Never Turn Back Read Online Free PDF Page A

she sent me here. Can you tell me how to find Tuula?”
    “I can. You found her,” Tuula said as she hugged Meri, which took Meri by surprise. “Now, please come in, Meri. We’ve been expecting you. I must write Kaija immediately to tell her you’re finally here. She’ll be so relieved.”
    Elina opened the door. Tuula gestured to Meri to enter before her.
    Meri had found her first, albeit temporary, home in Paris.
     
    §
     
    Apartment 3C was both tidy and tiny. Meri noticed the oddest mixture of a sweet fragrance mingled with a musty smell. She decided it was a rather cheap women’s perfume and the tell-tale odor of old curtains, bedding, and upholstered furniture. This apartment needs open windows and fresh air. Do cities have fresh air?
    “Our home is small, but you’re welcome to stay here for as long as you like,” Tuula said as she placed a small bag filled with groceries on the round table that separated the living area from the functional but cramped kitchenette. Except for a modest glass vase filled with drooping lilies, the table was clear. A lace doily protected the wooden table top from the vase.
    Tuula noticed Meri staring at the lace doily. “Do you like the lace?”
    “ Juu, very much. I do fine lace work. My Grandmamma taught me.”
    Smiling, Tuula said, “Me too, but this is Elina’s work. I don’t want our Finnish craft to die, even if people here don’t appreciate our skills.”
    “What do you mean?” Meri still held her satchel and had not yet taken off her coat. “This is the city of high fashion. Lace work must be highly valued!”
    “Not if you’re a foreigner.” Tuula had turned her attention to putting away her groceries, so she did not notice Meri’s face, which had paled considerably.
    “I don’t understand, Tuula.” Only Meri’s nostrils and chest moved to her increasingly heavy, fretful breaths. Standing there in her coat and holding her bag, it was hard to tell if she had just arrived or if she was just leaving.
    Tuula turned around. “Oh, Meri! Please, let me take your things. You’ve had a long journey. We’ll have plenty of time for talking. Now it’s time for resting.” Meri let Tuula take her coat and satchel. Tuula instructed Elina to hang up Meri’s coat and escort Meri to Elina’s room.
    “Please, Tuula, explain to me what you mean about foreigners.” Her brows furrowed and her voice trembled as she spoke.
    “Don’t worry, Meri. I’m sure everything will be fine. You’ll find work. It’s just that Parisians like to give the best jobs to their own. You never know, though. In Paris, anything can happen! I didn’t mean to worry you in your first moments with us.” Tuula smiled. “Okay? Let’s worry about more important things for now…like where you’ll sleep. Elina’s giving you her room.”
    Elina nodded, her smile stretching the width of her narrow face.
    “But where will you sleep?” Meri asked Elina.
    “I get to sleep with Mamma!” She spoke as if the new sleeping arrangement was a big adventure for her.
    “And what about your Papa?”
    Elina shrugged. “Papa is gone.”
    Meri did not ask any more questions. An absent father is tender territory for two people who have just met. Meri simply said, “Oh.”
    The apartment had two small bedrooms, a modest living room with the round table and four chairs plus a small formal settee and a miniscule kitchen equipped with a sink, gas stove, and an icebox. The “private facilities” were down the hallway, shared with apartments 3A and 3B.
    “It’s not so bad,” Tuula said. We use the kitchen sink to wash our hair and other ‘essentials.’ See the container over there?” She pointed to a covered metal pot. “That’s for, ah, emergencies.”
    Meri eyes widened. This isn’t what I expected in the grand city of Paris! But she kept this thought to herself. “I see.” Meri’s stiff words matched her posture.
    Tuula laughed. “Meri, I can see this isn’t what you, ah, envisioned,