The Soldier in the Square
    
The square around him seemed like something you might see on a Christmas card. Large, delicate snowflakes fluttering ever-so-softly to the ground, warm yellow streetlights bathing everything in a soft glow, icicles hanging off buildings, and old-fashioned automobiles humming as they drove down the red brick road. Looking around, you’d never guess it had been a war zone. Looking around, Nikolai couldn’t believe it, either.
    
This was different. These flurries, this wind—it was gentle, unlike the snow so cold it burned your face as it fell down, the gales that nearly knocked soldiers over. Nikolai still remembered the boys shaking like jelly on the East Kamchatka Fault, their fingers red and raw from constant exposure to the frigid temperatures. He was even more grateful for the mittens his granddaughter had got him that Christmas. Back in the day, they’d been a bit of a luxury.
    
As Nikolai sat on the wooden park bench, he closed his eyes for a moment, letting the flakes fall in his lap and hair that matched their color. He puffed out a breath that was visible in the air and said, “Moi, kak vse izmenilas.” My, how things have changed.
    
Nikolai sometimes missed the old world, the simplicity of it all. But he barely remembered the world before the war, only rumors and rations and staying inside, even during summer. And he most certainly did not miss the war itself.
    
Even after sixty years, he still couldn’t bring himself to think about it. The shots and bombs and stares of dying comrades left scars in his brain that had never fully healed. Nikolai shuddered. The new age was good enough for him—very good, indeed.
    
He opened his eyes, looking around the square. A dark-haired man helped an old shopkeeper scatter salt outside his shop, a group of young girls took down Christmas lights while softly singing old Russian lullabies, and a boy stood at a street corner yelling, “Pozhertvovaniya na blagotvori’ nost’ segodyna! Donate to charity today!”
    
Nikolai smiled. Things had changed—for the better. He found winters in the new world much more enjoyable.