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Melting snow made the valley wet and damp to traverse, chunks of ice broke off the bank and dissolved away into the river as they floated lazily through beams of sunlight, green buttons popped out of the ends of tree branches like excess fabric popping out of the end of an embroidery ring. A traveler trudged through the sleet on the ground following the path to a bridge under those trees and over that river, one hand held onto his backpack strap and the other holding onto the brim of his tall felt hat. He stopped on the bridge to look down at the tall house that sat there at the base of two tall hills, smoke rising out of the chimney as the feeling of being home fell over the traveler. After what felt like the longest winter away, spring had finally come home to the valley.
Snufkin had finally come home to Moominvalley.
His oversized wellingtons sank inches into the soft mud at then end of the bridge, each footprint filling almost immediately with murky water as he stepped away from it, each puddle slowly closing the difference between him and the house. Snufkin continued onward undeterred, not even stopping to knock the mud off of his boots as the ground beneath him dried further from the river. The miles he’d traveled over the winter seemed like nothing compared to the kilometer that still lay between him and the house. He wasn’t used to walking the last stretch by himself, every year Moomin was there, running to meet him, pulling him off the ground into a hug, Snufkin’s windburnt skin sinking into Moomin’s soft winter coat. But today there was no soft fur to warm the stinging nettle wind picking at his cheeks, instead they were warmed by the blood rushing to fill them as he worried. Was something wrong? Was Moomin still hibernating or did he simply not wish to see him this year? Snufkin tried to push the thoughts from his head, no there was no way Moomin didn’t want to see him, this was supposed to be the year, their year. Snufkin picked up speed, the mud flying off of his boots into the snow and grass along the edge of the roads, and the snow flying off of his cloak and hat onto the road behind him.
By the time Snufkin reached the old wooden porch he felt more out of breath than ever in his life, a mixture of overexertion and needless panic that he tried to settle as he looked up at the familiar red wood door. Snufkin clutched onto the railing of the stairs and straightened himself, realizing how silly he must have looked running with such abandon for no good reason, Now standing in the shadow of the only place he could call home, the sounds of Moominmamma singing in the kitchen calmed his racing heart, things must be okay, Snufkin fixed his cloak and hat and climbed the stairs, or rather tried to. The red big door flew open, and out flew a red small blur. Snufkin’s keen reactionary senses had no chance, they never did with his older half sister, the little gremlin was barely half his height last time he saw her, but now she was clearing the porch and wrapping her arms around his neck without her feet ever touching the floor.
“Snufkin!” Little my cried out, as her hug nearly tumbled them both off the porch. The reunion was cut short by a gentle thud down the steps, followed by even faster thudding out to the porch, and finally a large mass of fur lifting Little My and Snufkin into the air.
“Snufkin! When did you arrive!?” Moomin questioned, holding the two up with little resistance from Snufkin, and much resistance from Little My.
“Just now when my Little My yelled” Snufkin answered, his feet dangling freely in the wind.
“Moomin, uh do you think we could maybe finish our hellos on the ground?” Little My said.
“Oh uh, oh dear,” Moomin blushed, not that either of the two could see, and set them both down onto the hard wood of the porch.
“It’s been a dog’s age since I’ve seen anyone here in the valley, I can’t wait to tell you all about this amazing village I visited,” Snufkin said, making is way to the door. But before he could mutter another word or take another step he was stopped as Little My and Moomin jumped up, throwing their arms out in front of the door. “Uhm...” Snufkin stopped, looking at the two as they fidgeted in front of the door. “Can we go inside?” Snufkin asked, now more curious than ever what was going on, first there was nobody to greet him when he arrived, now Moomin and Little My were trying to keep him out of the house?
Moomin and Little My stumbled over each other’s words with uhm’s, ah’s, well you see’s, and the occasional wellplaced I don’t know. It was eventually Little My that settled on an answer
“Because I’m the big sister and I say we have to go see everyone and let them know you’re back.” Little My thought she had been awfully clever, awfully quick, but Snufkin just thought that she was an awful liar.
“You’re barely a year older than me, now stop being silly and let’s go inside, I’d like to get warmed up with a cup of coffee.” Snufkin smiled at his friends joke, sure now that they were just messing with him for being gone for so long, but his smile faltered as neither Moomin nor Little My stepped aside. Snufkin was starting to get agitated with this game.
“Well...” Moomin started, “I’m just not sure you want to go in yet, I mean don’t you want to go see The Mymble’s Daughter, Too-Ticky and Ninny at least? They got back into the valley only a few days ago.”
Snufkin was entirely done with whatever game or joke was being played on him, his voice came out higher and angrier than he had expected it to. “I would Love to go see my sister and Too-Ticky and Ninny tomorrow,” Snufkin tried his best to keep his normal calm demeanor, but was finding it more and more difficult. Did Moomin not want him in his home anymore? Was this why there was nobody on the bridge to greet him, was he no longer welcome in Moominvalley? “Moomin?” he asked, “Do you not want me here?”
Moomin started to squirm back and forth, “no no no” his eyes darting around “It’s not that at all, it’s just that well”. Moomin stuttered and sqauped the the way he did when he had to deliver bad news, Moomin was always terrible at delivering bad news. “I just don’t think… uh, I just don’t think you want to go in just yet, it’s still so nice out and there are so many people you haven’t seen in so long!” Words started pouring out of Moomin’s mouth, every little change that Snufkin may want to see in the valley from Snork’s new pedal-power flying machine to Elysia’s new magic broom, “And the Hemulen has a bunch of new park rules we could go break, and maybe we could go see Stinky in his new windmill he built and-”
“I hate Stinky, and I wish he’d died while I was away.” Snufkin interjected. “now please,” he said sliding his way through Moomin and Little My’s arms, “let me go inside.”
“Oka~y, but you aren’t going to like it.” Said Little My
“And why on earth wouldn’t I like being at Moominhouse?” Snufkin grabbed the dull brass door knob, “Other than the way you two are acting?” he flung the door open. Immediately, Snufkin did not like it. On the other side was a figure like a funhouse mirror distortion, The same catlike features and pale skin as Snufkin, but with tanner skin and fur, while Snufkin’s fur only covered his nose region, the figure had fur all around his eyes as well, where Snufkin’s ears resembled the Mymble’s, the figure’s were furry triangles sticking out from his hat brim. Snufkin could only barely recognize him, since he had been so young the last time he saw the older scruffier Mumrik. But in a split second Snufkin was sure that it was his father, The Joxter.
“Snufkin, My boy?” Joxter sprang up from his resting place on the Moomin’s sofa, Launching himself on all fours towards the open door.
Snufkin slammed the old wooden door shut, with a Clang and a Yeowl from the other side. “I have decided that I would like to go see everyone.” Snufkin said with a voice so flat that neither Moomin or Little My could tell what emotion to respond with, so the responded by looking at each other nervously as Snukin made his way down the long dirt road towards Mymble Jr.’s cottage. Jogging behind him trying to keep pace as Snufkin walked faster than they’d ever seen.
[Middle section cut due to page limit]
“-and just as the great fish jumped from the water, we were sure it would land on the boat and sink us, when suddenly WHAM Joxter was ontop of it riding it on the waters surface!” Muddler threw his arms in the air, “Me and Moominpappa could barely keep hold of the reel as the great beast dragged us along the edge of the lake ramming us into the rock walls-”
“s’not easy to steer a fish y’know” said Joxter.
“How did you catch it then, if you couldn’t reel it in or steer it?” asked Ninny.
“Ah, Well you see~” Muddler resumed the story, “With Moominpappa holding the fishing line like a rein and Joxter on top trying to steer we were able to get the beast to swim towards the lake shore...---¨
Everybody in the room seemed to be engrossed in the story, but Moomin couldn’t help but focus his eyes at the window, where Snufkin sat in the cushioned nook, he didn’t seem to be even listening to the story, instead his face was scrunched and upset looking back and forth from the window to Joxter.
“Finally with the help of 2 ships and a lighthouse we pulled the giant fish ashore! and it terrorized the beach no more!” Muddler bowed as he finished telling his story
“It really was such a lovely town in the summer,” Joxter purred, “Purhaps this year you should visit Snufkin?”
Snufkin glared at him, “I’m quite happy to stay the summer in the valley.”
Joxter’s looked annoyed at Snufkin’s answer, “You’re always here in the summer, haven’t you had enough of Moominvalley yet?” he glanced towards Moomin.
Moomin winced and Snufkin opened his mouth to respond, but before he could Too-ticky jumped up into the middle of the room.
“Is about time we started on dinner don’cha think Moominmamma, And you lot-” she pointed towards Joxter, Muddler, and Moominpappa, “can come help us cook, everyone else, er you lot can go outside and wait for supper, cannae have to many cooks in the kitchen right?”
Joxter slipped into the kitchen as Snufkin slipped out the front door, both semi-grateful that Too-Ticky had given them a reason to leave, the rest of the house guests split off from the parlor, Too-Ticky, Mymble Jr. and Ninny joining the older folk in the kitchen to help Moominmamma cook, Moomin, Sniff, Snork, and Snorkmaiden rushing out into the field behind moominhouse to join Snufkin.
The group sat out in the field and time seemed to melt away around them, Moomin fell back into the tall grass, crushing it down into a makeshift bed as he gazed into the cloudy night sky, Snork fiddled with his newest prototype flying machine, but couldn’t get it more than a few foot off the ground, and Snufkin played a familiar tune on his harmonica, it was a sad sounding song he’d heard him play years ago when they were children. The music seemed to fill the valley and make the wind feel colder than any winter. Moomin’s mind seemed to race through molasses as he thought of any way to fix this, any way to stop Snufkin from leaving. A million thoughts trickling through his head and slowing to a crawl as they cooled in the night air. Maybe, Moomin thought, it was a good thing that the Joxter had left so long ago, if all he was going to do was make Snufkin sad then Moomin didn’t want him around. The fireflies flickered overhead, seeming to illuminate in time with the harmonica. The more time passed, the less he understood Papa’s stories, the Joxter he had heard about in the stories that sailed the seas with Papa and the Muddler wasn’t at all like the lazy and wicked Mumrik that had been sleeping on his couch, the Joxter in the stories rescued papa from the cruel mistress at the orphanage and fixed the engine of a boat to save the crew, the Joxter on the couch kipped into Papa’s wine and dropped Hattifnattars onto people from trees and laughed when they got shocked. Moomin was 3 foot deep into 1 foot of thoughts when he heard Moominmamma’s voice carry over the hills,
“Moomin dear, Snufkin dear, Snorkmaiden dear, Snork dear, Little My dear, Sniff dear!” Her voice carried each of their names to them over the wind, Snufkin packed his harmonica into his cloak pocket as they all turned their heads towards where they knew the house sat, hidden behind the hill. “Dinner is ready it’s time to come in.”
Little My and Sniff jumped straight up from their patches of grass and made a dash for the hill, Snorkmaiden and her brother following close behind with Snork tucking his model flying machine under his arms to protect it from the wind, but Moomin couldn’t quite bring himself to jump for anything right now, turning to the stump where Snufkin sat to make sure he was okay, that he was ready to go back to the house, Moomin was ready to sit outside all night and starve if it meant he wouldn’t have to see Snufkin cry again.
But the stump was empty. Moomin sat up onto his shoulder, twisting his body around to get a better view of the old maple stump that had just played the stage in Snufkin’s concert, only to find it just as empty as it was on first sight. This is it! Moomin thought in as loud a thought as his head could manage, Snufkin has left into the forest, run off never to return, or my dear Snufkin what am I to do, I suppose I should go get my knife and follow him, if we must live in the forest so be it, though I will mi-.
Moomin’s train of thought was derailed as a slender hand wrapped around his shoulder.
“Do you need help up?” Snufkin asked, looking concerned for a moment. “All that talk of getting older, don’t tell me you already gotten so arthritic you can’t get up for dinner.”
Snufkin’s face broke into a smile as Moomin took his hand and pulled himself up, Moomin had never been quite so thankful for the thick fur around his cheeks until now as they hid a blush so severe it could heat a small home.
“No of course not, You just vanished and I was looking for you” Moomin said, knowing it was the truth, but feeling like it was a lie. “I wanted to make sure you heard mama call,” Moomin lied again.
“Even if I hadn’t” Snufkin chuckled, “We both know Moominmamma’s cooking is the only thing that can make Sniff move that fast.”
Moomin chuckled and they started walking, he felt silly now thinking that Snufkin had just abandoned him off in a forest somewhere. “Not true” he said “Elysia threatened to curse him one time and I thought Sniff had learned to fly without a broom!”
They both laughed as they reached the top of hill, it was here that Snufkin realized that Moomin had never let go of his hand after he helped him up, and at the same time Moomin noticed that Snufkin had never let go of his hand. Each one waited for the other to be the one to pull away, but neither one did, They walked down the hill in silence, and if anyone looked at them strangely when they walked in they were to busy not talking to notice. they finally broke apart when it came time to wash their hands since it would have been rather awkward to do, though a part of Snufkin almost wished that they had tried, like a more hygienic three-legged race. The rest of the house guests filled the kitchen, Ninny and Mymble Jr. setting the table as Too-Ticky and Moominmamma putting the finishing salts and peppers into the stew and basketed the breadrolls, Everyone found their seats at the table, with Snufkin and Moomin taking the seats as far away from Joxter as possible. Moominpappa lead them in Grace, and then Moominmamma served out bowls of stew and bread rolls. The dinner started off unusually quiet for moominhouse, the normally lively dinnertime conversations replaced with an awkward silence. Everybody at the table waited for somebody else to break the silence, but nobody was willing to break it themselves. No topic seemed to fit the tone of the room, anything light would be uncomfortable with the tense atmosphere left over from the earlier argument, but resuming the argument seemed inappropriate over such delicious stew, and so everybody decided to stay quiet, Too-ticky said nothing to Mymble Jr. and she didn’t respond, Little My didn’t crack any jokes on Sniff and Ninny didn’t spread any rumors. Moominmamma didn’t even speak to ask if everybody was enjoying their meal, the conversation was empty, and like an empty plot in a garden, weeds tend to snake their way in.
“So, a Moomin, huh Snufkin?” Joxter asked, his voice growing across the table like bindweed.
Snufkin’s eyes widened and his face reddened, “What?”
“You and Moomintroll, just like your father eh? Can’t settle for a mumrik, we’ve got to go big, though I’d still say a mymble is a bit closer to a mumrik, so you’ve got me beat there. I guess it finally makes sense why you keep coming back to this nowhere valley three quarters of the year, I did the same thing when I meet Mymble, though she preferred I come in winter”
Snufkin’s face went so red that had you not heard the conversation you would have thought he’d come down with the worlds quickest and most lethal fever, which was about how he felt at the moment. Moomin’s face also went red, this time deeply enough that it tinted his fur, in fact almost everybody at the table’s faces went red except for Snork and Snorkmaiden, whose fur turned red over their whole bodies, and Moominpappa who was still oblivious to what Joxter was talking about.
“So have you asked Moominpappa for his hand… er Paw yet, or was Moomintroll planning on asking me?” Joxter chuckled
“Wh-What!” Snufkin bolted straight up from his chair, followed almost immediately with Ninny and Little My falling out of their chairs in fits of laughter, “I-I- You- have no idea what you’re talking about!” he stammered loudly
“Oh come now Snufkin,” Joxter sat upright in his chair. “AHA!” He shot up slamming both hands on the table. ” So this is why you’ve been acting so cold towards me, you were worried I wouldn’t approve, but don't be silly, I’m just glad you’ve fallen in love. If you’re happy then I’m happy for you” Joxter said, seemingly oblivious to the stunned silence at the table.
“LOVE?!” Snufkin and Moomin yelped after recovering from their shock.
“I never said I was in love with Snufkin!” Moomin shouted, now standing as well.
“Yeah” exclaimed Snorkmaiden as she stood up as well, “He’s in love with me!”
“What!?” Moomin frantically waved his hands in front of him, “I never said That either!”
“Nobody!” Snufkin slammed his hands on the table, his eyes going wide “Is in love with anybody”.
Moominpappa stood up and slammed his hands on the table as well, “I’m in love with Moominmamma!”
“Yes, dear, we know.” Moominmamma sighed.
“And I’m in love with Mymble.” said Too-Ticky also standing for no real reason other than feeling left out.
“Yes, we know dear.” Moominmamma sighed deeper.
Little My pulled herself up with the table, “Sniff is in love with Elysia!”
Sniff jumped up from his chair now, “I’d never fall in love with a witch!”
Muddler stood and admonished his son, “Sniff, what a rude thing to say, I fell in love with several witch’s in my day! There’s nothing wrong with loving a witch.”
Soon everybody in the room was standing and declaring who they did and didn’t love, over all the conversation Joxter yelled out to Snufkin “So if you aren’t in love with Moomin why do you keep coming back?¨
“Because I want to, why does it matter to you!”
“Because I’m your father and, and I don’t want you to make the same mistake I did!”
“Mistake!? You mean Me!” Snufkin snapped, tears welling up in the corner of his eyes. every other voice in the room rolled to a whisper, and then to silence, every set of eyes glancing back and forth between Joxter and Snufkin. Joxter stepped back, his normally non-plussed attitude pierced by those three words like an arrow.
“no.” Joxter whispered, “No no never, I just meant, Just i mean..”
“Well!” Snufkin snapped, “What did you mean!”
“You weren’t a mistake, I mean you were an accident, but not a mistake, I just meant getting stuck in one place. Before I met your mother I never stayed in one place for 13 days, let alone 13 years, but she was unwilling to travel with all of the kids, so I stayed, first for a few week, then months, then we had you and it turned to a year, then she left and you wanted to stay here and so I did, for 10 more years until I thought you were old enough to travel with me, but even then you just… You just wanted to stay here, and then you start traveling on your own and it’s barely 3 months of the year, it’s just, it’s not healthy for Mumrik to coop themselves up in one place for too long.”
“I’m not a mumrik...” Snufkin’s voice was low, like it wasn’t sure if it should be angry, or ashamed. He thought back, to the day his father asked him if he wanted to leave the valley, of course he hadn’t, but of course Joxter would.
Joxter’s face fell, his eyes looking down, to the side, just anywhere other than his son. “I guess I should have figured that, and I think I kinda did the day I left, no Mumrik would turn down an offer to travel the world...” he paused “but no mymble would travel aimlessly half the year either. I guess I was just hoping you’d take after me, and tried to force you to be…” He finally looked at Snufkin “I guess that’s why you’ve been mad at me the last 10 years, huh.” He looked away again, much to late to avoid Snufkin seeing the tears welling up in his eyes.
“...yeah… that.. that’d be why..”
Joxter wiped his face, even now in his fragile moment he was much too proud to cry in front of Muddler. “I’ve been hoping for 10 years you’d come to your senses and come travel with me, but I suppose I was waiting for a boiled egg to hatch. You’d already figured out what you wanted. If you’re happy here in the valley, then I suppose if I want to travel with you then I’ll have to make my way back here when winter comes.” Joxter smiled at his son, hoping his apology would be received, but fearing that it came to late “and if you really love Moomintroll then I grant him my blessing”
“Excuse me, shouldn’t I get a say in that part?” Interjected Moominpappa, “He’s my son as well, so I also need to give Snufkin my blessing!” Joxter and Snufkin became acutely aware that everybody was still in the kitchen listening to their long overdue talk. Moominpappa stood himself up very straight and tall like he was about to address an army, Puffing in his chest “I give Snufkin my blessing.” and sat back down.
“Neither of us really planned on asking but thank you I suppose” Mumbled Moomin.
“Wait I’ve lost track” Ninny had her head in her hand like a student during a particularly confusing lecture “Is this a confession of love, or the mending of a father-son relationship?”
“Can’t it please just be dinner?” whined Sniff.
“I think that would be best,” said Moominmamma “If we keep having emotional moments the stew will go cold, it’s best to do that in the parlor during coffee”
And so they all sat back down. Taking Moominmamma’s advice and eating their (now lukewarm) stew and having regular dinner conversation.