I don’t think I need to explain what Moomin is.
”What are you?” Sniff heard a voice asking behind him. He turned around to see who it was and saw a little boy standing there. The boy was short, shorter than Sniff and had dark short hair and big dark eyes. He stared at Sniff like Sniff wasn’t there. Sniff fast looked behind him if the question was meant to someone else but there wasn’t anyone near. The boy was smiling.
“My name is Sniff. But you know, you should introduce yourself first and tell me your name and what are you”
“Oh, you don’t need to know my name, Sniff,” little boy said. Sniff didn’t know what he meant by it. Of course he needs to know little boy’s name. If not, then he couldn’t tell about him to others when he returns to Moomin’s house.
Wait a little. Where he was? Sniff started to look around and saw long straight white corridor where he and boy were. Lot of doors everywhere. Some doors were open and some closed. More little boys and little girls and they all had same clothes. And they were all same coloured. Everything was black-white.
Little boy still looked at Sniff. He calmly walked past him, “If you’re lost then you can follow me,” he said. Sniff saw him still smiling and soon ran after the little boy.
“You’re white just like my moomin friends, do you know moomins?” Sniff asked.
“No, I’ve never heard of them”, boy said still smiling. How strange he was.
“Why here are no any colours?”
“Colours?”
“Yes, colours.”
“I’ve never heard of those before, what are they?”
“W-what?” Sniff yelled, “You don’t know what colour is? So you don’t have colours here?” That was bad, really bad. If there were no any colours, then there wouldn’t be any gold or diamonds either, those things which shines all the colours of rainbow! What was this place, and why was het here? He wanted back to Moomin’s house!
Sniff has stopped walking and soon noticed it. Little boy didn’t stop and now was far away and walked inside one room.
Sniff ran after him and stepped inside the big room full of little tables and each table had one chair close to it. Little boy sat on one chair close to window where you couldn’t see outside. Sniff walked next to little boy and noticed him taking two big books out of his bag.
“You can sit there, next to me,” boy said and pointed the table front of Sniff. Sniff sat down and became curious about those big books. Maybe there were pictures with colours. Every book has pictures with colours, expect Moomin papa’s books. He only writes and doesn’t draw pictures. That was so boring. If there are no pictures, Sniff wouldn’t read it. That’s why he wants that Moomin papa tells his stories. Sniff liked to listen.
“Good morning, class,” calm voice said and Sniff saw older woman coming in to the room. She had also dark hair and white skin, no colours either.
“Open the page 489,” woman said and every little boy and girl followed her lead. Sniff searched and waited and looked carefully if there were any coloured pictures, but no. All he could see was letters, words, and some pictures of random circles and numbers he couldn’t understand.
“Why are you like that?” little boy asked. Sniff didn’t quite understand what he meant again.
“What do you mean?” Sniff asked little gloomily. Little boy stared at him still smiling a little, but there wasn’t any emotions in his eyes. Sniff were confused because the emotionless eyes and smiling mouth. It was like there was main course and dessert on the same plate.
Sniff looked around him but didn’t saw any other smiling. No, he couldn’t see anyone’s faces. Gosh this place is strange!
“Are you happy?” Sniff asked.
“Happy?” boy was still smiling, “oh, do you mean that I smile? I have heard about that if you smile, people think you’re happy. That’s why I need to smile, so people wouldn’t be worried.”
“But that’s stupid!” Sniff cried, “If you smile and you’re not happy then you lie.”
“But isn’t it better not to cause any troubles to others?”
“Quiet there!” teacher said.
“We are sorry, teacher,” boy quick responded.
What was he saying? If you don’t want to smile then you don’t need to. If Little My smiled all the time, it would be as strange as if Moomin mama stopped cooking! That though didn’t make Sniff feel any better at all. Actually he started to feel hungry all of sudden. Now he really wanted to go back home. However that teacher was really scary, like Fillyjonk, so Sniff didn’t want to say anything to make her any angrier. He wanted to play with his friends and see colours again, he missed them. Sniff felt like crying. What a horrible place.
Lesson finally ended and that scary-Fillyjonk-teacher left.
“It’s time for lunch now,” boy said and that was best thing Sniff had heard all day!
“Yes! Let’s go now,” Sniff begged and stood up.
“We can eat here, Sniff,” boy said calmly and picked up his bag on the table. He saw Sniff sad.
“Don’t worry, we can share my lunch if you don’t have your own with you.”
“T-thank you” Sniff sat down and waited for the boy to take his lunch ready. Sniff moved his table right next to boy’s table so they linked. The boy took his lunch and one big notebook out of his bag.
“Green!” Sniff shocked.
“Green?” Boy surprised.
“Yes, that notebook! It’s green! It has a colour!” Sniff smiled and stared at the notebook like he has never seen one before.
“This is colour?” Boy checked out the notebook carefully. He was focused and you could see that in his eyes this time. Then looked at Sniff.
“It is really beautiful”
Sniff took the notebook from the little boy and looked at it carefully too, as carefully as he could before boy took the notebook from him.
“Give it back!” the boy now hold the notebook against his chest and looked down, he didn’t smile.
“I-it’s really precious to me. So please,” Sniff was really surprised but he understood. By precious, he meant that it’s like gold and diamonds are to Sniff. He wouldn’t ever let anyone take them away from him.
“I found this. It was in my room on the table this morning and I feel like I must keep it with me,” now smile had come back to his face and he left the notebook lay on the table under his arm. “Let’s eat.”
“I will call you Green then, because that notebook is green too,” Sniff smiled and Green smiled back. He didn’t mind that at all.
Soon after someone walked in the classroom and curious Sniff checked out who it was. It was a boy, taller than Green and he had a dark short hair too. But this boy’s clothes were all dark, Sniff was pretty sure it was some kind of tracksuit. But that what took Sniff’s full attention was that big beautiful basketball. Its colour was close enough to gold and Sniff drooled. Taller boy came closer and sat down on the chair front of them. He held the basketball close to him and after a while played with it, threw it to wall so it bounced back and so on.
“Does he like basketball?” Sniff asked quietly so only Green could hear it.
“I love it,” basketball-guy said. Sniff surprised, was he mad? No, this boy didn’t smile at all but he wasn’t mad. He waved to Green and Green waved back to him, smiling.
“I will join you,” he said and Green nodded.
They ate colourless food in silent and Green finished before Sniff (Sniff got more to eat because he was taller). Green opened his green notebook and took a pencil from his pencil case. He seemed to start doodling. Right when his pencil touched the notebook everything felt different. Green’s eyes which were dark became beautiful green, pictures he drew, animals, plants, birds, seemed to live. Sniff stopped eating and watched how Green drew. Eyes wide open Sniff stared at the paper as the doodles coloured themselves and everything were dazzling.
“That’s so awesome!” Sniff said with his eyes shining like stars, “Can you draw huge gold crown too?”
Green smiled (like always) and started to draw crown. Sniff was so excited that he cried a little.
“How do you do that?”
“I have no idea. It’s the first time I use this notebook,” Green smiled, now for real. Basketball-guy stared at the colours and so did many others in the classroom too. Drawer didn’t notice but some kids gathered around the table. Sniff noticed, he also noticed that one in the classroom who was reading a book alone in the corner. She had a pin, white chef hat and red rose in it. A red rose! More colours!
Sniff wanted to know more about that red pin and girl, but he couldn’t leave his gold crown alone.
“It would suit you,” when said that, Green drew Sniff there. The gold crown on his head and right after that a huge gold crown, just like the one Green drew, appeared to Sniff’s head.
“W-wow!” Sniff fell holding the crown, “It’s heavy!” he whined but were dazzled of how beautiful it was, that basketball was nothing compared to it.
Green closed the notebook and at the same time the huge crown disappeared.
“No!” Sniff cried, “My beautiful crown!”
“Oh, I’m sorry Sniff,” Green said smiling. If you smile, smile for real Sniff though, still crying because his crown.
Those few kids who came to see Green drawing, soon walked back to where they were and everything was back to how it was; colourless, tiring.
“You fools,” girl with the red pin yelled behind them. When she made it here? The girl stared at Sniff.
“What are you?” Sniff didn’t how she spoke to him.
“His name is Sniff,” Green said before Sniff could. Girl stared at Sniff from head to toe and crossed her arms.
“Hmp,” she walked next to Green, “Show me that notebook.” Green didn’t want to give it to her but girl’s strong expression made him to give it to her. Sniff bet that this girl didn’t have any friends. She was close to Little My but seemed to be smarter. Pin, as Sniff decided to call her, opened the green notebook. Doodles were all colourless and now just beautiful sketches, they weren’t living on that paper anymore.
Suddenly Pin took a pencil and drew chef hat. When Pin was done, she looked disappointed.
“Why is it not working?” she mumbled. Sniff came to look at that sketch and so did the basketball-guy.
“It’s because it’s not ready yet,” basketball-guy guessed and then Green took the notebook and pencil and drew rose on that hat, exactly like Pin’s pin. At the same time that hairpin on Pin’s head grew bigger and clean white chef hat with beautiful red rose appeared.
“Ooh,” Pin blushed, her tight expression was now gone. That’s much better, Sniff thought, but it didn’t last long. Green closed the notebook.
“Don’t,” Sniff panicked, “It will disappear!” But it didn’t.
“E-eeeh?” Sniff couldn’t understand. Why his gold crown disappeared, but that chef hat stayed? Pin smiled her self-confident smile.
“It’s because this is what I really want,” she said, “That’s why.” Sniff was even more out of it, of course he wanted that gold crown! What is she talking about?
“So you want to become a chef?” basketball-guy asked. Pin blushed and nodded.
“But you can’t,” basket-guy added. Pin snapped.
“Of course I can’t! There’s no way for it because my parents don’t let me. They want that I make career as an musician!”
“I think chef is much better choice,” Sniff said quickly.
“Of course it is, because I want to do it,” Pin glared at Sniff like he was a fool, “Just like that guy with basketball wants to play basketball, but he can’t.” She added and stared at the basket-guy now. He was still sad, was it because he couldn’t play like Pin asserted?
“Why you can’t?” Sniff was curious.
“Because there are no one else like me,” he answered, “It’s impossible for me to play it alone.”
“I see,” Sniff muttered, “Why don’t you ask those faceless kids to play with you?”
Basket-guy looked around, “But I can’t connect with them, they don’t understand me at all.”
“They are just studying,” Pin said, “like all of us.”
“Just studying? Don’t you have fun and play with each other every day?” Sniff started to feel a little desperate.
“My parents said that if I don’t study I will die,” Green answered. “I don’t want to die so I need to study hard.” That was a shock to Sniff. He didn’t study; did that mean he would die at any time possible?
“But,” Green continued, “I’m happy as long as I can doodle.”
“AAAH! That’s why your notebook is coloured!” Sniff realised, “And your pin is coloured” he pointed at Pin’s hat, “And your basketball is coloured too,” Sniff felt so smart. They all stared at Sniff, that made sense and they all knew it, but they couldn’t do anything.
“It’s so easy for you to have simple dream,” Pin said aggressively and patted Green’s head. Green didn’t say anything.
“What do you want, Sniff?” Basket-guy asked.
“I want shiny and beautiful thinks, like gold and diamonds!” Sniff’s eyes were full of stars and he drooled.
Pin laughed, “But I don’t see any gold or diamonds with you, Sniff.”
“Of course you can’t, because I don’t have any! That’s why I want it,” Sniff cried again. The three others were silent and looked at each other.
“But you are coloured,” Basket-guy said, “You can have what you want but you don’t have it now,” what was that complicated talking Sniff wondered.
“Draw something here Sniff,” Green recommended and opened his green notebook again. Sniff took a pencil and started doodling, he wasn’t that good at drawing as Green, but it was fun and soon it was ready, Moomin’s house. Green took the pencil from Sniff and drew Sniff in the garden of the house.
“It was fun,” Green smiled and then disappeared, like everything else and right then Sniff noticed that he was back home.
“Here he is!” Sniff heard a familiar voice. It was Little My!
“Little M-,” Sniff shouted happily but Little My kicked him so he never finished it, “Ouch!”
“Where have you been?” Little My yelled and all his friends came running to see him. Sniff couldn’t remember a thing. It was like he had been sleeping all day and saw some strange, really strange dream but now couldn’t remember it at all.
“I don’t know,” he mumbled.
“What? Are you making fun of me?” Little My was annoyed, “we have been looking for you everywhere.”
“Sorry,” Sniff laughed.
“Don’t laugh!” Little My kicked him again.
“Ouch! Stop it!” now he was annoyed too.
Moomintroll and Snufkin laughed. Snorkmaiden opened the door and stepped outside. She had really familiar pin in her hair and Sniff stared at it.
“What is it?” Snorkmaiden asked.
“That pin,” Sniff pointed at small red rose pin.
“Oh, you mean this?” Snorkmaiden took the pin and gave it to Sniff, “I just found it. You can have it if you want. It doesn’t suit me after all.” Sniff took the pin and smiled.
“Thanks.”
”Now it’s time to eat,” Moomin mama came to say and they all ran inside. In the kichen Sniff noticed Moomin mama holding a pretty green notebook.
”Can I have that notebook, Moomin mama?” He quickly asked.
”Well, of course. I found it before, is it yours?”
”Yes,” Sniff answered. Why did he said that? It wasn’t his, but he felt like he knew who’s it was and decided to give it back to the owner when he remembers that person.
”Stinky!” Moomintroll said with the same tone of voice like always when he sees Stinky, ”What is he doing with that basketball? I’m sure he stole it again.”
”Basketball?” Sniff ran to the window and saw Stinky playing with it. Without a warning he ran outside after Stinky.
”Stinky! Give it to me!” he shouted, ”I want it!”
”Whaat?” Stinky surprised, ”You can’t have it, it’s mine! I found it!” And so whole Moomin family ran after Stinky and tried to get the ball from him because they though that it was Sniff’s.
If you watched carefully and focused to listen, you could saw the scary witch flying with her broom and laughing, ”Who’s next?”