“Underneath the Christmas Lights, Underneath the Christmas Lights, Underneath the Christmas Lights”, Sia’s Christmas album streamed out of the speakers through Spotify.
Nejla looked out through the guest bedroom window towards the large enclosed space especially built for the dogs at the back of Ricky and Luca’s home.
Starlight was digging ferociously underneath the very Christmas Lights, or more specifically underneath the pine tree living in the corner of the enclosure which had been decorated with coloured Christmas lights. Her tail was fanning more than wagging, which was a sign of hunting. Nejla had better get out there and stop her before whoever was in deep winter sleep got woken up.
Grabbing her beanie with one hand, pulling her mushing boots on with the other, she simultaneously reached for the doorknob with her elbow which resulted in her tumbling out the door, rolling down the two steps of the porch, face planting in the snow. Well, at least she was wide awake now.
“Starlight, Starlight my dear. Come on! Stoooooooop!”
Starlight stopped, turned her head to look at her human. Two seconds later she turned back to the digging.
“Aaaaaaahhhh, huskies!” Nejla shouted as she ran through the knee deep snow.
As if they wanted to prove that this was not just a husky trait but also a samoyed and malamute talent, Kriya and Tuva ran from the other side of the yard joining Starlight in the digging.
All of a sudden they stopped, all three of them. Stepped back, looked down in the hole they’d dug, then across at Nejla who had stranded in a spot where the snow was all of a sudden waist deep to catch her breath, and then they looked back down in the hole again.
Nejla felt like she was swimming through the last part of the snow. It was just a dune of two metres width where the wind had piled up a solid wave of snow which was that deep before it was back to knee depth again. She arrived underneath the Christmas Lights Tree, threw herself on her knees, looking down in the hole together with the three canine ladies.
“Was that? No, she must be imagining? Could it be? Well it did. Did look like gold. But, no, it can’t be?”
Starlight pushed towards the hole with her nose, looking at Nejla, her eyes saying “look, look, look what I got you!”
Nejla reached down under the pine tree twigs, down towards the exposed part of the trunk, her lovika mitten clad hands spread out, gently grabbing and pulling the artifact out of the snow. As she held it up towards the dwindling light of the afternoon sky all three ladies of The Crew watched eagerly. Nejla gently blew the last pieces of soft snow off the edges. A cauldron. A golden cauldron.
Cecilia Götherström, December 12th 2021.
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