Trafika Europe 1 - Northern Idyll

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

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