From somewhere in the distance, the echoing laughter of children could be heard, like a fresh breath of air to compensate for yesterday's storm. These were the youngsters of the third group of Varstu Kindergarten, industrious boys and girls raised in the countryside, with eyes wide with curiosity and genuine joy. The slushy snow tempted everyone outdoors, especially since it was the first slushy snow of the season. Snowmen sprouted up at an incredible pace, and battles waged between snow fortresses took on the dimensions of a full-fledged, albeit disjointed, war.
Amidst all the commotion, laughter, and occasional tears, one child sat apart from the rest. She sat alone on a bench, watching with wide-eyed wonder the uproar and clamor around her. It all seemed somehow strange and odd to her. "Kati, my dear, why are you sitting here all alone? Go play with the others. Come on, go on, look, Nele is over there too, you're friends, aren't you?!" said the teacher, Pille. Kati looked at her with the same large, bewildered eyes but nodded silently and began to make her way towards Nele. "Good girl, off you go now..." said Pille, turning her head away. "Herta, listen, Kati always seems so distant from the others, I think we should...". Kati didn't listen any further. She knew the teachers thought she wasn't like the others, and she herself understood this perfectly well. It was easier to do as the teacher said. Kati knew that if she said or did anything differently, Teacher Pille would tell her mum, and then Mum would start crying and worrying. It was better to do things so that nobody got upset, but a little rebelliousness and self-awareness still stirred in the child's soul.
That's why Kati decided to change course and head towards the big old pine tree, away from the other children. She always hid behind that mighty trunk when she wanted to be alone. And that meant she often sat there alone because what she wanted most was to be by herself. The teachers didn't notice her either, as they had more than enough to deal with the noisy youngsters. "Jaanika, don't hit Eerik, for heaven's sake, not with the shovel! Herta... Herta, go..." echoed from a distance. Kati reached the tree, where the snow was still completely untouched, and only a few dark spots were visible beneath it. She grumbled to herself. The ground was wet; there was nowhere to sit. Kati turned around, took a step, and almost slipped on a still-frozen pine cone. Quickly lifting her foot and looking around to see if the teachers noticed her mishap, she took a couple of swift steps to hide behind the trunk.
Of course, she had seen pine cones before. Yes, all the children had. But this time, something was different. These cones were somehow different. Suddenly, Kati noticed dozens and dozens of partially melted cones around her. Horror filled her eyes as she realized what had happened overnight. Tears welled up in Kati's eyes. These cones were children, and they were dead. She didn't understand why she suddenly felt this way. This time, however, Teacher Pille had come looking for her, and found Kati crying over the cone carcasses. Pille, uncaring, stepped noisily on the cones. Kati went pale and ran towards the classroom, trembling with horror and disgust. "Kati, my dear, what happened to you just now, wait, my dear," called Pille after her, turning around and slipping on a frozen cone, falling on her bottom. "Well, today is really something special," she sighed, picking herself up to go look for Kati again. "Herta, look at Jaanika, make sure she doesn't do anything to Eerik again, I'm going to find Kati."
Kati reached the room; her eyes were so blurry with tears that she could hardly see where to go. Deep down, she knew Teacher would come after her right away. Thinking quickly, she ran to the toilet and hid in a cubicle. She couldn't wipe from her mind the image of Teacher Pille stepping on the cones, and every second she heard the crunching of cones again. Pille did indeed find Kati. "Are you here, Kati, what happened, dear?" "Oh, you're here," Pille tried to coax Kati. "Yes, Teacher, I'm here. I needed to pee, so I ran into the room," she lied. "But why were you crying?" Pille wasn't satisfied. "I just had to pee so badly, I was afraid of having an accident." "Alright then, come back outside. Actually, you can stay inside if you want, lunchtime is coming soon, and then naptime, anyway, we're coming inside with the other kids." "Yes, Teacher Pille."
Kati waited for a while and then came out of the cubicle. The others hadn't reached the room yet. She looked into the toilet mirror at her big, tear-stained eyes, washed them with water, but it didn't help. Kati couldn't shake from her mind the thought of those dead cones, the crunching of frozen cone corpses. She shuddered. It was the scariest thing she had ever seen in her young life, even though they looked like perfectly ordinary pine cones. Cone children. Kati already heard the other children coming into the room, Jaanika and Eerik were still fighting, the teachers were arguing, and from the adjacent room came the clattering of lunch trays.
Even at the lunch table, Kati couldn't find peace from her heavy thoughts. She sat and stared at the milk soup brought for lunch, and every macaroni in milk reminded her of the frozen body of a melted cone child. She couldn't eat it; it seemed repulsive. "Kati, why aren't you eating? This is your favorite milk soup, I even removed the milk skin!" worried Teacher Pille. "Sorry, I'm already full, thank you." "Good girl, let it be like this today then. Now go and get ready, naptime is coming." "Do we have to, Teacher..." shouted Keili and Jaanika in unison. "And of course, hurry up now, go wash quickly, my dears," urged Pille behind them. "Kati, are you sleeping next to my bed?" Nele asked. "Yes, of course," Kati didn't even hear the question.
Naptime, usually Kati's favorite time, was very restless this time. She dozed off several times, dreamed of storms and cone children, woke up startled, and dozed off again for just a moment, only to once again dream of those cones crying out for help as they fell. Kati had an incredibly vivid imagination; her mind could show her all the colors, beauty, and horror of the world ten times stronger and more colorful than other children. Eventually, Kati fell into a fitful sleep. Upon waking, she knew what she had to do. She had to at least try to save, try to find some cone child who was still alive. Find at least one of the children of that old mast pine in the kindergarten garden, who was healthy.