Trafika Europe 1 - Northern Idyll

Then Mama says Srečko is here, too. I don’t know if it is him, I don’t know if this is Srečko, my cousin, like Mama says, because his mama was Lucija, the sister of Franc, who is my Tata . In the evening, as we are standing by the window before it is night, Mama says that she hasn’t seen him for a long time, Srečko, only Karlo sometimes meets up with him and then comes home drunk, Mama says. She’s looking at the field, at the cherry tree and she says: He must have aged, Srečko …

Mama says that when a person gets old like she has, they soon go to heaven.

I hope he doesn’t get lost, says Mama then and puts me to bed.

Now Srečko is in the kitchen. Mama steps closer to him. I see her. She goes to him, puts her arms around him and then strokes his thin hair. He smiles. I see he has very few teeth.

Allora , our Australian’s coming, he says, nodding.

Mama smiles. I see she’s happy. When Mama is happy, I’m not scared. Everyone is happy because Albert is coming,

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