Snowy Wishes (5 page)

He looked so cute wearing them that Robyn burst out laughing, which she quickly turned into a cough. She
didn’t want to hurt her puppy friend’s feelings.

As she and her dad wandered around the market stalls, they bought cheese, chocolate, and spice cakes for presents to take home for Gran and Gramps. Robyn didn’t see anything she wanted to buy for her mom and dad.

She spotted a shop on the other side of the square. “I’m just going to head over to that shop over there. I won’t be long,” she told her dad.

Mr. Parsons nodded. “All right. I’ll still be here.”

Storm scampered after Robyn as she headed across the square. Inside the shop, it felt really warm after the cold outside. Robyn took off her hat and gloves and stuffed them in her coat pocket.

There were lots of people looking at the gifts and cuddly toys. Robyn noticed a rack of knitwear. Maybe her mom would like a traditional hand-knitted cardigan.

As she went to have a closer look, Robyn heard raised voices. A sales assistant was speaking sharply to a tall, slim girl with black hair, who looked about twelve years old.

“I am not a thief!” the girl said in a low, angry voice. She was wearing a red felt skirt, decorated with bands of embroidery, and sturdy leather boots.

“We’ll see about that!” the sales assistant shouted, beckoning to a man from another counter.

As Robyn stood at the far end of the long clothes rack, the man hurried over. “What’s the
problem?” he asked the assistant.

“This young lady has taken an expensive
lusekofte
. See, there is the empty hanger,” the woman said crossly, pointing to the rack of knitted sweaters. “I demand that she opens her bag so that I can search it!”

“Did you see her take it?” the man asked.

The woman put her hands on her hips. “No. But she must have. One’s missing, and it was there a minute ago!”

“I told you. I have not taken it. I would never do that,” the girl said calmly, clutching her bag with two hands.

Her face was pale, expect for her cheeks, which were flushed a deep red.
Robyn could see that the girl looked close to tears and admired the way she was sticking up for herself against the bossy assistant.

“That woman’s determined to search the girl’s bag. I hope she hasn’t stolen anything,” Robyn whispered to Storm.

Suddenly, Storm’s head came up, and he gave a triumphant woof.

Diving beneath the rack of sweaters, the tiny puppy jumped up and hunted around. He grabbed something and a loose sweater came free. Storm dropped it on to the floor before padding back to Robyn.

“Oh, well done, Storm!” Robyn praised him, pleased that it looked like the young girl hadn’t taken anything. “The sweater must have slipped off its hanger. It was lucky you spotted a bit of its dangling sleeve, Storm.” The sales assistant obviously hadn’t looked
carefully enough.

On impulse, Robyn picked up the empty hanger and stepped forward. “Excuse me,” she said politely, holding it up. “Are you looking for the sweater that was on this?”

The two assistants and the dark-haired girl turned to look at her.

“I know where it is,” the woman snapped. “It’s inside this young person’s bag!”

“Are you sure?” Robyn asked. “Because there’s one on the floor. Look.”

The assistant frowned and went to investigate. A deep flush crept up her face as she came back holding the cardigan. “I…er…seem to have made a mistake. We’ll say no more
about it,” she said shortly. Snatching the empty hanger from Robyn, she marched briskly away.

The male assistant threw the girl an apologetic look and then hurried back to his counter.

Robyn’s eyes widened. “What nerve! That woman didn’t even say sorry!”

“It does not matter,” the girl replied,
shrugging. “I knew I had done nothing, but thank you for speaking up for me. I am Kristiana Magga. Everyone calls me Krista. What is your name?”

“Robyn. Robyn Parsons. I’m here on vacation with my mom and dad,” Robyn said, surprised that the girl was so calm after the unpleasant scene. She saw that Krista had high cheekbones and unusual dark eyes, which were slightly tilted at the corners.

“I am very glad to meet you,” Krista said with a wide smile.

“Me too,” Robyn said. “Do you live here?”

Krista shook her head. “I am visiting friends. My Uncle Nikolai and Aunt Jorun are with me. Oh, here they are now.”

A man and woman came toward them. Robyn saw that they had high cheekbones and dark hair, like Krista. Krista’s aunt also wore a blue felt skirt and strong leather boots. There was a fringed gold shawl around her shoulders, pinned with a circular brooch.

“This is my new friend Robyn,” Krista said.

Robyn glowed at Krista’s description of her as a friend. Since they’d only just met, it was a nice thing to do.

Krista then told her aunt and uncle about the sales assistant who had accused her of stealing. “…and Robyn proved that I didn’t steal it after she found the
lusekofte
on the floor,” she finished.

It wasn’t me, actually, it was Storm
, Robyn thought, wishing that she could
tell them all how fantastic her magic friend was. She smiled proudly at the little puppy who was sitting nearby watching, visible only to her.

“Thank you, Robyn,” Krista’s aunt said. “It’s very nice to meet you. I wish we had more time to talk, but now we must go.”

“Yes. We have many things to buy before we return to our home in the north,” said her uncle.

“Good-bye, Robyn,” Krista said with a warm smile. “Enjoy your vacation.”

“Thanks, I will. Bye, Krista,” Robyn said.

She and Storm watched as the girl and her aunt and uncle left the shop. As they walked past the glass storefront, Krista paused to wave.

Robyn waved back, feeling a little sad that she had to leave so soon. “Krista seemed really nice, didn’t she?” she said to Storm. “What a shame that we’ll never see her again.”

“I liked her, too,” Storm woofed.

“Come on, Storm. Let’s go and find
Dad.” She no longer wanted to buy any presents from this shop.

The next day passed quickly.
Sea Princess
sailed along through ever more majestic fjords, and Robyn and Storm stood on deck to watch the spectacular scenery passing by. When the ship docked at another coastal town, they went ashore with her parents to explore.

Before boarding again, she found time to dash into a shop and buy her mom
some traditional hand-knitted gloves. She also bought her dad a wallet and got felt slippers for her gran and gramps. “Great. I’m finished with my present-buying.”
Except for Storm
, she thought, wondering how she was going to buy him a present without him seeing.

Later on Robyn, Storm, and her mom and dad sat in a cafe near the harbor.

Robyn stirred a blob of whipped cream into her mug of hot chocolate and then took a big sip. “
Mmm
. Delicious,” she murmured, licking her lips.

Her dad grinned around a mouthful of muffin. “I’m not sure a chocolate mustache is a good look on you!”

“Ha-ha! Very funny.” Robyn made a
face at him and wiped her mouth.

She scooped up a big fingerful of whipped cream and slipped it inside her shoulder bag for Storm to lick. His warm little tongue flicked over her fingers, and she hid a fond smile. She loved having Storm as her friend and sharing this wonderful vacation with him.

Robyn gazed out of the window as she nibbled a spice cookie and found herself thinking about Krista.

Robyn had told her mom and dad
about the sweater incident in the shop and described Krista and Jorun’s beautiful clothes. “Your young friend is probably from a Sami background,” her mom guessed. “I read in our travel guide that the Sami people used to be known as Lapps and once moved around with their herds of reindeer. A lot of them live a more settled life now.”

Robyn remembered that Krista’s Aunt Jorun had said they were returning to their home in the north. She thought it must be amazing to live in a land of ice and snow, where it got so cold that even the sea froze.