Trafika Europe 3 - Latvian Sojourn

business, he spanked her bottom quite painfully and screamed at her:

“Whore, boor, boor, whore,” – but as soon as he was done, he patted her back and quietly apologized. And paid her more. Many of them wanted to talk to her. And she listened. They unburdened their ridiculed, careworn, betrayed and broken hearts in Naģe’s low, thickset lap. They cursed and cried, cried and cursed. Sometimes together they would eat whatever Naģe had brought along, taking a slug from her Mickey. Today on this warm autumn day, Nadezhda is the first to arrive. That's how she prefers it. Then she looks over the goods stored in the erstwhile high-voltage electricity hut, and cleans out any rubbish. Afterward she sits down on the bus stop bench, lights up a cigarette and gazes at the sky on the other side of the highway. After all, she had almost gone into the marsh and remained there. She was seconds away from it! And if life had not changed, then it would have been only right to do so, to remain there. Silently awaiting death, deliverance … But it turned out that God loved her. He had led her for a long time down the wrong paths, until he had guided her here – by the highway. She had done good things, thus she

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