Trafika Europe 1 - Northern Idyll

that time goes quickly. She tells me this when she dresses me, after she has washed me and combed my hair in the hall in front of the mirror. I see everyone is looking at the telegram on the table. The postman said so. I’ve brought a telegram from Australia, he said and put it on the table. And then he talked about the moon and how there will be no good in the world. Tata is still looking through the window. He’s smoking now, too, and shaking the ash onto the floor. Then Mama sweeps. Always, when Tata shakes the ash on the floor. I think Tata is looking at the sky, I think that he is quietly talking to Uncle Feliks, like Karlo. I think he wants to go to Uncle Feliks. The postman is still in the doorway. Then Mama picks up the telegram and says:

Here, Franc!

Tata takes the telegram and opens it. He looks at the postman and opens it. The postman is still standing in the door. Then Tata says:

Albert is coming, next week. Mama’s eyes light up. I see.

Is he coming with his wife? asks the postman.

Tata looks at him. Tata is looking at the postman in the doorway and doesn’t say anything. Mama pours a glass. The postman drinks it, opens his mouth. We watch him. Mama sometimes says that she never knows if the postman will

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