As the Poppies Bloomed by Maral Boyadjian

Author:Maral Boyadjian [Boyadjian, Maral]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-9911241-1-4
Publisher: Salor Press
Published: 2015-04-01T04:00:00+00:00

C H A P T E R 26

At first, Yeraz had struggled to believe that Anno would suffer a bout of fever and chills only. She was healthy and young. She would toss and complain about her confinement soon. But then the fourth day passed and the fifth dawned. Her lungs were infected.

Old Mariam’s heavy sigh filled the room. Yeraz knew she was watching them.

She and Vartan had pulled Anno to a sitting position, but her arms fell rag-like to her sides. Vartan held her up effortlessly, cradling her back against his chest. Her head hung forward as she coughed. Yeraz knelt close to her side, a bowl held to her chin, until finally, Anno filled it with a blood-tinged mucus. Vartan then slowly lowered her back onto her pile of pillows.

Mariam turned back to the fire to continue her stirring. For days now it seemed Mariam had never stopped her stirring.

A rope had been pulled from one short end of the room to the other and Anno’s bedclothes hung on them, along with thin undergarments. Yeraz scrubbed and rinsed them each day and wrung them almost ruthlessly, as if she would squeeze the infection away.

The toneer’s flame was never allowed to weaken and candles eerily lit each corner of the room.

Yeraz turned to one window and her eyes met blackness, staid and lingering.

Outside, the frosty air swirled over the village roofs and floated its way down the twisted lane to the last still and darkened house.

Inside it, Daron lay on his back with his arms over his head staring at the lead-colored ceiling. His thoughts were with Anno, always. He had seen her that day. He was admitted each day for one brief visit. He did not kneel or touch her. Her chest and shoulders ached and a small fold had formed between her eyes. Her lips were a bright, parched red and her face and neck glistened with a blend of oils and perspiration. A deep-colored tea was about to be forced between her lips as he watched. She had been lifted off her pillow and her eyes opened. She saw him and an abyssal series of coughs began that produced blood and left her nearly unconscious again, with pain and, he feared, surrender.

It was a week since the night Vartan had pounded on their door searching for Anno, and still Daron and his family did not know what had taken place before she went missing.

Daron felt his chest sinking into itself a bit more each day at the unalterable helpless state that was his and Anno’s life.

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