The Year-End Approach: A Winter’s Night
As the year-end approached, it was a cold winter night. To pass the time and forget the biting cold, the children huddled close together, their eyes fixed on the flickering lamp’s light.
“Alright, everyone, it’s storytime!”
The voice belonged, of course, to Leo. He wasn’t fond of the cold, but he was too frugal to waste money on firewood, so he wrapped himself awkwardly in a blanket and sat cross-legged.
“It feels like it’s been a while since I read to you guys.”
The older children took turns putting the younger ones to bed, so Leo couldn’t always read to his special little group, including Emilio. He felt a bit sad about it, but that made tonight’s storytelling even more exciting.
“How about this one tonight? ‘The Little Match Girl.'”
“Oh, that’s a good choice, Bruno. It’s set during the year-end, right? Oh, and it’s brand new!”
Leo acknowledged his childhood friend’s suggestion with a nod and opened the picture book.
But then,
“The Little Match Girl, huh…”
Marcel, the youngest boy nestled in the middle, sighed wistfully. Leo furrowed his brow and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“The Little Match Girl is lucky. She just has to sell matches. But we have to sell decorations, clean chimneys, and polish windows from early in the morning tomorrow.”
“It’s all outside work, using water in the freezing cold!”
“It’s tough.”
Anne and Emilio, who were more mature for their age, quickly chimed in with their complaints. Leo, sensing the children’s unusual gloominess, tried to console them.
“Hey, earning money from just one business is tough. It’s more fun to have various ways to make money.”
But the three children just sighed deeply.
“What’s the matter? Should we skip the story tonight?”
“No!”
“Read it, Leo!”
“Read it!”
Leo wondered if they were feeling unwell, but it didn’t seem to be the case. He shrugged and turned the page, thinking that some days are just like this.
“Okay, then—Once upon a time, there was a girl who lived by selling matches.”
As he began reading, the children listened intently, their faces serious. Watching them, Leo couldn’t help but smile softly.
“One day, as the year-end approached, the girl walked through the streets, carrying a heavy basket, calling out to passersby to buy her matches.”
The girl couldn’t return to the orphanage without selling all the matches in her basket. However, whether due to the cold or the busyness, no one was buying matches.
When Leo reached the part where the girl started to feel hopeless, Emilio, who had been silently listening, crossed his arms and muttered,
“This is a dire situation.”
Anne and Marcel nodded seriously, their young faces grim.
“How can she not sell any matches during such a busy season? It’s an obvious lack of talent.”
“This seems to reflect a lack of education.”
Leo sighed inwardly at the children’s sharp observations. Indeed, the girl’s lack of business acumen was troubling even to him. It was unimaginable for the children of Hannah Orphanage, who meticulously planned their revenue simulations, to find themselves in such a situation.
“I wonder which orphanage she’s from.”
“It’s too careless.”
The children were now genuinely indignant.
“It’s just a fairy tale,” Leo tried to soothe them.
“But if it were you, Leo, you’d sell better, right?” Emilio asked.
“Well, yeah,” Leo scratched his nose, “There are some tricks to it.”
“We want to hear the tricks!”
“Tell us!”
The story quickly veered off track, but if it cheered the children up, Leo didn’t mind. He decided to demonstrate with Bruno, his friend.
“Alright, watch closely. Bruno, can you play the customer?”
“…No.”
Surprisingly, Bruno declined.
“If you do it, they’ll get too excited. I’ll play the seller.”
“Well, alright.”
It was unusual for Bruno to get involved in something like this, so Leo agreed readily.
“Okay, then, go ahead.”
“Alright. Here we go.”
Bruno took a deep breath, then called out to Leo with a firm voice.
“Hey, customer.”
“Don’t start off by stumbling like that! It’s ‘Excuse me, sir!'”
Annoyed, Leo corrected him, but Bruno, looking bored, replied,
“…Addressing a passerby who hasn’t shown any intention to buy with ‘sir’ and ‘customer’ is questionable.”
“In Weitz, they use the term ‘potential customer’ and show respect! Get it right!”
Leo ended up yelling at his friend.
“Oh, come on! If you start like that, we’ll never finish before dawn.”
Leo scratched his head in frustration. He decided to take over as the seller, explaining as he went along.
“Excuse me, sir, carrying all those matches, calling out to passersby, what’s the matter? Unfortunately, I’ve already finished my harvest festival shopping, so I don’t need matches. But my husband might.”
Leo made a peace sign, waving it gently in front of his face, illustrating the selling point.
“I see, you’re implying that you’d like to blind him.”
“What kind of interpretation is that! It’s obviously for lighting cigarettes!”
“Ah, so you want to set him on fire. Then how about these matches? They’re very practical.”
“That’s not what I meant!”
This wasn’t working; they’d never get to the actual sales pitch.
“Alright, I’ll be the seller!” Leo declared, dismissing Bruno. “Can anyone else play the customer?”
“I will! I will!”
Anne eagerly raised her hand, and Leo chose her as his new partner.
“Okay, I’ll start. Excuse me, beautiful customer! Yes, you. I have matches that are perfect for you. Would you like to take a look? Just a glance will do.”
“Hmph, what do you mean by perfect for me? Are you saying our household is in trouble?”
“No, not at all, madam!”
Leo leaned in, taking her response as a cue to elaborate.
“But then Bruno interrupted again, “Hey, there’s no such phrase as ‘not at all’ in Weitzian. It’s a mistake to say ‘not at all’ to be polite. You should say ‘It’s nothing at all.'”
“Well, that was informative, but was it necessary right now?”
Leo, slightly embarrassed in front of the kids, questioned Bruno, who answered nonchalantly.
“Your Wetizian has become pretty fluent.”
Bruno looked puzzled, “Not really.”
Despite feeling somewhat frustrated, Leo continued, correcting himself, “It’s nothing at all, madam.”
“With all these ingredients, I bet you’re making a lavish meal.”
“Well, not that much, just a meat pie and some turkey.”
“That’s wonderful, madam! But with such elaborate cooking, don’t you find it hard to keep up with the washing?”
Anne, puzzled by the question, replied, “Yes, with all the extra dishes, it’s a lot of work.”
“I understand. Washing a bit, baking a pie, washing some herbs, putting the turkey in the oven. And when you need to light a fire, your hands are wet and it’s difficult, right?”
“Exactly. By then, the towels are usually soaked too.”
Gotcha.
Leo moved closer to Anne, nodding, “That’s why matches are perfect. Even with wet or dirty hands, you can easily strike a match. The ones I’m showing today are designed for women with a gentle grip. Just a quick strike, and they’re lit.”
“Oh… that’s nice.”
Anne softly mimicked the striking motion, “Schw! Pop!”
“These are selling out quickly. They might not last until tomorrow. How about getting some today?”
“Well… in that case, I’ll take one—Oh!”
Anne’s face lit up as she shouted.
“Wow, Leo! You made me buy it!”
“Awesome!”
“Leo, you’re amazing!”
The children cheered excitedly.
“Listen, everyone. When selling to women, listening and empathy are key. For men, compare specs. This is the secret. Remember it.”
The children’s eyes shone with admiration as they nodded.
“Alright, try it out. If there are three of you, how would you approach it?”
Emilio, with the most charming face among them, started with teary eyes.
“Please, sir. If we don’t sell these last few matches, we can’t go home.”
“Even for you, I can let it go for just two small copper coins…”
“If you’d like, you can even take one more for free!”
It was a triple combo of tearful pleading, sudden discounts, and bold giveaways.
Leo embraced the three children along with the blanket, pulling them close. “Wonderful! You three are my treasures!”
With a tight squeeze, the children purred contentedly. Just then, Bruno grabbed Leo by the collar and pulled him back.
“Hey, you’re getting off track.”
Realizing Bruno was right, Leo apologized, “Sorry, sorry,” and turned the page. “Ahem… Unfortunately, the girl’s matches still didn’t sell. When the last passerby walked away, she gave in to the cold and struck a match.”
“Huh?”
The children’s cheerful faces turned grim. Using the products outside of a demonstration was strictly forbidden. Despite the cold, the girl had committed the worst breach of ethics for a seller, and Emilio and the others showed their disapproval.
“What does that mean?”
“I can’t predict where this is going…”
“Is she going to turn into a complete villain?”
Recognizing his own tendency to be swayed by immediate desires, Leo continued the story, calming the children who were rigidly strict about sales.
“And then, what do you know, a delicious-looking turkey appeared in the flame. The girl reached out hastily, but as the fire went out, the turkey disappeared.”
“It’s a hallucination.”
“She must be really desperate.”
The children had apparently forgotten their sense of fantasy.
“Next, the girl lit another match. This time, it revealed a warm room. Enthralled, she kept striking matches, and each time, what she longed for appeared before her eyes, only to vanish again.”
Leo tilted his head as he read. If it were him, he’d immediately think of gleaming gold coins, but this girl was a remarkably unselfish orphan.
When she struck another match, the image of her beloved grandmother appeared. Not wanting to lose sight of her, the girl lit all her remaining matches.
“That’s the worst!”
“At this point, I have zero sympathy for the protagonist!”
“It really questions the author’s humanity!”
The children were livid. In other groups, some kids had been moved to tears with sympathy, so Leo was taken aback.
Despite his love for making money, Leo wasn’t confident he could immediately say what was more important, life or wealth—a bitter thought.
“Well, don’t get so angry. The girl ends up in a sad situation.”
“Huh?”
“The next day, after burning all the matches and being unable to keep warm, the girl was found dead.”
It was a deep moral lesson about the consequences of going against the rules of commerce.
“So, she burned herself to death.”
“Clearly, she froze to death! And why do you always twist fairy tales into such dark stories?”
Silencing Bruno with a shout, Leo turned back to the children. “Cause and effect, that makes sense, right?”
Expecting agreement, he was met with somber expressions. Emilio and the others began to tear up.
“She… she died?”
“Was it such a terrible thing that she had to pay with her life?”
“I don’t want to die…”
Seeing them tear up, Leo hastily dropped the picture book and rushed over. “Hey, there’s no need to cry! It’s just a fairy tale!”
Trying to smile, he saw Emilio sniffle. “It’s not just a story… it’s our reality too…”
“What?”
Leo was puzzled. Anne handed him something from under the sheets—a green paper stem without petals.
“We wanted to listen to your story so much that we skipped making artificial flowers…”
“We still have to make a hundred more if we want to sell them tomorrow…”
“Sorry, Leo-nii…”
Emilio and Marcel confessed one after another.
“A hundred artificial flowers?”
A disaster loomed before Leo, who covered his eyes with his hand in despair.
“What are you doing? We can’t just sit here. I’ll help—”
As Leo was about to get up and help the kids, Bruno stopped him.
“Wait, Leo.”
A small burlap bag was tossed onto the sheets, and Leo recognized the dull sound of coins clinking.
“Bruno…?”
“There are two copper coins in there. Enough for a hundred flowers.”
“Bruno!”
For a moment, Leo’s eyes sparkled at the mention of coins, but he quickly hardened his expression and stood up.
“This won’t do them any good. They need to make their own—”
“Do you really want to cut into the sleep time of small children?”
“……”
Ignoring the silent Leo, Bruno continued calmly.
“They’ve made everything else. The older ones will help with what they couldn’t finish. It’s only natural.”
“Bruno-nii…”
Emilio and the others looked up at Bruno with confused expressions. This was beyond their expectations too.
Leo sulked for a bit but finally sighed. “Alright, I get it.”
He flicked each child’s forehead lightly. “Listen up, this doesn’t happen every time. Be grateful to Bruno.”
With a light lecture, he smiled warmly. “Now, sleep well.”
Ruffling their heads, he stood up again. “Hey, Bruno, let’s talk over there.”
“Sure.”
With a look of protest, like a mother challenged on her parenting methods, Leo walked away with Bruno, who seemed unusually pleased.
“……”
After watching the two walk away, Emilio murmured, “We lost…”
Anne and Marcel, drying their tears, sighed deeply.
“We planned to stay up all night with Leo-nii…”
“Bruno-nii just bought time with money. Adults are so dirty.”
They had meticulously planned to stay up late with Leo by pretending they couldn’t finish their work.
“Darn it! Leo-nii would never pay money, but we thought he wouldn’t abandon us!”
“Yeah, he won’t pay, but he’s always there for us! Ugh!”
Stomping their feet in frustration, their plan was ruined by Bruno’s unexpected generosity.
Emilio was the first to calm down and said sadly, “It’s unfortunate, but this time we lost because we didn’t account for the wildcard Bruno-nii. Let’s learn from this and do better next time.”
The others nodded, but Anne suddenly grew serious. “Wait. We can’t leave the debt to Bruno-nii unpaid. We need to make money tomorrow and repay the copper coins quickly.”
“Ugh…”
“The worst…”
They turned pale and hurried under the covers. To sell artificial flowers, they needed a good spot, which required an early start.
They lay there, contemplating the cycle of actions and consequences, as the cold night of Weitz closed in around them.
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