I don't blame you for wanting to be tall, I would have liked to have had a taller son too, not a plug like you.

I turned to see his suggestive mother's Universe, while this one was trying to ignore me.

—Did you hear her or not? She wants a tall son, Lauri wants to be tall. We must unite our energies and carry out her decrees.

—It was sarcasm... —he replied.

—Rule number 10 says that one must obey the decrees of humans, no matter what tone of voice they make.

I disturbed Lauri's mother's Universe until I convinced him to do it, we gathered energies modifying some physical features for the improvement and potency of the gifts that the greater Universe, God, had already given Lauri.

When it finally happened, Lauri was amazed and both Siiri and he thought it was some kind of miracle.

Over the years, Lauri and Siiri became close as they realized that they were the only thing they had for each other. Especially Siiri, who was the most difficult to socialize with. Sometimes Lauri had to agree to play games as a child, and then convince Siiri to play children's games with him. Without either of us realizing it, the two of them had become brothers. I realized, however, that although Lauri was still the same, his mother had sown a seed of malice in him, which as a Universe it is not for me to judge as either good or bad.

I began to observe more ambition in him during the games and rivalries, but what can I say? I am his Universe, and I observe him proudly in the shadows... I know my boy perfectly, and hesitantly and with some judgement I can say that he is not a bad person. He is a mature and intelligent young man, but like most young people his age, he is learning to live.