Page 46 of A Season in the Snow
Finally Alice heard some voices, laughing, moving closer towards the chalet. She stroked Bear’s head. ‘Hey, it’s okay, it just means we might be getting some neighbours. We’re not living in a zombie apocalypse after all. Maybe the ski season is starting –Bear!’
He’d jumped up and was facing the door, growling a low rumble, a sound akin to distant thunder.
The voices got closer and Alice’s heart quickened as they came right up to the door. Bear let out a deep woof, on red alert. He stood between Alice and the entrance and woofed again, and again, shoulders hunched and ears forward, and even though she still thought of him as a puppy – at six months old with slightly-too-long back legs that he hadn’t grown into yet – looking at him now she realised he was probably the size of a fully grown ‘normal’ dog. He looked quite tough.
Bear glanced back at Alice before facing the door again, warning the strangers,Get away!, but the voices didn’t break, they just continued past and then Alice heard the sound of locks and boots being stamped at the neighbouring chalet.
She crouched down and got Bear’s attention, who turned, tail wagging, now he’d rid the world of danger, and licked at Alice’s face. ‘They were going next door, nothing to worry about,’ she said, when she could get her words out without the risk of being kissed. ‘But thanks for saving me.’
Alice returned to the sofa and tried to focus on her book, but her eyes kept being pulled to the side window. Something was different out there on the mountain, but she couldn’t put her finger on what. She read the same sentence three more times before she realised it was movement. The ski lift: it had been activated. She couldn’t see anyone on the slopes yet, so she guessed it was a pre-season lift warm-up, if they did such a thing.
She watched it, mesmerised by the slow, methodical movement. From here it looked like it would make no noise at all, like it was just existing in its own space, up and down.
There was a loud knock on the door and Alice started, not quite knowing what to do with herself. Who would be visiting her? What was ‘hello’ in Swiss German? Why hadn’t she wiped off yesterday’s crusty mascara yet?
Bear, who didn’t seem to regard this knock as a threat, was already waiting by the door, and when she went to open it his nose pushed its way through before she had a chance to grab him.
‘Bear!’ she cried, just as the man behind the door whooped at the sight of a big Bernese Mountain Dog bouncing out and into the snow. The man turned as Bear circled him, tail going at the rate of knots, jumping up to hug him.
‘Down, Bear, down, come back in here, I’m so sorry,’ she was saying, but the man was laughing loudly and hugging and petting her dog like they were old friends.
Bear eventually jumped down and legged it back into the house, wanting to show it off to the mystery visitor.
The man brushed the snow off his coat that Bear had kindly just painted him with. ‘Vanessa, du hesch e Hund? Oh!’ He looked up and saw that she was not Vanessa. ‘Sorry,ich heisseMarco . . . are you English?’
‘Yes, do I look English?’
‘Yes.’ He laughed. Marco was tall, maybe a touch older than her, with a smiley, open face and sandy hair a similar colour to his lightly sun-kissed cheeks. He was wearing a thick ski jacket and salopettes, and his accent when he spoke English reminded her of Vanessa’s – sing-song and welcoming as he effortlessly pronounced his words. ‘I am Marco, I’m so sorry for disturbing you and this amazing dog.’ He ruffled Bear’s ears, who’d returned to the door to find out why his new best friend hadn’t come inside to play yet. ‘I was just coming to say hi to Vanessa; she doesn’t live here any more?’
‘No, she does, I’m a friend of hers and I’m house-sitting for her over the winter. She has a job as a tour guide, going all over Switzerland. She’ll be back for a few days in a couple of weeks.’
‘Oh, that’s cool. You are here all winter? I just arrived next door! We are new neighbours!’
Bear squeezed his way in between Marco’s legs and just stood there, his front facing out into Mürren and his bum in the house, and the act suddenly made Alice aware she was letting all the heat escape.
‘Would you like to come in and have a cup of tea?’ She couldn’t have sounded more British if she’d tried, but inviting someone in just for the social aspect was a bit alien to her these days.
‘Sure, I’m not interrupting you, no? Wow, I forgot how nice this view is, huh?’ He beamed at the living-room window.
‘I’m Alice, by the way, and this is Bear,’ she said, making her way to the kitchen, wondering just how close Marco and Vanessa had been. ‘Do you actually drink tea, or would you prefer a coffee? I think I saw some instant coffee in here.’
‘Tea sounds fun, thank you. So you’re really here for the whole season. When did you arrive in Mürren?’
‘A week ago. Apart from some new friends in the Coop and the Guesthouse, you’re nearly the first sign of life.’
‘It’s quiet out of season, right? My housemates are ski instructors and I’m a paramedic on the mountain rescue helicopters. We’re usually some of the first people here, not including the residents, like Vanessa.’
‘You do mountain rescue?’ Alice asked as she pottered about the kitchen, her thoughts brewing just like the tea.
‘Yes, I do it all year around but during peak season we can do up to twenty-five rescues a day, so they call on extra staff to be positioned in the mountain resorts. I always come to Mürren because this is where my brother and his wife – two of my housemates – always come to teach. We always rent the chalet next door, it’s home for half the year. I love it here.’
Twenty-five rescues a day? What must it be like to know you’re having such an influence on people’s lives? She wanted to know everything, she wanted to tell him about Jill and ask him if there was anything she could have done, but now wasn’t the time. ‘I love it here, too,’ she answered, simply.
‘Hey, you should come for dinner tonight over at ours!’
‘Oh no, you’ve just arrived, I’m sure you don’t need me getting in the way. Besides, I can’t leave Bear.’
‘No, you bring Bear, he will be a big hit, everyone will love him. In fact, send Bear over, you can stay home!’ he boomed and she found herself laughing along. Marco was warm and easy-going in a way she always used to be when trying to connect with new people. ‘I am just making a joke. Come on, you are the new Vanessa, it would be amazing to have you there and we can all get to know each other. Please come. It’s only going to be pasta or pizza or something but we’ll have wine. Or tea if you prefer.’
