Promise: The Scarred Girl Read Online Free PDF Page A

quickly consumes it. As she empties the bowl, Luica fills it again generously. “You don’t talk too much, do you?”
    “I do not know what to say. You saved my life, you share your food with me... I have nothing I could repay you with.”
    “We believe in karma. This means that if you do something good for someone else, something good will happen to you at another time.”
    Nea admired their attitude to life, even if she could not understand it. She believes much more that you could be exploited with such a philosophy expecting that something good will happen later, but she preferred to keep this thought to herself.
    Luica asked where she came from and what her goal is. Nea told the story about her trip, that she is heading to Dementia to eventually reach Promise. When she finished her story, Lucia looked at her sadly, “And you’re all alone on the road? Don’t you feel lonely?”
    Nea shook her head and said that it was easier this way.
    “But it’s not easier, here we are a family, everyone is there for each other.”
    Nea did not know what to say to that. Luica’s words seem to make sense. The three really are a family: a grandfather, a mother, and a child. It is certainly true that they protect each other, simply because they love each other and don’t want to lose each other. But all the people Nea has ever loved are dead. Just the idea of replacing Miro with other people breaks her heart, even if it’s not the same.
    Zippi, who also listened to Nea’s narrative, begins tapping on Luica’s arm excitedly.
    “I have an idea,” he says conspiratorially and whispers something into Luica’s ear. Luica smiles at him lovingly and gently tells Zippi, “Why don’t you ask her yourself?”
    Zippi grins and looks over at Nea shyly, “We are going to Dementia, you can come with us!”
    Nea hesitates, she does not need a tour guide, but these three have a dry place she can sleep and food to spare. They also seem to know their way around. If she were to stay with them, she would certainly arrive at Dementia faster, so she agrees to Zippi’s proposal. He claps his hands in delight.
    Luica and Harold decide to wait until the next day to break up camp as it is too late to do so today. To thank them, Nea shows Zippi how to catch fish with his bare hands. She sits wrapped in a blanket on the stony riverbank and instructs Zippi while he stands up to his knees in cold water. Admiringly, Nea notes that the cold does not seem to bother him. At first he is very impatient and fidgety, but after his clothing is drenched from top to bottom, he proudly holds his first fish in his hand triumphantly. He waves it with joy through the air and beckons to Harold and Luica to come see it, but the slippery fish falls out of his hands and everyone starts laughing. Zippi is angry for an instant, and then starts laughing as well. It is Nea’s first laugh in a long time. These past two years, Nea did not so much as crack a slight smile, but never so much as a laugh in which you have to hold your belly and tear up at the eyes, a full hearty laugh, in which one wants to roll around on the floor out of sheer fun.
    Later, Zippi caught four fish. The four of them sit at the campfire and roast the fish while Zippi dries his wet clothes on a line. Plus there’s still more of the stew from earlier left. It is pleasant to sit by the fire while her hands, feet, and cheeks get warm, to not worry about the fire attracting anyone. As the last rays go out and only the stars, the moon, and the campfire light up the night, Harold pulls out a harmonica and starts to play. It is a sad melody and makes Nea realize how lonely she is. She looks to Luica and sees that Zippi has fallen asleep in her arms. Luica’s head leans on Harold’s shoulder and she looks dreamily into the fire. As the tune ends, she kisses her old father affectionately on the cheek and Nea feels like an intruder. Therefore, she excuses herself politely and lies down on the tent floor.