TE20 Migrant Mosaics

The Fig Tree

‘But wouldn’t she want to get even with Dane, too, in that case?’

‘It’s the biggest disappointments that hurt us the most. And the more we expect from people, the more it hurts when they let us down.’

‘But you didn’t get even with the person who most let you down.’

‘Well, I did – on his gob. A punch in the face had been a long time coming.’

Only then did I register the blood encrusted on my knuckles, and the grizzly nature of the scene that Anya had been witness to. That they’d all been witness to. Only then did I register the fright on Špela and Maya’s faces, and Mum and Anya’s horror. And Dane’s resignation; how he surrendered tome. As if he knew that I would come for him. It even seemed like he was relieved when what had to happen, had eventually happened.

‘But Vesna couldn’t have known that Aleksandar would kill himself, could she?’

‘No. But she thinks he did it, too. Which is why his death has hit her so hard. She feels guilty.’

‘But didn’t you say that Vesna got over Safet a long time ago?’

‘I used to think so. Now I think it’s impossible to get over the people you love.’

‘Have you spoken to her? About getting even, I mean. Or have 59