I Heard the Dragonflies Cry by Ayten Kamalli

Author:Ayten Kamalli [Kamalli, Ayten]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-07-12T22:00:00+00:00

✽✽✽

They invited me for a cup of tea. I thought Uncle could worry if I showed up late, but I still agreed. Even as we walked, we were silent. Wanda and I walked in front, still holding hands as if giving each other support after what we’d seen. Frank followed us, his shovel touching the ground, cutting the weeds, and splitting the soil with the sound of a spoon digging into a bowl of sugar. Both of them walked slowly, so I could keep up. We got there in ten minutes. Their house was built of pine planks. I wouldn’t say it was beautiful, no. It was dilapidated, in fact, but big enough. It could have been a nice place once, but lack of money didn’t let Frank take proper care of it. I expected to see or at least hear Wanda’s mother when we walked in, and then I remembered Inky had said she lived with her dad. I was curious where her mother was or if she had died, so I hoped she would speak on it herself. The room we walked in first was the kitchen. Frank filled the kettle, put it on the rusty stove and left us to wash up and change his clothes. Wanda and I sat opposite each other at a round wooden table. She propped her chin with her fists and looked out the window, squinting in the sun. I’d thought her eyes were brown, but in the light, I saw they were actually very dark grey. I’d never seen such a beautiful eye color before, and I think it made up for the absence of basic female beauty features in her. She had dark short hairs on her upper lip, around her ears, and her arms were hairy too. I knew she was a first-generation American and asked her where she originated from.

“My father is half-French, and my mother was French.”

“Was?”

“Yes, she died. She cut her hand while cooking and got fever. Died a few days later.”

“I’m sorry. How old were you?”

“Nine.”

I wanted to let her know that she wasn’t the only one missing someone.

“You know, my sister died too. Six weeks ago. She was six.”

“This is sad. Why did she die?”

“We learned she was ill when she was a baby. Doctors said she didn’t have much time to live. Only a few years. She died of a stroke. It was quick.”

“Did you love her much?”

“Yes, I did.”

The kettle started to whistle as it got hotter. Frank came back and brushed his face on a threadbare towel, hanging on a string with other washed stuff.

“So, Eugene, how old are you?” he asked, lifting the lid of the kettle to see if the water was boiling.

“Fourteen.”

“Wanda told me about you. She said there was a boy she’d never seen before, whom the Moseys called their cousin. How come you’ve never been here before?”

“We didn’t talk much,” I said.

“Are your parents here?” he asked.

“No, they’re in New York.”

“In the city?”

I nodded.

“New York City?” Wanda said.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.