Trafika Europe 11 - Swiss Delights

Leta SemaDeni

The child’s grandfather had told her that mountain hares and ptarmigans live there along with other creatures and plants that can alter their exteriors to blend into their surroundings so perfectly that no one can see them.

3 Some evenings everything tastes of homesickness. Grandmother has nothing good to say about the village. It stops right where it starts, she says, it’s nothing more than a flyspeck on the map. When the wind blows in the forest, you can already feel the shiver of autumn. Grandmother draws breath in audibly through her nose. She does this to force a tear back into its duct and then she is wide-eyed once again. She fiddles with her hair and gets undressed. Under her dress she wears a second dress, a flesh- colored one with glittering hooks she undoes one by one. She folds it carefully, sets it neatly on the chair, and strokes it with her hand. Even naked, Grandmother looks dressed. For a moment she stands very still in front of the mirror, looking into it curiously, as if someone else were reflected in it. She

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