The Crystal Bell

Part I

Sandra couldn’t wait for the weekend.  The year started wonderfully:  by a lucky stroke she could afford a pair of almost new short skis, boots and fancy ski poles. Wow... That equipment was her dream for a long time. She didn’t need to rent skis anymore and she could go skiing at any time. It was great! Sandra thought if she would wake up at sunrise, then she would catch the first bus and be in the mountains early.

Freezing cold air, sparkling blue snow and swirling around snowflakes were beautiful, but not only the beauty of winter attracted Sandra in the mountains. Not long ago she met the guy that she had dreamed of a long time. She liked him from the first glance. Sandra observed him from a distance and couldn’t stop thinking about him.  The guy looked very different from the others: his athletic body shape, face and a shiny smile were just perfect. He was like a model, like a movie star or a Greek god, who decided to come down from Olympus to ski for a little bit.  The guy had very expensive professional equipment, but he was new there and had just started to ski; it was obvious.  But even if he was falling down frequently and sometimes looking funny, Sandra liked him anyway and believed that he would learn to ski soon.   She tried to ski somewhere near the guy.  “Maybe one day he will notice me,” dreamed Sandra, but she would never try to meet him by herself. She preferred to admire him from a distance.

Everything changed two weeks ago, when he asked her a question in the changing room.  Sandra could not believe she heard his voice. Her heartbeat was so loud; she smiled happily and could not focus on the question he was asking. 

“Excuse me? Are you going to go back to the city today?”

“Yeah… Sure. Why?” She needed a few seconds to understand what this guy wanted her to do.

“Listen, I got a chance to stay here overnight, in my new friend’s room, on the ski training base but my parents don’t know about it. I don’t want them to worry about me. The cell phone doesn’t work here. Look, this is my home phone number. When you get to the city, please call my parents, and tell them that Dennis is staying in the resort for one more day.  I will come back tomorrow evening, alright?”

Sandra smiled and looked at him happily. Her soul sang: Dennis, Dennis, Dennis!   

“So… Are you okay? Did you understand what I said? Will you call?”

Sandra nodded.

 “Yeah, sure. I’ll do it for you.”

“Perfect!” smiled Dennis. “Thank you so much! You are the best!”

“What is your name?” asked Dennis after a short pause.

 “Sandra.”

“Nice to meet you, Sandra! I am Dennis.”

“Nice to meet you too,” said Sandra. Her cheeks became red, and she felt like an alien was speaking with her.

“Are you going to ski?” The locks on his boots clicked, he was ready to go.

Sandra nodded. Dennis looked at her with a smile.

“Would you like to go together?” Sandra nodded again.

“So… Let’s go?”

“Let’s go!” said Sandra happily.

It was the best day ever. The sun was shining in the sky; the snow was sparkling and all the people around were smiling. Dennis told her that he had met with the guys from the freestyle skiing team. Their training base was near there. They had their own line for practice and their personal surface ski lift. The team’s coach was going to leave and Dennis was so excited to stay with his new friends for the next day. They told him, they would teach him the skiing technique and the idea of free skiing all day long without standing in the line for the ski lift was very tempting.

The day was beautiful, the ski tracks were great, and the ski lift was excellently working and Sandra’s soul sang. Dennis and Sandra were skiing together all day, and at evening time when Dennis walked Sandra to the bus station they agreed to meet on the next week too.

They didn’t see each other in the city. Both of them were busy students, but Dennis called her sometimes and Sandra waited for his calls. She remembered that when she had tried to imagine her future boyfriend, she was always thinking about a prince, about someone like Dennis. They spent time together in the mountains and it was an unforgettable time. They skied together, they talked, they laughed, they ate together and fed each other with salad. Dennis hugged her when she was cold and called her “My little frozen bird.”  She loved his voice and the little dancing stars in his eyes when he smiled. The last time, when he had walked her to the bus station, he kissed Sandra for the first time.

Saturday morning Sandra rushed to the bus station, Dennis was waiting for her there. She could not wait for the moment she would see him again, to get a hug, and who knows, maybe a kiss. Sandra squeezed in her hand a gift for Dennis. It was a little crystal bell made of thin glass, fragile and sparkling. Dennis told her once that he had been collecting different bells for many years. Sandra thought that maybe he did not had yet this kind of bell.  She noticed Dennis between people at the bus stop. When Sandra came closer, she noticed that Dennis was not alone there. Three other guys, a little bit older than Dennis, strong and athletic, were standing with him. All of them looked at Sandra and smiled.

“Hey baby,” said Dennis. “Here are my friends. Do you remember I told you about them? This is Paul, Frankie and Val.”

Denise’s friends looked at Sandra, then at each other and smiled. They looked different, but something made them look alike. Paul was the oldest one, he was serious and strong. Frankie was thin and fast, his face had some beauty, like a girl’s face. Val probably was a company’s clown; he had a round smiley face and bright red hair. Sandra understood what made them alike; their faces were dark from the sun tan and it was so unusual in the middle of winter.

“Sandra,” said Sandra. “Nice to meet you, guys.”

“Nice to meet you too, miss!” said Frankie with a smile. “You are so cute.”

“Thank you,” said Sandra and felt that her cheeks became red. She had never had so much attention from men and felt uncomfortable from the compliment. 

“We had a lot of fun last Sunday on the training base” said Dennis, and looked at Sandra.

“Oh, yeah! You counted all the bumps on the track” laughed red haired Val.

“Right!” said Dennis, “If you were nicer, you would have explained to me how to make a proper right turn before I did it! It should be more helpful, than making fun of me!” All the guys laughed.

            “I’ll show you tomorrow. I guess, you guys are going to be together today, right?” said Frankie and winked at Sandra.

Sandra looked at Dennis. She felt very comfortable and welcomed in this company.  She appreciated Dennis for it.

            “Didn’t I tell you? Tomorrow is the last day you may ski on our slopes,” said Paul. “We are not going to be there starting the following week.”

“Why? What happened”? Dennis looked surprised.

“Nothing special,” giggled Val. “Just a championship in France. Wish us good luck, buddy! We are leaving this Monday.”

“Wow!” wondered Sandra, “You must be great skiers if you are going to the championship! I wish I could be there to see you guys!”

“So, why don’t you stay with us up to tomorrow?” asked Dennis. “You could see what they are doing on their skies. They are crazy!”

“Oh, no…” said Sandra. “I would like to stay for one more day, but I can’t.”

“Why not?” asked Paul with a light smile. He remained silent until and the question from him was unexpected. Sandra felt like a little girl in front of the teacher.

“My parents will be waiting for me today. I told them that I would be coming back.”

“It’s not a big deal! Call them now. Our coach is gonna leave tonight, and all day tomorrow you can ski wherever you want.”

Sandra looked at Dennis. “Come on, baby!  I want you to stay.”

“I am not sure I should do it,” said Sandra.

“Just try. Call your parents, and let’s see what they will say”.

“Okay,” said Sandra and dialed the number.

After ten minutes of conversation with her parents, Sandra convinced her mother that it was okay for her to stay in the mountains for one more day. She said that she had money to rent the room in the resort and she would not be there alone, her girlfriends would stay there, too.

The guys started to giggle when they heard the word “girlfriends.”

“So?”  Dennis asked when Sandra finished the difficult conversation with mother.

“Everything is fine!” Sandra smiled happily.

“Hurray!”  Dennis hugged Sandra and kissed her on her nose “You are my sweet girl…” They took their skies and backpacks, and then rushed to the bus.

All the way to the mountains Sandra laughed until she cried. The new company was so interesting and easy going.

Sandra and Dennis didn’t go to the resort. Paul gave them the key from his room in the training base and said that he would not be sleeping there tonight. The training base had a few house trailers that were used as rooms for the freestylers.   The small room where Dennis and Sandra came was cold and messy as any room where nobody lived constantly. Everywhere there was skiing equipment and Paul’s clothing. The pictures of naked girls and flying skiers covered the walls. The wooden floor was dusty.

 Sandra and Dennis dropped off their backpacks took their skies and left for slopes. They were skiing to the time when the ski lift was closed. The last bus left the bus station. Sandra looked around. The place which had been so busy and crowded during the day became so quiet and peaceful. The snow started. Large snowflakes were flying down from the dark sky, dancing in cold air.

“You will become a snow girl if you stay here for a few more minutes,” smiled Dennis. “Let’s go get something hot to eat. I’m starving.”

Sandra followed him.  All this long day she was thinking about her strange and unusual relationships with Dennis.  She could not explain to herself what was going on with her when he was near. Her heartbeat was two times faster and her breathing stopped sometimes. Sandra had blindly followed Dennis in anything he did. She tried to understand the nature of this dependence on him, but she couldn’t.

            When Sandra and Dennis finally came to their room, they were cold, tired but happy. Dennis turned on the electrical heater and very soon the metal spiral of the heater colored deep red. Sandra put her frozen hands over the heater.  The red reflection from the heater danced in Sandra’s happy eyes.  “Dennis is here, with me…” her soul sang. She sank in his name.

Dennis hugged her.

“Sandra,” he whispered, “You are my sweet girl. I’m so happy that you are here tonight. You know, nights before, when I’ve been there alone, I’ve been thinking about you, and dreaming about this night, about every second I would spend with you, baby. Do you want to be here, with me?”

Sandra felt like she was falling. She just nodded. She had been waiting for these words and for this night for a very long time too.

Dennis kissed Sandra. The kiss was long and different from other times. He knew what he did. He kissed Sandra and his hands lightly touched her back, neck, and breast and moved lower and lower over her body. 

“Dennis,” whispered Sandra.

“Shhh…” he said. “Don’t say anything now.”  He lifted her easily in his hands and put her on the bed.

***

An hour later Dennis got up, took his clothing and started to dress.

“Where are you going, Den?” asked Sandra. “Are you leaving?”

“Yep! I’m out of cigarettes. I got to go to buy some. Are you going to stay here?”

“Yes, of course I will. I’ll wait for you. Are you going to come back soon, right?”  Dennis didn’t answer. “Or… maybe you want me to go with you?” asked Sandra again.

“No,” Dennis glanced at Sandra. “It’s cold outside. Get some rest, baby. I’ll be back soon.”

“Dennis,” called Sandra, “look what I have for you.” Sandra reached for her jacket and took the little crystal bell with red reflections on the fragile facets from the pocket.

“Wow!” said Dennis. He took the bell and looked at it closely. “It is a beautiful one, thank you!” then Dennis gave the bell back to Sandra. “Could you hold it for me for a while, please? I’ll take it later. I really need to smoke, baby. I got to go now,” he said and went into the night.