Trafika Europe 1 - Northern Idyll

And then I’m no longer at Josipina’s. Then I’m home, like now in the kitchen and I’m just looking at her, at Josipina, picking up pasta with her fork.

Suddenly Mama says, Albert is coming from Australia.

He’s coming with his signorina , says Tata , smiling. Mama says we must give him a good welcome, that he hasn’t been home for twenty-five years and that we must forget everything. What happened, happened, says Mama and starts clearing the plates. I’m sitting at the table, listening. And Karlo says that he won’t look at a whore in our house who went with the whole American barracks, that he doesn’t give a shit if Albert fell in love with her. I don’t know what a whore is, I don’t know what a whole American barracks is, I don’t know what shit is and I don’t know what it means that Albert fell in love with her. I feel warmth on my face, I’d like to get up and stand on tiptoe in the corner and look through the window at the yard.

Then Tata also says what happened, happened. Josipina’s eyes are sparkling.

Mama says that Albert and Josipina loved each other very much and that she was very sad when he went to Australia. I watch Karlo. He drinks a glass of wine and looks at his plate.

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