33. A CHILDHOOD FRIEND
Hello, Sonia The Glutton! Whatever became of you?
I bet you have grown la lot since we last seen each other!
You surely must be a very beautiful young lady right now!
That's for the best, as you always wanted to be a movie star!
What bothered me was that you talked too much. Or has it passed?
Guess who? Indeed, it's your Lydia, who still loves you!
- You are writing a peculiar letter! - Sonia is my childhood friend.
You haven't seen her for three years. You should start with "Dear Sonia".
No. With Sonia it's different.
Guess where I am now! In a harbour city, near Norway
and I'm about to come and visit you.
Yes! Tomorrow I'm on my way!
Sonia, when I was depressed, you would always encourage me.
We made a promise to help each other if one of us would have problems.
I swear to keep my promise and always help you in times of need.
Sonia, I want to see you so much!
My beloved Boris! How I want to see you!
- If they said this to me more often... - Boris!
Yes! Back to the cruel reality...
Give me now your report!
Yes, Miss Sabrina, right away!
Lydia writes to her best friend and wants to visit her.
She leaves tomorrow.
Does she really think that we will allow her such an escapade?
The brat has not yet found the Flower. Boris, hinder immediately her plans!
Yes, Miss Sabrina, I'm onto it...
You again? I won't allow it!
Lydia and her friends are on the northern coast of Norway,
in a small harbour city, near the Arctic Circle.
Finally, we are here! This is where my dear Sonia lives.
Why isn't she here, I wonder? I have wrote her that we are coming by boat.
Excuse me, mister. Can you tell me where Sonia lives?
Hi, Sonia!
Who are you, little girl?
How are you, Aunt Anna?
Lydia! How big and cute have you become! I'm glad to see you.
- Why are you here? - I'm visiting Sonia.
I have sent her a letter. Where is she?
You have sent her a letter? You must be tired from the trip, come!
This is Sonia's room. Wait for her here, she is about to come back home.
I'm going in town, to buy food for dinner. I'll see you soon!
Strange! How come Sonia didn't know that we are coming?
- Your letter hasn't reached her. - For sure! The address was good?
Of course! I know her address by heart!
- And the stamps? - I put them.
That's weird...
Your letter!
Can you believe it? She hasn't even opened it!
Why, Sonia? I wrote my name on the envelope. You knew it was me!
Sonia! Hi!
Mom told me you came. It's a surprise, why haven't you told me in advance?
- I told you in my letter. - Oh, that. I forgot to read it.
My mind is somewhere else these days.
Tell me, why have you come?
- I have explained in my letter! - I see.
What are you doing, Sonia? We are waiting for 15 minutes!
We will leave without you rather than miss the beginning of the movie!
Wait for me, I'm coming!
Don't go, Sonia! I come from very far away to see you!
Sonia!
Sonia...
Lydia!
She does not seem a true friend to me. She is not nice.
Indeed, a real friend would not treat you like this.
Don't say bad things about her. You cannot understand!
We have not seen each other for 3 years and each of us has grown in her own way.
She's just shy! She must be busy and forgot all about my letter.
"Guess who? Indeed, it's your Lydia, who still loves you!"
"Do you remember our promise to help each other in need?"
"I swear to keep my promise and always help you in times of need."
"Sonia, I want to see you so much!"
Your friend is surely missing a few marbles!
How could she let them read my letter? That's awful!
She surely believes in fairytales.
"Sonia, you must help me find The Flower in Seven Colours."
What's all this with a flower in seven colours? She says nonsense.
- This flower is only in her imagination. - You are wrong, Sonia!
The Flower exists, I assure you! I was sure that you would believe me.
I was told that The Flower grows in the north of Norway and I was counting on you.
But I see I was wrong. Too bad!
Come back, Sonia!
Sonia!
Sonia...
Sonia, please listen to me! Do you remember about our friendship?
We were looking for Pygmy Land!
Stop it! We are not children anymore!
Why do you treat me like I was a stranger, Sonia?
I wanted for so long to see you, to talk to you, to embrace you
and to tell you all my adventures for the past three years!
I am sorry, my dear Lydia.
Aunt Anna!
I don't understand what happened to my little Sonia.
She, who was always cheerful good and sensitive!
I don't know what to do. She must have felt lonely since we moved here.
Her father is always at sea, fishing, and barely comes home anymore.
I don't have time to spend with her, because I work in town.
Sonia hangs out with a bad gang and doesn't care about anything anymore.
I don't know what to do. She, who was so nice
when you two were the best friends! If children would stop growing up!
Aunt Anna, please don't cry!
I am sure that, deep in her heart, Sonia is the same!
Soon, she will be your beloved daughter again, you'll see!
- Lydia! - She is my best childhood friend!
I promise to help her!
Hi!
Have you forgotten already?
This was our special salute!
- Hi, Sonia! - Hi, Lydia!
Hi, Sonia! It's me, Lydia.
Hold it! Stop right away!
- Thieves! - Sonia is a thief?!
- Stop! - Sonia!
Do you remember how we had fun playing hide and seek?
Sonia!
Sonia, do you remember when we climbed on that mountain?
I was convinced then that its peak touched Heaven!
I wanted do climb it so that I could see again my dead parents!
You agreed and helped me to climb up to the peak.
When I realized that I would never see my parents again, I started crying,
and you comforted me.
You told me to come and live in your house, with your parents, with you as family
and that we could share your mother and your father.
You were so kind to me! I will never forget that.
That night, I slept at your house, with you, in the big bed.
I felt better.
I will never forget what you did for me!
And your parents were so kind and loving to me!
You should care for them more. They worry a lot about you.
Sonia! Forget a little about that crack pot and come with us!
Sabrina and Boris! They are surely up to something!
Come and take a ride with this car! It's awesome!
We will retry the hit, but this time better organized,
we have a fast car to escape!
- Don't go with them, Sonia, please! - Let go of me!
Sonia!
Sonia... You have changed so much! I would never have thought it's possible.
Of course she changed! We grow up, we learn evil things
and thus become evil, it's normal. Let's go, Boris!
Yes!
Flowers are reborn the same each year. Why should people have to change?
This car is so cool!
Would you like to eat at a fancy restaurant?
It would be much better that your stolen cans!
We should tell you that we don't have a dime.
You will have money soon.
They want to rob the bank!
Rob a bank? But you know that means prison!
More the reason, you idiot!
With them all behind bars, Lydia will leave to search for The Flower.
You always have such maquiavelic ideas, Miss Sabrina!
We are here! Come with me, Sonia.
Why me?
It makes good impression to enter in a bank with a girl.
Do you see how calm is this guy?
Anyone who moves, you take him down. Here you go!
Come on! We are leaving!
Stop them!
- Stop them! - Wait for me, Tim!
The plan worked perfectly! Now on to serious business.
It's too late to back down now. They will all have criminal records!
Stop them! Thieves!
Sonia!
- Get them! - Wait for me, Tim! I'm coming with you!
Help me climb!
If I stay and help you, we will all get in trouble. Let me go!
Tim, please!
There they are! I was sure that these people will catch you!
You are done for!
I arrest you for aiding a bank robbery.
- I recognize that voice! - No, you are wrong!
I'm not the guilty one! A man named Boris put a gun in my hand and...
Who is listening? You will get out of prison when you will be 85!
- No! Help! - I am so stupid! It's Boris!
Help! I am not guilty!
Flower! Flower! Flower!
Let me go! I didn't do anything wrong! I don't want to go!
Let that girl go!
I assure you that she is not the guilty one!
If you are defending a criminal, I must arrest you also!
He is the bank robber!
In this case, good bye!
For robbery and false identity you will stay a long time behind bars!
Indeed?
It's over, Sonia.
Who are you?
Sonia!
Mother, please forgive me!
- Do you realize what have you done? - I was blind!
I wasn't aware of what I was doing.
In time, maybe I would have become a real criminal and rob banks!
- I was so stupid! - Sonia!
Lydia! You helped me, just as you promised when we were little!
Now it's my turn to help you, if you want.
I have heard that The Flower In Seven Colours grows there, far away.
Are you serious?
If you go through there, you will reach Laponia, a nomad's country.
They tell the story of The Flower from generation to generation.
Really? Then surely is the flower I'm looking for!
Yes, and I am convinced of its existence.
I wish you good luck!
I will need it. Good bye!
- See you soon, Sonia! - See you soon, Lydia!
Good bye, Sonia!
Lydia has already left for Laponia, and Boris is not yet here!
That idiot!
Don't be mad, Miss Sabrina, I assure you that I'm doing my best!
Hi! It's always nice to see again a childhood friend, isn't it?
To remember Lydia and your childhood together, plant these seeds.
You won't regret it!
Soon, from the seeds sprung buttercup flowers.
Looking at them, Sonia remembered her happy childhood with her friend.
In the language of flowers, the buttercup stands for "innocence".