Trafika Europe 8 - Romanian Holiday

Almost Everything Very Fast

During her last excursion a few days earlier, she’d stayed until her hands and feet had gone completely numb, and when she’d stood up to head for home, she’d noticed a little red dot, a tiny fleck of color in the snow, that marked where she’d been sitting. Immediately she’d examined her skirt and her stockings, following the trail back to her underwear. Am I freezing to death? had been her first thought, Will I go heaven? her second; the third, fourth, and fifth: to see Mama, Papa, and Julius? Apart from a slight feeling of dizziness, she’d made it back to Segendorf entirely unscathed, and washed herself and her clothes. And said nothing about it. But one of the somebodies had noticed the

traces in her underwear. “Am I going to die?” Anni had asked curiously. This time it had been a somebody who’d given a shake of the head: “You’re just getting a woman’s flesh and blood.” Since then she’d devoted even more time to her bodily hygiene. Whenever she had an opportunity, while milking the cows, at night, or in the latrine, she’d check to see if it had happened again. That strange blood, how hesitantly it flowed, its rust-red color and piercing smell. “I’m becoming a woman now,” Anni proclaimed to her reflection in the ice. “Dying,” it answered, “you can do that some other time.” She skidded around on the

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