When Iain opened the car door, he caught sight of something. He pulled himself down, and feeling inside his pocket for the gun, made his way slowly to two large bins standing at the far corner of the building. One was for refuse and one for sand. They should have used the sand on the car park, Iain thought. He could feel his heart pounding from the near accident he’d had. Or was it because of the puffs of smoke he could see slowly drifting up into the cold air from behind the bins? Iain ran doubled over and placed his back against one of the bins. He could now see the car exhaust and hear the low burr of the engine. Somebody was keeping the car warm. Iain didn’t risk checking who; he could guess. He made his way to a set of stairs leading down to the back door of the building. With a little flick knife, Iain managed to open the door; suddenly he was inside a dark corridor. There was loud music and the sound of people walking in the arena on top of him.
Pia was so nervous she couldn’t help join in the giggling of the younger girls. They were sitting in the cold changing rooms waiting for Miss Joutila to speak. They were one of several groups of girls of different ages. Some were still getting changed, some were practising their routines. Miss Joutila stood in front of them, looking down at her hands. They were shaking. Pia grew serious, ‘Miss, can I…’ she began but was interrupted by the gym teacher.
‘Quiet, please.’ Miss Joutila put her hand up and gave them a deadly serious look. ‘You have a great routine and you have worked hard to perfect it. All you must do is go out there and perform. Enjoy the music, smile and give everything you have!’ Miss Joutila ran through the procedure of the competition again, about when they were to enter the stage, when to leave, what to do at the end of the routine. She’d done it so many times before, Pia and the other girls knew it by heart.
When the gym teacher finished speaking, the younger girls jumped up and down and clapped. Without really wanting to, Pia joined them. She wanted to win so badly she felt sick.
Miss Joutila led them through the long corridor towards the arena. As they approached the steel stairs, Pia heard the Russian girls’ prattle from further down the corridor. Just like them, the five girls were walking in an orderly line, with the smallest one in front. She was amazed at the size of the first girl. She could only have been six years old at the most. The tallest girl looked confident. Something about her was familiar. Her brown hair was tied in a ponytail with a bright red ribbon. The sickle and hammer on her costume made Pia shiver. She caught Pia’s look and smiled. Her face, though kind, looked sad. Did she not want to compete? Or was she homesick?
‘C’mon Pia.’ Miss Joutila guided her by the arm. The teacher’s face was contorted, her mouth in a straight line. Pia couldn’t understand why Miss Joutila was so nervous. She should be used to competitions like this. It was Pia and the other girls who should be nervous and Miss Joutila, if she were a proper teacher, should calm them down by example. Perhaps she’d had another fight with Kovtun. He’d looked fed up with her at the gymnasium earlier. Well, it was her own stupid fault to fall for a violent man like that. Miss Joutila should have known better.
The lights of the vast hall blinded Pia as she followed Miss Joutila and the girls onto the stage. As if in a trance she curtseyed to the audience and then to the judges as Miss Joutila had told them to.
Maija was reluctant to let Pia out of her sight, but Pia convinced her that she must go alone into the changing rooms with Miss Joutila and the other girls. The teacher grabbed hold of Maija’s arm and said, ‘She’ll be fine. I promise.’ Maija watched as the girls walked around the building. People were milling around the entrance to the ice-hockey hall. Another larger group of girls alighted from a bus and, giggling, went the same way as Pia and Miss Joutila. A blue and white Finnish flag fluttered next to the red flag of the USSR in the slight breeze. The sun was low and hidden behind grey clouds. Maija couldn’t decide what to do. Should she go after Pia? Iain had told her not to get involved, but to act as normally as possible. Maija shook her head. None of this was normal.
Maija found a seat right at the front, only three rows from the edge of the rink. The hall was full. She saw a few familiar faces from the school. No Anni or Mr Linnonmaa, though. The stage was decorated with the two flags at the far end. Maija wondered why the Russian one seemed much larger than the Finnish one. Was that a trick of the eye or had the Soviets brought a bigger flag with them? She wouldn’t be surprised if they had. There was a large blue mat in the middle, and a long table with a row of chairs behind it facing the mat. The table was covered with a piece of felt that reached the floor. The judges, five women and two men, were sitting at the table chatting to each other in low voices. One woman in the middle wore black-rimmed glasses and her lips were painted bright pink. While the others chatted across her, she occasionally glanced at the large clock on the side of the hall and then at her wrist watch. She surveyed the hall as people drifted in and were seated. She seemed to be in charge. Suddenly she raised her arm. This silenced the people around her and most of the spectators.
The woman spoke in Russian and seemed to be addressing a cordoned off area on the opposite side of the hall. It was mostly made up of men dressed in dark suits.
Next a Finnish man spoke, but Maija wasn’t paying any attention to what he said. Instead she was scanning the hall, trying to spot Iain. He had promised to be there to keep an eye out for Pia. Perhaps he’d gone down to the dressing rooms? Would they let him in?
When at last the Finnish man had finished talking, all the people at the table got up and started clapping. The group of dignitaries in the hall did the same. Slowly the spectators realised they too should stand up and clap. Finally a group of girls with red costumes and ribbons in their hair ran out into the middle of the mat. The Russian girls stood in a row, the tallest one first and the smallest last, reminding Maija of the Sound of Music children. They curtseyed first to the judges then turned around and did the same to the men in dark suits. Maija noticed a stout looking woman with grey hair pulled into a bun watching the girls from the sidelines and clapping enthusiastically. She must be the trainer, Maija thought. She didn’t look anything like Miss Joutila. Once again the audience was on its feet clapping politely. When the smallest of the girls started running back towards their trainer, the tallest one looked back into the hall searching for someone. She was the same age as Pia, and she had the same long dark hair. Suddenly her narrow face lit up and she waved towards a man standing in the box of dignitaries. The girl did a small skip and a jump, making her brown ponytail bounce, and caught up with the rest of the girls. Maija stretched to see who she’d been waving to.
She couldn’t believe her eyes.
The man the girl had waved and smiled to so sweetly was Kovtun. A shiver ran down Maija’s spine and she wanted to get up and go to Pia when the Lyceum girls ran to the centre of the stage and started curtseying and waving to the audience. Maija felt a lump in her throat when she saw Pia in her smart blue costume, smiling up to the hall. How confident and tall she was! And how beautiful! Maija’s heart was filled with pride. The feeling was almost unbearable. She even wished Pia’s father had been there.
Maija clapped so hard her hands were hurting. Before the Lyceum girls disappeared and Pia ran away, she smiled briefly in her direction, and blew a kiss to her daughter. She looked over to where the Russian was standing. He was clapping politely, showing no recognition of Pia. Maija sighed and once again scanned the audience.