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untie the ribbon and remove the paper, then I see a box, I
see Mama opening it and then everyone says: Oooh! Look
how beautiful it is, says Mama and tells me I got a dancer, a
ballerina, like me, only I don’t have a short, lacy skirt,
Mama says and turns something on the box the dancer is
standing on, Ballerina, me. Then Ballerina twirls and moves
her legs, up, down, up, down. Then Mama opens her
present. And again everyone says: Oooh! What a beautiful
headscarf, thank you, Albert, thank you, Ida, says Mama
and puts the headscarf back in the paper. I’m standing in
the corner now. Looking at them. Albert and Ida. And the
others. They’re drinking, eating and talking. Albert is
talking about wooden houses. He says that he builds small
wooden houses, that the deserts in Australia are big and
there are many fires. Then he says he will stay a month,
visit his friends, and then go back. Then they go on
drinking. I see Mama. She’s looking at Albert’s face and
listening. I see she’s happy and I’m not afraid of anything. I
haven’t had my drops and I’m not afraid. I’m holding
Ballerina in my hands and listening. Srečko is talking now.
He says he will go to Vienna, to visit Beethoven’s grave,
because Beethoven has been in heaven for a long time,
Mama says. Then they pour wine for Srečko. Karlo pours it
and Srečko is talking and talking and everyone is laughing
and then Srečko sings some music written by Beethoven, he
tells us, and then he cries and everyone keeps laughing, like
they always do when Srečko is talking about Beethoven and
crying and the others laugh. I look at Ida. She’s looking at
Mama. Mama doesn’t see that Ida is looking at her, Mama