Tris grunted yet again as her shovel sank into the cold, wet snow that settled on the wooden porch of her house.
Her boyfriend, Tobias, exited the cute, brick cottage and chuckled at her appearance.
Tris had on a large parka, big enough for a small whale, heavy duty mittens, a toque and what looked like several layers of pants. Tobias wore nothing but rubber boots, a sweater and jeans.
"Sixty centimeters of snow doesn't shovel itself, you know," Tris had said intensively. She eyed how relaxed Tobias looked; his hands in his pocket and he was leaning against the railing.
"I've never seen snow like this," He said, using his bare hands as he picked up a clump. "It's so … fluffy. And light." He tossed it to his girlfriend, who of course, failed to catch it. The snowball settled itself in the knot of her downy scarf that clung to her neck. Tris rolled her eyes and continued shoveling, her fragile arms struggling under each load.
"Let me," Tobias said finally. Tris didn't even pretend to feel grateful. She shoved the aluminum shovel into Tobias' warm, firm hands and dashed into the door of the cottage, or her 'sturdy lean-to' as Tobias called it.
The couple moved to Nova Scotia, Canada in the summer.
"This is not what I had expected," Tris had said, unzipping her jacket to feel the cool breeze against her neck. It was twenty degrees out. She felt amazed.
"I was expecting snow and ice," Tobias had said as he took a look out the Halifax airport window to have his first glimpse of Canada.
They got into a shuttle, who was going to take them to the car dealer, where they had purchased a car on the internet.
The dealer handed them the keys to their new Chevrolet Silverado as Tobias handed him a wad of cash. This was all new to him; in the factions everything was supplied.
But they didn't belong to the factions anymore.
When they arrived to the small town of Ingonish on the island of Cape Breton, they were amazed at its beauty.
The way the rocks overlapped the sand mesmerized them. They weren't allowed to swim in the factions, so they loved the look of the waves crashing against children's ankles. Kayaks and canoes and fishing boats dotted the horizon with a delicate touch.
They had gotten used to the smell of cigarette smoke when they passed the fisherman's wharf on their daily walks. The smell of the smoke and fish guts mixed together repulsed them, but slowly, their noses adjusted.
But now it was winter, and not lovely July anymore. Snow had fallen and children played. Snowplows had made banks and cars rumbled behind them.
As Tobias shoveled the deck, he barely noticed a black pickup truck make its way towards the little cabin.
"How's she goin' b'y?"
It took Tobias a while to learn the language of Bretoner's, but he easily translated it now.
'How's it going, boy' He mentally thought.
"Alright, and you?"
"Polite, this one," The man spoke to his friend in the passenger seat. They all chuckled.
"Just wondering if I could give you a hand," He replied with a toothy grin. Tobias returned it. He had always had trouble with kindness, but with the citizens around Ingonish, he felt like the kindest person in the world. It just seemed normal to help someone out, here.
"Thanks for asking, but I'm fine," Tobias returned shoveling.
"I was going to ask that woman of yours if she needed help, but I was intimidated by you. Didn't want you to 'puck out my remaining seven teeth," The man gave a hearty laugh. He didn't look any older than thirty. He had blue eyes that sparkled when he laughed and a five 'o-clock shadow. It seemed like everyone had one around here.
Tobias what still grinning as he returned shoveling.
"Would 'ya like to come over to the hall in Baddeck this afternoon?" The man asked, approaching Tobias.
"Sure," Tobias grinned. "What time?"
"Three 'o-clock. Most of us will be there. Hope to see 'ya soon," The man said as he closed the door of his truck.
Slowly, he and the black truck disappeared.
When Tobias was done shoveling, he stepped inside his house.
"We've got a party to go to," He told Tris. "I was just talking to a man a minute ago, and he said we should go to the hall in Baddeck."
Tris arched an eyebrow. "Does this smell fishy to you?"
"In the summer, everything smells fishy," He grinned.
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When Tris and Tobias reached the hall, they were greeted by the man that Tobias was talking to earlier.
"I didn't tell you my name, b'y!" He said, clapping Tobias on the back.
"I'm John, and my friend right here is John also, and those girls over there are the Marys."
Tobias eyebrows knitted together in confusion: he couldn't tell if the man was joking or not. In answer, the man chuckled.
"I'm just kidding, his name is Brian and those girls- hell with it- I don't know their names. But, my name is actually John," He chuckled along with Tris.
"So, is this a community dance?" She asked John and Brian.
"You could call it that," Brian replied simply. Then he and John turned their attention to the stage where a man and a woman got up. The woman had leather shoes that seemed to amplify every step she took. The man had a weirdly strung instrument that he held up to his chin and strummed with a stick.
Neither Tris nor Tobias knew exactly what they were doing but it seemed fun and exuberant. They clapped along with the crowd as the woman stepped in an odd way and the man continued to strum his instrument.
"What exactly are they doing?" Tris whispered to John.
"You've never heard of a fiddle? I knew you were foreign, but not like this!"
"No, I don't know what the woman's doing either."
"She's stepping!"
"I know that!"
"Hey, Alec, hold 'yer bow!" John yelled suddenly to the fiddler. He did as he was told.
"This little lady 'don't know what 'yer doing and where were at!" There were gasps from the crowd, which consisted more of people that looked like they could be parents than people Tris' and Tobias' age.
"Get her up here, then," Alec told John.
John pushed Tris up to the stage to Alec and the woman.
"I'm Charlotte," the woman said.
"Tris," Tris said, shaking Charlotte's hand.
"City name, huh?" Charlotte said with a wink.
"This is a fiddle," Alec said, pointed to his instrument. Tris nodded. "And this, here-" He gestured to the crowd. "-is a Ceilidh!" The crowd screamed and whooped.
"Watch me carefully," Charlotte said as she clacked her heels. "Now you try."
With a small smile, Tris did try, but instantly failed and fell on the stage. Her face hot, she excepted Charlotte's arm to help her up.
Tobias and Tris walked to their truck after the Ceilidh.
"You should dance like that more often," Tobias said, as he kissed her on the cheek when they reached the truck.
"Yeah, no thanks."