Let's Paint the Town Red, My Friend
Moomintroll hadn't seen Snufkin in a few days and had begun to get worried. The small man had left behind his tent and lantern, which was odd considering Snufkin usually took everything with him even on the shortest of overnight trips and yet, everything was still as it was. Though this quieted Moomintroll's original fear - that Snufkin had left before the summer had even arrived - a new sense of anxiety had behind to arise. Was Snufkin in trouble? Was he hurt? Why hadn't he taken his things if he'd planned to be gone overnight?
When he'd voiced these concerns, Snorkmaiden had just rolled her eyes and complained that every other word out of his mouth had to do with Snufkin. She hadn't seemed worried when Moomintroll had noted that it was strange for Snufkin to leave behind his things, instead she'd huffed, turned around, and left him standing alone the porch, arm hanging over the railing, focus on the bridge and Snufkin's abandoned tent.
By the fourth day, Moomintroll suggested that he and Moominpappa go looking for Snufkin, only for the latter to shoot him down and say that doing so would only irritate Snufkin.
"I don't understand why you're not worried!" Moomintroll had complained in response, his tone exasperated, "What if something happened to him?"
"I'm sure Snufkin can handle himself," Moominmamma had replied from her place at the sink, dirty dish in paw, "He's a resourceful young man, you know that."
It was on the seventh day, when the family, Snorkmaiden, and Little My had been sitting out on the porch and eating a late brunch, that Moomintroll finally caught sight of his friend.
"Ah! Snufkin!" Moomintroll cried out with surprise and excitement. Snorkmaiden rolled her eyes and Moominmamma gave a small chuckle, but he ignored them both in favor of slipping out of his seat and running to meet his friend at the bridge.
"Snufkin! You're back!"
As he grew closer, Moomintroll was surprised to find that nothing seemed off about his friend, in fact he looked as he always did, the only difference being that in hand he held what looked to be a worn picnic basket.
"Oh, hello Moomintroll," greeted Snufkin with a kind smile.
"Where have you been?" asked Moomintroll, momentarily forgetting his manners, "You didn't take any of your things! I though maybe the Groke had grabbed you or something!"
Snufkin just laughed in response, irritating Moomintroll just the tiniest bit. "You worry too much. I was just visiting an old friend." At the mention of another friend, Moomintroll could feel his jaw stiffen, though he knew he was just being petty and jealous.
As if he could sense the sudden tension, Snufkin laughed again and instead held out the picnic basket and gave it a small shake, rattling the contents. This caught Moomintroll's attention and the tension quickly faded, replaced with curiosity and excitement.
"What have you got there, Snufkin? Are we going on a picnic.?"
"No, not exactly," replied Snufkin. He walked a few steps passed Moomintroll before turning and tilting his head toward Moomin House, "Come on. I'll explain once we're with everyone."
A few moments later, once everyone had welcomed Snufkin back from his trip (and Little My had teased Moomintroll about his worries), Snufkin began to explain what he'd brought back.
"Well since you've all been so kind to me these past few years, I thought I'd share an old spring tradition."
"Oh!" said Moominmamma as she gathered the last of the plates from the table, "How exciting!" Moominpappa and Snorkmaiden made small noises in agreement, their attention on the basket that Snufkin had placed in the middle of the table.
"Moomintroll, can you open the basket please?"
"Oh, no fair!" complained Little My with a huff, as Moomintroll excitedly flipped open the lid of the picnic basket and peaked inside. There was a pause and Moomintroll's tail, which had been wagging a moment prior, slowed to a stop in both confusion and disappointment.
"Eggs?" He asked, perplexed, "There's just a bunch of eggs in here…"
"We already ate, Snufkin," retorted Little My as if Snufkin were out of his mind.
"Precisely," Snufkin replied with a smile, "Eggs."
"Hmm, interesting," added Moominpappa as he leaned forward to inspect the basket's contents as well, "Wait there seems to be something else in here … some little … well some little somethings, I guess."
"Let me see!" cried Little My as she jumped up on the table and opened the other side of the basket. She shoved her little arm into the opening and pulled out a fistful of small white tablets, "What are these? Candies?" She made a move to toss one into her mouth, but Snufkin was faster, catching the tablet mid-air before it could reach her mouth.
"Nope! Definitely not!" Snufkin tutted with a waggle of his finger. "These are color tablets. I'm not sure if they're toxic exactly, but definitely not wise to eat. Now if you'll just hold on a minute, I'll explain …"
After asking Snorkmaiden and Moominmamma to fetch some spoons and jars, Snufkin, Little My, and Moomin took Little My's teakettle to the river and filled it the brim with water.
"Now watch this," Snufkin instructed as he carefully placed a tablet in each glass and then filled them with the river water.
It took a moment, but once the tablets began to dissolve, there was a a low rumble of surprise and curiosity from those assembled at the table as the water into different colors.
"What's happening, Snufkin?" asked Snorkmaiden, her eyes bright as she watched the remains of the tablets turn to nothing as Snufkin stirred the contents with a silver spoon.
"These are dye tablets and we'll use them to dye the eggs I brought."
"What for?" asked Little My.
As he unpacked the rest of the basket, Snufkin explained, "Before I came to Moominvalley, I would spend my springs in a small town a little ways away. During the spring months they would celebrate this holiday called Easter by dying and painting hardboiled eggs."
"What an interesting custom," Moominpappa remarked, placing a paw to his chin in thought, "Do you know why they do so, Snufkin?"
Snufkin shook his head with a small, sad smile, "Not exactly. They just paint the eggs and then hide them for the children to find. No real reason, just a fun way to celebrate the warm weather, I guess."
"Sounds like fun," replied Little My, "I'll hide them so well so you'll never find them!" She snatches a few of the eggs as she says this, but Moominmamma is quick to collect them and place them back in the center of the table.
"We have to paint them first, Little My," Snufkin chuckled in reply. He then pulled a small, thin piece of wire from his cloak pocket and began to twist it around the egg. "There's several ways to dye an egg, but this is a trick one of the town elders taught me - it keeps you from dying your paws by accident." Snufkin wrapped the metal around the egg's middle, bending the thing wire into a ladle of sorts. He then dipped one half of the egg lightly into the glass with the green dye.
"See?" He said as he pulled the egg out to show the others. The shell had turned a very light green. The assembled friends gasped in surprise.
"Oh! Oh! Let me try please, Snufkin," chanted Little My with excitement. Snufkin handed her the ladle and watched with an enthusiastic smile as she slammed the egg down into a glass with purple dye.
"Ah! Be careful, Little My! My fur!" complained Snorkmaiden, but Little My only laughed in reply.
"Do you have any more of that metal?" asked Moominpappa. Snufkin nodded, pulled out a few more small pieces, and passed them around.
"Oh! I almost forgot!" Snufkin said about an hour later. When he was sure he had the assembled Moomins and Little My's attention, he fished around again in his other pocket and pulled out three white crayons. "These are special wax crayons. You can draw on the egg before you dip it in the dye and the image will show up once the egg has dried!"
"Give it here then," ordered Little My and Snufkin tossed one to her with a laugh.
They painted a little while longer and despite urges from the others, Snufkin preferred to watch them all at work. Everyone had their own style and it was fun for him to watch their different processes. Little My's movements were erratic, her colors choices loud. She chose bright colors - mostly yellows and reds - and gave little thought to the final look of the egg, instead preferring to dip the eggs into as many colors as she could before all the colors ran together into a murky mess. Snorkmaiden and Moominmamma's eggs were neater with Moominmamma patiently turning her egg to create a sort of floral pattern on hers. Moominpappa wasn't doing much better than Little My. He'd crushed several eggs on his first try and cracked several more, but despite this he seemed to be enjoying himself. He'd given up on the little metal handle and had instead decided to use his paws to dig his eggs out, dying his fur several different colors.
Then there was Moomintroll. He'd seemed frustrated by his first few eggs and was strangely taking the whole process rather seriously. Every time Snufkin tried to offer his help, Moomintroll would blush and cover his work, saying it wasn't good enough yet for Snufkin to see, despite how many times Snufkin had tried to sneak a peak.
Once all two dozen eggs had been painted several hours later, Snufkin helped them all create small holders out of old paper towel rolls to keep the eggs upright while they dried. While Moominpappa, Snorkmaiden, and Moominmamma went off to try to wash the dye from their paws, Snufkin began gathering the remaining glasses.
"Wait!" Moomintroll caught Snufkin's arm as he tried to grab the glass full of blue dye, "Mine's not done yet! It needs to soak a little longer."
"What are you even making?" asked Little My ask she tried to turn the small ladle to get a better look, but Moomintroll was quicker. He pulled the jar close to him, protectively.
"I'm going to let it sit overnight."
"But we have to hide them, Moomin! That's the whole point!"
"Not this one," retorted Moomintroll, "This one is special!"
"But … "
"Leave him be, Little My," scolded Snufkin, "You painted all your eggs and no one bothered you, allow Moomintroll to do the same."
Little My crossed her arms and stuck out her tongue in response, but didn't push the matter any further.
Moomintroll mouthed "thank you" over her head and Snufkin replied with a wink and a smile of his own.
By the time they'd cleaned everything up, it'd begun to grow dark. Snufkin accepted Moominmamma's invitation to stay for dinner and shared stories of his latest adventure over lemonade and pasta.
The night continued on uneventfully with Snufkin providing a few tunes and Moominpappa a story. By the time Snufkin was able to excuse himself, the stars had already begun to show.
"Goodnight everyone," Snufkin said as Moominmamma placed a kiss on his forehead.
"We'll see you for brunch tomorrow, won't we?" she asked.
Snufkin nodded and promised he would come for brunch the next morning before heading out to fish for the day. Moomintroll was the last to bid goodnight.
"I'll show you my egg tomorrow," Moomintroll whispered in Snufkin's ear as he hugged him, "So please don't disappear tonight."
"I won't. I promise."
"Snufkin!"
With a yawn and a stretch of his arms above his head, Snufkin groggily sat up in his tent the next morning.
"Snufkin?"
"Moomintroll?" Snufkin yawned in reply, "I'm here. Give me a moment, please."
"Oh, of course!"
Snufkin stifled another yawn and gently smoothed down his messy hair. He pulled his cloak on over his head and wrapped his long yellow scarf around his neck, blinking away the grogginess from his eyes. Usually he was up much earlier, but from the amount of light he could see slipping in through the small slits in his tent, it seemed he'd overslept.
"Have I missed brunch?" Snufkin asked as he pulled on his shoes and placed his hat on his head.
"Not yet, but I wanted to speak with you before that. May I come in?"
This caught Snufkin by surprise but he relented nonetheless. Moomintroll had been in before and there was nothing to hide, though it did feel weird to have someone in the one place Snufkin considered his own. Still, it was Moomintroll, so he didn't really mind all that much. "Come in."
Moomintroll unzipped the tent the rest of the way and slipped inside. With one paw behind his back, he zipped the tent back up and sat beside Snufkin, keeping his one paw out of view.
"You're making me nervous," Snufkin joked. "What are you hiding there, Moomintroll?"
Moomintroll flushed, his attention going to the ceiling of the tent, "Oh … well, you know …" He trailed off, not bothering to explain his avoidance of the question.
"Well secrets are no fun," Snufkin teased, leaning forward as if he were about to pounce on Moomintroll, "May I see this very special egg?"
Moomintroll leans away, but nods. Slowly, he pulled out his paw from behind his back, pressing the other one over the top before Snufkin catch sneak a peak.
"I made this for you," Moomintroll coughed, clearly embarrassed. His face was as red as a beet, but Snufkin was too polite to mention it. "I hope you like it."
Snufkin offered his own cupped paws for Moomintroll to place the egg in. Once it was in his grasp, Snufkin pulled the egg closer to his face and quietly turned it around in his paws, inspecting it. Though he couldn't have done so for more than a few minutes, for Moomintroll it felt like an unbearable lifetime.
"Well," he asked anxiously , "What do you think?"
The design was slightly crude, but Snufkin's heart melted all the same. Moomintroll had painted a scene on the egg with the top of it being a light blue and the bottom being a much deeper blue, almost like the ocean. With the wax crayon, Moomintroll had blocked out a few white, fluffy clouds as well as a few fish in the river. With what looked to be a very fine-tipped ink pen (probably from Pappa's study), Moomintrolll had sketched out the bridge as well as a small portrait of himself and Snufkin. Egg!Snufkin had one hand on his fishing rod and the other rested in Moomin's. The cloud just above them was shaped like a heart.
Snufkin was so stunned that for a moment he couldn't form a single thought. Finally he asked, "Did you use Moominpappa's watercolors for the details here?"
"Yes," Moomintroll replied with a nod, his tone betraying his intense relief, "Do you like it?"
"I love it." The words are out of his mouth before he can decide how to phrase his feelings. "Uh, please hold this for a moment, Moomintroll." With that, Snufkin gently tossed the egg back to his friend, and fumbled with the zipper of the tent. His head suddenly felt very full of many different thoughts and the tent was very small, very warm, and very suffocating. Finally getting the zipper open, Snufkin scrambled out into the open-air and to the bridge, his chest heaving.
"Snufkin?" called Moomintroll, his tone hurt. Though he wanted to comfort his friend, Snufkin couldn't bring himself to reply, let alone face Moomintroll.
Instead he pulled the big green hat from his head and used it to fan his face, his attention focused on the river below and the fish swimming back and forth beneath the bridge. He can hear the sound of footsteps behind him and then the gently creak of the wood as Moomintroll plops down on the bridge beside him.
"Snufkin, sit with me please."
Snufkin does so, but doesn't say anything, his hand still fans his face at such a ridiculous speed that he almost drops his hat into the water.
"I'm sorry, Snufkin," said Moomintroll quietly, "If I've done something wrong or made you uncomfortable, I'm very sorry."
Snufkin froze then, his brain finally catching up with the situation. "No!" He replied quickly, "No! No, not at all, my friend! I was just … uh…. surprised is all…" He trailed off with a pat of his paw on Moomintroll's arm.
"But you're upset?"
"I'm not … I'm just not very good with my feelings is all…" Snufkin pulled his knees to his chest and turned his head away, hoping to hide the blush he could feel flaring up in his cheeks and along his neck.
"Oh!" replied Moomintroll as his ears perked up. He'd begun to understand what Snufkin had hinted at. They're both quiet for a moment, and then, in a moment of bravery, Moomintroll slowly snaked his tail around Snufkin's back and rested the tip on his friend's hip.
"Moomintroll?" Snufkin gasped softly and Moomintroll began to pulls his tail back, embarrassed.
But Snufkin felt differently and quirky replied, his voice barely above a whisper, "No! No. I like it! You just surprised me ... put it back … please." Moomintroll nodded and did so. Once his tail had settled back around Snufkin's waist, Snufkin placed his own paw over Moomintroll's, mirroring the image the latter had drawn on the egg (minus the fishing rod of course).
"Oh!" Moomintroll replied, surprised, but happily so.
"May I see the egg again, please?"
"O-of course!" Moomintroll stuttered, handing the egg back. Snufkin cupped his paws again to take the egg. Once Moomintroll has placed it again in his grasp, Snufkin turned to face him and offered a small smile.
"You promise you like it? You're not trying tp make me feel good?
"It's beautiful, my friend. Honestly. I will treasure it always."
"Really?"
Snufkin nodded, his face as red as his friends, "Yes. Of course. Always."