Then Nina put the skirt on her daughter, and tied the belt so it fit the girl’s waist. Since Nina was very short for an adult woman, the skirt reached Larisa’s calves.
Next Nina took her straw hat and tied it onto Larisa’s head with a pink scarf. Nina decorated her daughter’s shoes with bows, and Larisa looked like a peasant girl. She ran to a mirror checking herself out, and laughed with delight.
«I am a shepherdess!»
«Yep, honey.» Nina gave her a big toy lamb. «And you won’t be cold now.»
«We’re ready!» exclaimed Larisa, seeing her father, along with David VanStein and Hannah, enter the room.
«Are you crazy?» Vlad gasped. «It’s snowing outside and you wanna send Larisa out wearing only that?»
«Not to worry, honey.» Nina smirked, explaining about Larisa’s costume, and Vlad hugged his wife. «You’re the smartest woman ever!» He kissed her, then his daughter. «Good luck, my girls.»
«Where is Megan?» Nina asked David.
«She’s with Dylon. He is too small to go out,» said David, patting Hannah’s head. «Besides, he feels unwell. Maybe next year.»
And they all, except Vlad, left the house.
Vlad looked around the deserted room and sighed. He yearned to go with his family, but he had no driver’s license yet, and he was not familiar with the town. His eyes rested on the plate of candy that Nina had prepared for treating the children who would come to the door, and the thoughts of the young scientist changed.
«Interesting,» he thought. «How many calories in one portion of the treats?»
From the kitchen he brought a scale and plastic cups, and started sorting the candy. Wrapped up in the task, Lapin took his notebook, and did some calculations.
«Don’t forget to count out the weight of the papers,» Vlad told himself, forgetting everything. «Minus the weight of the sticks of the lollipops…»
The knock at the door disturbed him. Vlad jerkily opened the door. «What? What do you want?»
A boy wearing a pirate’s costume looked at Vlad in bewilderment. «Trick or treat.»
Vlad came back to reality.
«Sure.» He held a cup brimming with candy and dropped its contents it into the child’s bag. «Here you go.»
«Wow!» The encouraged boy shook his bag. «Thank you, sir!»
«Happy Halloween.» Vlad closed the door and wanted to go back to his calculations, but he heard a tapping. He threw his notebook and thought angrily, «If I turn off the lights and go to the bedroom, I can count and no one will disturb me.» But, shaking his head, he returned to Earth at once, and taking the plate with candy, Vlad said to himself, «Have I cracked or what? It’s a children’s holiday. Relax, buddy!»
During the next few hours he just opened and closed the door giving candy out, and he was surprised at how many children were in this small town. The process became rote for Vlad, and when the door opened and Nina and Larisa came in, he mechanically held out a plate towards them.
«Daddy, daddy!» exclaimed the girl, showing her bag. «Look how much candy I got!»
«Some people offered candy to me, too.» Nina was talking with a winsome grin. «They said, „Let your sister have some candy, too!“» She burst out laughing. Vlad just smiled at his female family members, deriving joy from their naively happy report.
«And I saw a dog with horns,» Larisa said, piling her candy into the almost empty plate.
«Yeah, Vlad.» Nina’s doe eyes sparkled with emotion. «I thought I was going insane. Picture it. The door opened, and I saw a goat in the house. But it was just a golden retriever.»
«Goldy is her name,» cut in Larisa, rummaging into the candy.
«Yep,» Nina continued. «Her owner put something like a cap with devil’s horns on her head. Oh, he is such a cute old guy. You know, with a walking stick, neat clothes. Very nice man.»
«He asked me,» yawning, Larisa interrupted her. «And others asked me, „Aren’t you cold?“»
«Oh, what time is it?» The woman gasped. «Go to sleep, go to sleep.»
«But the candy…» The tired girl became capricious, and Nina took her in her arms, and brought Larisa into her room.
Vlad looked at the sweets, then at the plastic cups, and took up his notebook and calculator again.
When Nina finally came back to the room, he was asleep, with his head on his arms, half lying on the coffee table, and the plastic caps with candy in them surrounding him.
The woman took his notebook, and shook her head. «Oh, Vlad, Vlad…»
She gently woke him and helped him get in bed. Even falling asleep, Vlad still murmured about the calculation, and Nina lay next to him, pressing his head to her chest. «Sh-sh-sh. Enough, honey,» she whispered with all her tenderness. «Sleep, sleep, my beloved man.»
His closeness revived her memories and Nina thought about their first date.
That day Vlad unexpectedly asked her to marry him and invited her to a soccer game.
It was a great surprise to Nina. Vlad was her true love, the love from the first sight, but Vlad neither courted nor flirted with her before. He only paid attention to study, and the girl was sure Vlad even did not notice her existence.
That day a professor offended her, and Nina was crying in the University’s corridor. Then Vlad came to her and made his proposal.
«Would you marry me?» he asked casually, and the girl could not believe her ears. Vlad hugged her. «I’d like to go out with you. Right now. Would you come?»
She nodded, and did not even think that it was strange. It was her chance, and Nina rushed into this adventure, like jumping into the water.
It was also the last day of October, and the first snowflakes parachuted from the gray sky. It was very cold even for Moscow, but the frost could not cool down the true soccer fans gathered at the stadium. The stormy reactions of Vlad amazed the girl, because in most situations he was very reserved.
She did not understand all the details of the game, and only followed her beloved man.
If he was getting upset, she felt tears in her eyes. When he shouted, cheering on their team, she was screaming too.
And when the visitors scored a goal and the stadium fell into a deep gloomy silence, the girl sensed such hatred for the player who did it that it surprised her.
But the host team soon tied the score, and when a player from the host team scored the final goal, the stadium burst into an elated victory ovation.
«We won!» shouted Vlad, grabbing Nina into his arms. Carrying her like she was a child, he spun around a few times.
No one had ever done this to her, and the wowed girl panted, wild with euphoria. It was their first day together, and she prayed that it would not be the last.
When they went downstairs to the metro station, people going from the game were throwing coins making a glittering tapping stream of money running down along the steps.
«Why are they doing this?» wondered Nina. Vlad shrugged his shoulders.
«We won. It’s a tradition.»
She saw him hesitate, but he took out a small coin and threw it too.
«Oh, you’re a tightwad,» the girl thought, but even this only increased her feelings for Vlad.
At home, as Alla opened the door, the giddy Nina gleefully addressed her: «Mom, I’m gonna get married!»
While her daughter was telling her all the details of the day, Alla just stared at her.
When the girl finished, smiling like a drunk, Alla slowly replied, smoothing her daughter’s hair. «It’s okay. Even if he abandons you with a child, I’ll help you raise our baby, don’t worry.»
Nina could not reply, and Alla left the room.
«Abandon me?» This thought made the girl anxious, but another, stronger feeling immediately pushed all her worry aside. «No matter! I was happy today. No matter what happens next. No one can take this day from me. No one.»