TRAVELING ON NEW YEAR’S DAY

On the table, there were still the plates and glasses, bottles and crockery from the big end-of-

year dinner. There were also food leftovers, the tablecloth was stained with wine, and there were broken glasses and bottles on the floor. She didn’t feel like cleaning up, putting everything back in order. That was A NEW DAY. It was the first day of the New Year. It was snowing but Martha had a great desire to leave, to set out on the road in search of HER PLACE. A place that she had never found in thirty-five years of life. It wasn’t easy to leave in her condition as she had become lame following a fall. However, despite the discomfort of her physical condition and the bad weather, she was determined to leave. So after having bundled up in her windbreaker, putting on her boots, and leaning on her stick , she set off in the snow and started her journey. She didn’t know WHERE TO GO, she only knew she wanted to leave. In that place she hadn’t none to leave. Friends? Good for spending a cheerful night but she always felt alone.

And the loneliness would be her travel companion.

She walked for a long time in the snow, under the snow that continued to fall and she only met a few cold and hungry beggars, but she couldn’t stop to help them because she had to continue on her way. She also met snowmen. To her great wonder a snowman with a red hat smiled at her and asked her where she was going.” I’m leaving looking for my place” said Martha.

“Eh, it’s not easy to find your place in the world,” the strange snowman said.

“ I didn’t know that even snowmen looked for their place,” Martha said.

“ Oh, not everyone. Many are content, they resigned themselves to stay where they are, where people put them. But I’m not among them” he said. “ In fact, I would like really to get on the road too, but I can’t move from here. Could you help me?” he asked. Martha was shocked, she couldn’t know how she could help him. “ All you have to do is touch me with your stick and I will be able to move,” the puppet told her. Martha didn’t believe it was possible and hesitated to touch him with her stick, fearing she could shatter him. “ Come on, give me a push with your stick and I’ll able to move” he urged her.

In the end Martha made up her mind and she touched the snowman’s belly with her stick. The puppet staggered but he didn’t leave the ground. “ You have to hit me harder and lower, at my base” he said. Martha delivered a firm blow to the base of the puppet which finally left the ground and stood beside her. “ What would you say if I accompanied you on your journey?” the puppet asked. Martha was stunned and uncertain. He had decided to make her journey alone and now she found a snowman as her traveling companion. “ Sure, you can accompany me. But what will happen when it stops snowing and the sun shines again?” she said ( asked)

“You don’t have to worry about my fate. What matters to me is finding my place before the heat of the sun dissolves me” said the puppet smiling quietly at her.

They walked and walked as the snow continued to fall. “ Where are we going to end up?” Martha asked herself worried and silent, while the snowman, who moved in jerks, kept talking, telling her about his life as a snowman and also asking her questions she couldn’t answer. The puppet wanted to know how she imagined her place, that she is looking for and kept asking her why she felt so dejected and desolate. “ You’re are young, you have a life ahead of you, you have all the time you want to find your place in the world. Instead, I am just a poor snowman destined to melt in the sun because sooner or later it will stop snowing and the sun will shine again…Some children made me for fun but none of them knew that I am a living and sentient being. For everyone, I am just a thing, much less than a toy because I am destined to melt in the sun when it stops snowing. “

Martha began to feel sorry for the poor snowman’s fate. Now that he had become her traveling companion she didn’t want him to dissolve in the heat of the sun and she hoped it would continue to snow for a long time, even forever. At the same time she couldn’t help but think if she could find HER PLACE, the place that had always been waiting for her that had to exist somewhere. She would have liked to reach it in the companion of the snowman.

When after a few hours stopped snowing it was already dark and there was no fear the heat of the sun could dissolve the snowman. A large pink full moon was shining in the sky. Under the moon’s rays that illuminated and made him shine but did not destroy him the snowman was a glittering wonder. Martha felt like she was in a dream.

“ I’m really happy it is night so I can survive a few more hours,” said the puppet of snow, all cheerfully. “ What do we want to do, my dear, on this splendid night? What would you say if we started dancing?” he asked. “Oh, sorry, but I’m not able to dance” Martha found herself saying regretfully. “ It’s doesn’t matter if you don’t know how to dance. Dear, you have to come close close to me, then you have to hug me and you will see that you will be able to dance with me under this inebriating moonlight.” Martha , not without some hesitation gently hugged the snowman. She was amazed: how soft and fluffy he was! And the puppet had a freshness that awakened the senses. “ Hold me tighter!” the snowman encouraged her. “ Don’t be afraid! Hug me! Hug me tight!” Martha hugged the snowman tighter and tighter, she clung to him until she entered his body which was made of soft, white snow. The two, entwined like two passionate lovers, whirled lightly. Then, still circling, they began to fly, driven by a force that perhaps came from their bodies, which perhaps was a gift, a miracle from the moon. “ You said we would dance but now we’re even flying!” Martha exclaimed, enthusiastic. “ That’s right, my dear, we’re flying! And do you know where we are headed, where we will land? None less than ON THE MOON!”

Martha felt as light as a breath. She was flying to the moon! That she would reach with her traveling companion, the snowman! Here, THE MOON was her place, the place that awaited her and it was also the place of the snowman. They were happy and light together united as they flew towards the moon. Martha felt they would be happy together even on the moon.