Trafika Europe 3 - Latvian Sojourn

There is a wonderful emptiness in her head.

It does not hurt, humiliate, despise or denigrate.

After bathing, Nadezhda gets dressed. She gathers her voluminous flesh into a tight, black corset. She does not put on underpants. It isn’t cold enough yet. And she finds it more comfortable. Only a pair of jeans, a high-necked pullover, a windbreaker and her low laced boots. In her bag she puts a sandwich, cigarettes, a Mickey of vodka, handy- wipes, condoms and hydrogen peroxide. With sunglasses perched on her nose, she is ready for her journey. That day, a while ago now, she came out of the woods with her baskets full. She left her load at the edge of the wide road by the old bus stop. She returned with two boxes. On one of them she organized the mushrooms in pretty piles, she herself sat down on the other, and began to wait. It was Friday afternoon, cars sped by one after the other. Not one of them slowed down but just roared past. Nadezhda had begun to lose hope, when a fancy-looking car stopped suddenly a short distance from her. After two young girls had stepped out, the car drove away. Dressed in short skirts, their hair in disarray, shivering, they approached Nadezhda.

Did she know that this place was spoken for?

Did they also want to sell something?

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