TE20 Migrant Mosaics

Goran Vojnović

When he came back, he noticed that she’d eaten the smallest piece of bread and taken a big slurp of cocoa. Less than usual, but on that day it constituted a lavish feast. He took the leftovers back in to the kitchen, and brought her blood pressure tablets and a glass of water. She shook her head then, too.

You have to take your tablets. Please, Jana! This is serious, stop messing about.

Thiswas thefirst timeshe’d resisted taking her tablets. Aleksandar stood in front of her, with a tablet in one hand and a glass in the other, while she was turning further and further away from him. Until she had eventually buried her face into the arm chair.

Christ’s sake Jana, don’t do this to me, please. We can’t play games with tablets.

She tucked her legs under her bottom and was kneeling there on the chair. She curled up into a ball like a child, and her head disappeared completely.

Jana! Jana! Stop it, Jana. Please, stop!

Get out!

Jana, this is your medicine, not some bloody joke!

Leave me alone!

Jana!

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