“Hurry up!” Inga called over her shoulder. The wind tugged at Maxim’s coat as he trudged through the thick snow. It was an hour before it even started, but Inga insisted that they get to the festival early to see the lights. This was in reference to the annual ice sculpting contest which involved hundreds of well known sculptors from throughout Russia. Every year, the people of Satka congregate to place candles inside the ice sculptures and celebrate the middle of winter. This idea always seemed silly to Maxim. Why put a candle in something so cold? As described by his fellow classmates, Maxim is quite an odd fellow. His pessimistic outlook on life is in league with his curly dark hair that always flops around like an angry mop and his signature slouch. Though his bleak personality always weakened when it came to Inga. She’s what most people in Satka call ‘The Smile Donor’. When Inga smiles, it is almost as if she gives more smiles to everyone within six yards of her. Yes, Maxim has taken the time to take the exact calculations. Even though she’s fairly small for a 14 year old, she has the type of spunk that can only be compared to a cat. When she gets excited, she can get a little too opinionated and loud.
From the very beginning it has been Inga’s dream to move to America. It never mattered how she got there just as long as she was there. The village of Satka in the summer is the spitting image of a quaint little town that is found on the cover of a Better Homes magazine. Little shops stand at attention in a neat row. They all are placed along a narrow road referred to as Main Street. Bells chime on the hour in the old church in the center of town. But in the winter, it is constantly buried in snow up to the the village’s chimneys. Maxim never minded the snow or the fact that the town garbage man had his family over for dinner the night before but Inga did. All she wanted was to be able to go to the grocery store and not recognize a single face.
Maxim lifted his head, straining to see ahead of him. All he saw was a sheet of white cutting into his vision. Cupping his hands around his numbing lips, he tried raising his voice above the shrieking wind. “Inga, wait up!” Maxim sped up, turning in the snow so that he looked more like a pinwheel then a human. Inga doubled back laughing has he fell in a great big cloud of crystals. Peering at her beneath his knitted hat he grunted, “Am I in the Olympics yet?” She burst into a cheerful laugh as she extended a hand to pull him out of the snow bank he created. They walked together through the tangled streets, guided by the sound of folk music and laughter. Maxim had been talking about his latest piece of violin music he was working on, when he realized Inga had gone completely silent next to him. He placed his hand on her slim shoulder so she would turn to face him. Using his best game show voice he said, “What time is it?” Inga smiled, nudging him with her arm. “Blues time,” she replied just as they have before whenever one of them needed to talk.
Her hazel eyes found his and she took his gloved hands into his. “I have to tell you something,” she said in a quiet, solemn voice. Maxim looked down, urging her to go on. Inga turns in the direction of the festival and leads him up the road towards a bench sitting outside the towns one and only hardware store. “Have you ever heard of a small town called Healdsburg in America? Its right next to the beach. The sun is always shining there and I heard they sell ice cream for a dollar.” She said the last part with a small grin playing on her lips. It wasn’t unusual for her to go off on one of her American tangents but there was something different in her tone that made Maxim feel uneasy.
“Why are you giving me a geography lesson?” He said playfully, but there was a nervous glint in his eyes. The look on her face told him that it was not the time for jokes so he folded his hands in his lap and listened. “Anyway, Healdsburg is filled with all kinds of people and it has entire buildings dedicated to art. It also has corporate offices where my dad transferred work to.” She said the last part slowly, making sure Maxim was understanding. “We are moving tomorrow morning. I didn’t tell you until I was certain that my family was going through with this.” The realization of her words were in his head but he wasn’t comprehending them. All Inga ever talked about was America but he had never thought that she would actually move. “Maxim?” Inga took both of his gloved hands into hers. “Yeah, sorry.” He looked up to find concern etched into her features. “Hey, I’ll be fine. We just need to focus on making this last day count,” exclaimed Maxim, taking her by the elbow and practically dragging her off the snow dusted bench.
As they neared the town square where it was being held, notes from the fiddles spill into the streets, luring them closer. When they broke into the square, they were immediately engulfed into a swirl of colors. There were vendors calling out their well rehearsed speeches, children giggling as they fly down the steep ice castle slide, couples lighting lanterns together. Fiddles were dancing in musicians’ fingers and luminous lights were strung from the roofs of the surrounding buildings all congregating to the church’s bell tower. Maxim dragged Inga through the wonderful mess of their town. She laughed as a kind vendor slipped a bracelet onto her hand as she sped past him. Still grinning she yelled a quick ‘thank you!’ to him.
They came to a halt at the carousel, each grabbing a black horse to ride on. When the ride began to spin, Inga stood up on the horse and started singing to the carousel’s soft music. She eagerly beckoned to Maxim to sing with her. Neither of them were top notch singers but they belted out the lyrics anyway. Before the ride had even come to a complete stop, they took off towards the enthused food venders and each bought themselves a warm shaurma. For the rest of the night, Inga and Maxim gazed at the glistening ice sculptures in awe and helped re-light the candles that had been blown out by the icy wind.

The next morning, Maxim woke up early in hope to help Inga pack up whatever else was left. Parked out front, a moving truck greeted him as he made his way down the short stretch of sidewalk that separated their houses. Inga’s parents were already placing large boxes inside the ominous truck. Maxim gave them a friendly wave and ducked inside the warm house. It was small by most people's standards, but for the three of them it was  absolutely perfect. As he ascended the narrow stairwell, he realized this was going to be the last time he was going to be in here. When he reached the top of the stairs, he heard a small voice. “Maxim?” “Yeah, it’s just me,” sighed Maxim when he entered her room. The room looked as if it had been trampled.  Boxes were piled in the corner with Inga sitting cross-legged in the center of the barren room with tears trailing down her cheeks.. He sat down next to her and put an arm around her thin shoulders.
“I don’t want to leave. This is my entire life. My only life. What if they don’t like me?” she said between sobs. “Who wouldn’t like you? You’re Inga,” he comforted as he rubbed her arm assuringly. “Besides, you get to leave this town behind and start something new. Think of it as an adventure. Do you remember when we pretended to be warriors and you would insist on being Rurik?” She nodded, whipping her eyes on her sleeve. “You’re off to find a new home, a foreign one, but a home all the same. You will battle the mean kids off with your spunky attitude.” Inga laughed at this and nudged him in the side. “But it won’t be the same without you watching my back,” she said, regretfully.
“Hey, you’ll find awesome new friends and will forget about me faster than you can say reindeer,” laughed Maxim. “I’m going to send you letters every week. You’ll see,” Inga said, determined to prove him wrong. They stood up and began packing the remainder of her things. Once they finished, Maxim started hauling the heavy boxes down to the truck. Maxim’s family gathered outside, chatting with Inga’s parents. Inga gave him a quick hug and hopped into the truck with rest of her family. And with a final wave, they left. Left their house and life behind. They left Maxim behind. He stood there, staring at where the vehicle use to be, wishing he was with them. Then he went back inside his own home, not looking back for fear that his childhood would vanish with her.
When he got inside, his parents were gone to drop off his younger brother at preschool. Maxim went to the kitchen and made himself lunch. It was around mid afternoon when he heard the sound of a truck pull into the driveway next door. Then children laughing and things being broken. Maxim got up and crossed the room to the front window. Outside sat another humongous moving truck that looked nothing like the previous one. It was being unloaded and four younger boys, the oldest being no older than eight, were racing around tackling each other, while a girl around his age tried to break them up.
She looked up suddenly, her eyes filled with exhaustion, met his in such a manner that he dropped down to floor. After scolding himself for acting like a fool, he finally got up the courage to get up. He heard a knock at the door, crossing the room and not even bothering to look through the peephole. He flung open the door and was standing face to face with the girl from earlier. “Hey, my family is moving in next door and I was wondering if you could help us move a few of things.” Her voice was quaint and had an American accent mixed into Russian. “Yeah, of course. Just let me grab my coat,” exclaimed Maxim. “I’m Maxim by the way.” “Oh yeah, I’m Aubry. We are from the US,” she says as we walk to the mess waiting to be moved. Maxim smiled at this. After all, he did just meet the replacement of Inga. A very different person but a replacement all the same. He couldn’t stop comparing Aubry to Inga as he took one end of an old ratty sofa and she took the other. Maybe he never would. But when he placed his end of the sofa in the living room, he realized that maybe that wasn’t a bad thing. He definitely would never forget Inga but somehow he knew in his heart that Aubry would be even better.