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Ten: Veli, Sisko and Arvo


Veli

The August day had started out a little overcast, but by ten in the morning the sun was again shining brightly from between the slowly parting clouds.

It was as good a time as any for mending fences, Veli Vaara thought. Sure, his mouth was dry and tasted like something had crawled in and died in it, his head felt like if a horse had kicked it. Even standing still, the young man felt wobbly as waves of nausea washed over him.

But then, the work at hand took him away from the farm and out of the sight of his parents. In other words, today it was a definite improvement over staying at the farmhouse.

Jussi, one of Vaarala's farmhands, pulled the reins and stopped the van drawn by Rusko the horse. He looked at Veli with a measure of compassion.

”Hang in there”, he said, climbing down from the driver's perch.

”I've found it good myself to drink a lot of water, and keep myself occupied. When you can't go with the hair of the dog that bit you that is. Working helps for most things. Having something to do, and keeping your mind off it, that's the ticket.”

Veli looked at the older man and nodded feebly.

”If you say so.”

”I do. It's not my first time taking the vicar to the vicarage, as it were, when it comes to spirits. Now, be a good man and help me with the fence poles.”

Veli nodded and took a couple of unsteady steps towards the van. He felt that even Rusko looked at him compassionately.

Horses are wise beasts that way.

Veli's father had woken him up early and given him a stern scolding, like to a school boy. He didn't raise his voice. That usually wasn't his style. Salomo Vaara could hurt you with the choice of words, he didn't need to intimidate his children with being loud.

This time, the old man had seen that Veli was feeling highly resentful as it was, and thus he cut his talking-to short this time.

”You embarrassed yourself. You embarrassed me in the eyes of a few very important people. It was stupid, it was unbecoming of you as my son and as a member of this household. What with your brother deciding to continue playing soldier, though”, Salomo Vaara said, ”it looks like I am stuck with you...”

He removed his round classes and put them on his oaken desk.

”...And because of that, I am not having you turn into a bloody drunkard. That is the kind of thing that can ruin even bigger houses than ours. I am keeping my eye on you, boy - keep your hands off hard liquer from now on. I am being dead serious. Don't disappoint me again, Veli.”

Salomo Vaara was due to leave on one of his bank-inspecting tours on the eastern side of Kuopio just that day, and Veli wondered if he had already taken off while he and Jussi had been going over the fences by the far meadow. After Father gone, he would only have Mother to deal with. And with her, it was more likely the silent treatment than poisonous words. That still hurt, but it was not as bad.

”Cheer up, Veli”, Jussi said, sizing up the new fence poles in comparison to the the state of the old, decaying fence that looked ready to crumble any time, ”we all need to make our mistakes some time. All men make them. It is what we learn of them that proves a man's measure.”


….


Sisko

”I hope you could stay for a few days more”, Alma told her daughter who was packing up her things.

Sisko looked at her mother and smiled.

”Me too, Mother. But my professor wants me back in Helsinki, like all the other students. The new study year starts early this time, I need to be there in time...”

That wasn't strictly true. What Sisko wasn't telling her mother was that her early departure was more to do with Savonian Nation events than actual study issues. But then she thought that it was all equally important for her future, sor it was really just a white lie to the older woman who did not understand studying at the University of Helsinki like her daughter did.

”I'm taking Arvo's remaining luggage to town with me, too, to send them to Lappeenranta on the evening train...”

Alma and Salomo Vaara had had some words about the events of the previous night, Sisko knew, before the bank inspector again took off in a boat, wearing his three-piece suit and clutching a fat attache case. Alma Vaara was still upset about it all. She was more quiet than usual, and Sisko felt sorry for her. The birthday party had gone off without a hitch. It should have been a feather in the cap for the mistress of the household. But now, after the drunken brawl of the twins in the night, Salomo Vaara had unloaded some of his anger and resentment on his wife before again leaving her to hold down the fort.

”I am sure Father did not really mean some of the things he said to you... He was just angry and told you things he is regretting right now...”, Sisko said to her mother quietly.

Alma Vaara looked at her daughter and university student mournfully.

”Oh, Sisko, dear girl...”, she said, lowering her head, ”your father always means what he says. For better or for worse. He is an uncomplicated man that way. It is better if you learn, truly take that to heart at this point. It'll make it easier to understand him in the future.”

Sisko felt an anger rising inside her.

”You should stand up to him more, Mother”, she said, her eyes flashing.

”He can't keep treating you the way he does.”

Her mother just looked at her in silence and then left the room.


…


Arvo

When Arvo Vaara woke up, he saw a man in a uniform smiling at him with an annoying look on his face.

”Good morning, lieutenant! Your train is waiting for you”, the State Railways porter told him cheerfully, standing up to attention and making an exaggarated salute in the Prussian fashion.

”...Right”, the man on the wooden bench said, confused and irritated, and feeling slightly nauseous, and stood up. He tried to smooth his crumbled uniform and gathered what belongings he had.

The express train with its wheezing steam locomotive stood on the nearby track. Even from the outside, Lieutenant Arvo Vaara could see that it was packed to the gills, even if it had more carriages than the morning train would usually have.

Arvo's back was stiff from sleeping on the bench. When he got as far as central Kuopio, it had been the wee hours of the morning and he had decided that getting a room at the railway station's hotel would have been too late anyway. So, he had made his way to the train platform and sat down on the bench for the few remaining hours.

At some point he had fallen asleep.

The events of the previous night went through Arvo's mind as he climbed the steps to the train and started looking at a free seat. It wasn't easy. Arvo felt bad now for how he had treated his brother. Later, he would need to apologize to Veli. But then it would have to be in person, and there would be some time before that would be possible. Maybe he could write a letter?

The cavalry officer stumbled through a couple of third class carriages of mostly civilian travellers, men, women and children with their luggage in various forms, waiting for the train leave Kuopio for the south. In one of the carriages, the people were singing a popular song to pass the time. It cheered Arvo some, too, to look at a trio of young girls passionately and earnestly singing along with an older man who he thought was probably their father or uncle.

The third carriage Arvo entered, without yet finding a seat, was full of men in uniform – men in military grey on simple wooden benches, with their personal gear, chatting and smoking. Most were ordinary servicemen and non-commissioned officers, and there was an audible pause in the sounds of the carriage when he stepped in.

”Full house”, a man on his left said triumphantly. It was an artillery sergeant with a meaty face.

”Oh, fuck you Karvonen”, the man next to him retorted.

”You've the luck of the devil today. You'll have us all skinned before Pieksämäki at this rate!”

Arvo Vaara looked at the four men playing cards, using a fat suitcase as a makeshift table, and saw that there was a free seat next to them.

Keep moving, a voice at the back of his head told him. It's a bad idea.

Arvo Vaara felt his pocket with his right hand, to feel the bank notes there. He could sense the familiar heat inside animating him.

He silenced the objecting voice.

”Say fellows”, he said to the four soldiers, ”is this seat taken? I'd be happy if I can join the game".

The artillery sergeant turned towards him, and seeing his uniform and rank tabs, looked sceptical.

”I don't know, lieutenant, it's sort of a private game”, he retorted, glancing at the three others as he said so.

Lieutenant Arvo Vaara of the Häme Mounted Regiment pulled up a handful of notes from his pocket and smiled.

”Don't worry, I'm good for it.”

The artillery sergeant's previously sour face turned into a greasy smile.

”Well, that changes things. Go on, sit down, lieutenant. Welcome to the casino.”


….


September 2009

The young woman stumbled out of the taxi and looked at the gleaming high-rise shape of the hotel in front of her. The huge neon sign of the Barrière Group dominated the view. It was a casino hotel owned by the well-known French company. The woman was not the gambling type, not really. She had been to Vegas only once, and she had not really warmed up to it. The main reason she had decided to book a room at the Barrière Helsinki was that the hotel was so conveniently located for her plans. It stood in the part of town the locals called Pasila, a district dominated by new skyscrapers, and right next to it was the massive old concrete box that was the Helsinki Main Railway Station, the terminus of the Finnish railway system. From here, the woman had planned, she could comfortably take a local or regional train to most parts of the capital area.

The woman thanked the second Finnish cab driver of the day, a younger man with a goatee, who let her off without paying anything as a sort of a compensation for her ending up in an accident with the previous driver, and gathered her luggage. The taxi took off, with the driver turning up the radio to start blasting a piece of new Finnish music with a slightly Slavic feel to it. As soon as the taxi had left, the woman heard the voice of two more emergency vehicles passing at some distance.

Night life in the big city, she thought with a slight smile.

It was quiet in the opulent foyer of the hotel. The woman walked to the desk to come to face to face with a tall blonde woman in a tight dark blue uniform.

”Welcome to Hotel Barrière Helsinki! How can I help you?”

The woman told her name and showed her passport to prove her reservation and get her room. While the clerk was filling some paperwork, a man in a similar but more handsome uniform emerged from the room in the back. He had a metal key symbol on his breast pocket.

This must be the...What is it now? The conscierge?, the woman thought.

”Welcome to Hotel Barrière!”, the man with a slicked back hair said, viewed the screen and read off her name for effect.

”My name is Viljanen and I am here to help you anyway I can. We have a very nice bar and restaurant at the hotel, and there is of course our world-famous casino hall with various tables and slot machines. A helpful hint for you, Miss, if you don't mind, given that you are apparently new to Helsinki: there has been some disturbances in the city centre today, so I would not advice leaving the hotel tonight. The authorities are addressing the matter right now.”

The woman was perplexed.

”Disturbances?”

The man frowned.

”There was a VKP rally in Hakaniemi tonight that turned into something of a riot. Nothing too out of the ordinary these days, but there's still a bit of chaos in the eastern city centre. So – I'd say it is better to stay in the hotel tonight, if at all possible. There's some live music in the bar, and if you want to try your hand in gambling, let me remind you that as a valued guest in a Premium Suite you are eligible to free comp chips to the casino. Would you like to take your chips along now?”, the man said and plastered a stock smile onto his face.

”No thank you”, the woman answered, ”I'll be going to my room as soon as possible, thank you very much. I'm hella tired right now.”

”Very well, Miss. Would you like some help with your luggage?”

The dark-haired woman looked at her small mauve bag and then turned her eyes back towards Viljanen.

”No thank you, I'll manage.”

”As you wish."

The woman wasn't really accustomed to living in expensive hotels. In fact she wasn't really accustomed to being rich either. But then she had to get used to it now, she guessed.

The money ain't gonna spend itself, Aunt Donna would have argued.

She took the elevator to the fifteenth floor and then, reaching her room, flopped down on the bed.

She looked out of the window, seeing central Helsinki, the capital of the Finnish Republic, spreading out below her.

Once here, though, she suddenly didn't feel as tired as she did the moment before. Suddenly, now, she felt like a drink was more what she needed right now. And not one from a minibar, but one served by an actual bartender.

After retouching her makeup a bit and having a slight change of clothes, she exited the room. Even on a quiet night like this, she fully expected someone to come and try to pick her up, sitting alone in the bar. Right now, though, she decided that unless it was some total jerk, she would not even mind it. What with the flight and what with the accident in a foreign country, she was feeling kind of funny, kind of unreal right now.

The woman reached the foyer and took off across it towards the bar, hearing someone playing an acoustic guitar, when the blonde from the desk called at her.

”Miss – there's someone here for you”, she said, looking somewhat concerned, and pointed a finger to her right.

What the hell?

Needing to slow down her stride towards the sound of the guitar, she looked into the direction indicated and immediately noticed a man in a suit and a dark overcoat standing there. He was in his thirties, with buzz-cut hair and a sort of military countenance. As she stopped, the man took a few steps towards her and nodded.

”Miss Nora Farrah?”, he asked in accented English.

The woman nodded, not knowing what to expect.

”Yes.”

”Thank God I caught you”, the man said and put his right hand into his suit's breast pocket.


….


....


To Be Continued.