Trafika Europe 4 - Armenian Rhapsody

branch of the tree. Again there is a big fuss at home. It is the first time I shout at my mother: “If you love me, let me go and climb the tree and bring my hat down. How can I continue my life this way?” She begins to wail, my aunts join in, and my grandma sobs without tears. I get up and leave. The women, sobbing their hearts out, follow me. My mother faints, but I do not approach her. I stand far away from her and watch the women trying to bring her to consciousness. Then we continue on our way together, keeping a distance of about a few steps between us. The whole village is stealthily looking at us but no one comes out. I reach Thickwood. We look at each other. I clench my teeth. I am shivering. There is my hat, hurled to the very top. I feel embarrassed because I have to climb the tree in front of my relatives in broad daylight. In my ears I can hear my grandma’s voice: “Kikos, dear, you shouldn’t climb a tree. If you climb you may fall down and everybody will die from grief.” Then my grandpa comes, waving an axe, yelling and threatening. We could’ve managed without you, old fella! My grandma runs after him like lightning. At last my grandpa reaches me. Breathless, he stands between me and Thickwood, keeping the axe poised above his head like Hrachia Nersisyan, * performing rage. Suddenly his eyes fill with tears – it is the first time I see my grandpa’s eyes wet – he digs the axe into the ground, shakes his head and goes away in silence. Then my mother and aunts come, but they

* Hrachia Nersisyan, a famous Armenian actor

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