Amina's first official
day off was rainy. She got out of her bed and stared at the raindrops
hitting the window for several minutes. Something in their movement
was mesmerizing and relaxing at the same time. Praie was present but
didn't wish to communicate with her. Amina left her room for
breakfast.
The house was quiet.
Breakfast had been set as usual but Amina seemed to be the first one
there. She sat down and collected things for a sandwich on her plate.
After several minutes,
the house maid came to check on the situation and soon after left
Amina by herself again.
When Mrs. Streckke
finally came to breakfast, she was tired and solemn.
Amina bid her good
morning even though the morning clearly wasn't good.
Mrs. Streckke ignored
her. She sat by the table and poured herself some tea. She didn't eat
anything.
Amina was uneasy but
she couldn't think of anything to say and she didn't dare to ask what
was wrong.
The house maid returned
a little later and spoke to Mrs. Streckke in a low voice, offering
her a sandwich and a muffin, but he lady declined them both politely.
The house maid then came over to Amina and asked her to leave as soon
as she was done with her breakfast.
Amina nodded and left
the room shortly. Her curiosity and worry got the best of her and she
hid herself in the staircase where no one could see her, and
listened. Soon she could hear two men talking in the hall near the
door but they were too far for Amina to make out what they were
saying. However, the tone of their conversation was serious.
Amina peeked carefully
around the stair railing. Mr. Streckke was talking with the
apotheracy Mr. Augustin. Mr. Augustin was a hoary, plump man, whom
Amina had met briefly when Mrs. Streckke was showing her around the
town. Their conversation went on and on, and Amina returned to her
room.
Amina dug out some
paper and carried out her plan to write to Kros. She wrote for a long
time without interruption. Eventually, her stomach let out a loud
growl and she left her room to see if lunch would be served soon.
Dishes for lunch had
been set on the table in the dining room but no food had been put
out.
Amina snuck to the
kitchen door and peeked in.
The house maid noticed
her and apologiced that the food had been taken back to the kitchen
as no one had shown up for lunch. She gathered some luke-warm food on
a plate for Amina and told her to get back to the dining room to eat.
Amina sat by the table
in the dining room and ate by herself in silence. After she had
finished eating, she returned to her room and began to write a letter
to Jared. She left her room only to go to the bathroom, and find some
evening snack because she didn't want to disturb anyone. She
practised her characters on the blackboard for several hours and
eventually fell asleep with her face pressed on the board.
***
Amina woke up with an
aching back and shoulders and her other arm was asleep. It was very
early, before sunrise, but it was slowly getting light. Amina rose to
let her arm wake up and wiped chalk off her face.
Praie wanted to tell
her something.
Amina closed her eyes
and focused.
The spirit was a little
abashed but it expressed its wish to go see the son of Streckke
family.
Amina had a slightly
strangling feeling in her throat. She still wasn't ready to have
anything to do with the skeletal young man.
Praie was silent but
didn't go back to its usual moping.
Amina cleared out the
stationery and went to the bathroom to wash her face. It was far too
early for breakfast but she wasn't feeling sleepy anymore. She
thought about Praie's wish for a moment and after being sure the
house was quiet, she snuck towards the part of the house where the
bedrooms of the Streckke family were. Amina wasn't sure which one of
the doors led to the son's room, but Praie said it knew.
Amina put her hand on
the door handle and took a deep breath. She wished from all her heart
that Praie was right and opened the door.
The large bedroom had
been furnished with extravagant taste and in the bed, surrounded by
velvet veils with lace linings, was lieing the son.
Amina walked quietly to
the bed and placed her hand on his forehead. He didn't feel feverish
or sweaty. Amina exhaled slowly and turned to leave the room, when
the young man grabbed her wrist. All the hair on Amina's arms and on
the back of her neck stood up and she bit her lip not to scream.
Praie was immediately investigating the young man's state, ignoring
Amina.
”Why are you here?”
he asked in a hoarse voice.
Amina turned to face
the bed again. ”No one has spoken to me since yesterday. I was just
a little curious and a little worried,” she replied.
He let go of her hand
and smiled. ”I'm feeling just fine. I have no fever or any pain. In
a few days of rest I'll be feeling much better again.”
”You're lying,”
Amina said. ”You are in pain because you are hungry.” It was
Praie.
He turned his eyes on
the roof. ”True greatness of mind is to be able to resist the
weaknesses of the body. I eat too much, still, even though the
apotheracy declares I need something to strengthen my body. Perhaps
it would be so, if I was ill, but I'm not. I am healthy and not
dying. I can see in the eyes of my parents that they fear so,” he
croaked.
Amina pursed her lips.
It was obvious that neither was he eating enough nor was he healthy.
He wasn't suffering from any actual disease, but his body was
suffering immensely from the lack of nutrition. ”I didn't mean to
disturb you. I'm sorry to wake you up,” she said and was about to
leave.
”It's allright.
You'll grow up to be a kind person. It means you'll be at least a
little plump, but I'm sure you will find someone who will love you
more for what is on the inside, rather than the body on the outside.
Or you can take care of the truely civilized like my family, who
don't have enough time to worry about the trifling things in life.”
Amina bit her lip and
left the room as fast as she could without making noise. Praie was
curious why she was so angry. Amina was thinking whether it would be
better to let the man die of his own stupidity and starve, or was
there any way to get some sense through to him. She knew she wasn't
fat or even slightly plump, but the values of the Streckke family
that made them consider skinny people better and more civilized than
others made her sick. Amina returned to the dining room and waited
for breakfast.
***
After breakfast, Amina
returned to her room and read through the letters she had written on
the previous day. She added some details and decided to go to town to
send them. When she reached the bottom of the staircaase, the house
maid came to her and told her Mrs. Streckke wanted to see her.
Amina knocked on the
door of Mrs. Streckke's parlour and received and invitation to enter.
Mrs. Streckke asked her
kindly to join her as she was going to town to meet the apotheracy,
as she felt the need for some fresh air and the apotheracy had been
keen to hear about their son's condition.
Amina agreed willingly
but she didn't mention her letters. She was sure she could send them
while Mrs. Streckke was speaking with the apotheracy.
They left immediately.
It was windy but otherwise the weather was nice. In town, they headed
straight to the apotheracy, and Amina had no chance to leave Mrs.
Streckke.
Mr. Augustin was just
scolding some children who Amina hadn't met before as they entered.
They were clearly from a poor family. When he saw Mrs. Streckke, Mr.
Augustin ignored the children and greeted her.
”Good morning, Mr.
Augustin. Unfortunately, I have no good news about my son. He is
still too weak to get out of bed,” Mrs. Streckke said gravely.
Mr. Augustin nodded.
”Has he been able to drink or eat anything? Perhaps some medicinal
tea at the very least?”
Mrs. Streckke shook her
head. As she tried to reply, her voice broke off and tears filled her
eyes.
Amina was uneasy. She
didn't know what to think or do in the awkward situation and she was
restless about the staring children a couple of metres away. She
wanted to go send her letters but didn't dare to leave.
Mrs. Streckke and Mr.
Augustin talked over some things for a while and neither one of them
acknowledged Amina or the other children in any way. Eventually, Mrs.
Streckke was ready to leave and Mr. Augustin went back to scolding
the children.
Amina followed Mrs.
Streckke out.
”Could you hold out
your hand for me, dear?” Mrs. Streckke asked of her.
Amina held out her hand
and Mrs. Streckke grabbed it for support.
Amina was vexed. She
had been brought along solely as a support in case Mrs. Streckke
would feel fatigued, and they were headed straight back. Amina had no
chance to send her letters. She decided to do it first thing after
school on the next day.
***
In the morning, Amina
was brisk and ready to go to school. The atmosphere in the house was
still depressing even though the son had started to show slight signs
of recovery. Amina asked Praie if his recovery would take long. The
spirit couldn't tell as it depended much on him getting sufficient
amounts of sustenance. Amina was happy to get out for a few hours.
As she arrived at the
school, Amina waited for Ms. Slava as the teacher had promised to
choose her a table over the days off. As she was glancing around the
classroom, Amina saw one of the children she had seen at the
apotheracy the day before. The girl hadn't been at school during the
previous week. Amina was absolutely certain of it.
Ms. Slava showed Amina
to the table where the new girl was sitting. She was told the girl's
name was Tessa and her family was so poor they couldn't afford to
send her to school every week. However, Ms. Slava was keen to point
out that she was willing to teach also those less fortunate who had
no future in the academia. Amina had a bitter thought that her actual
motive to teach anyone was only money.
After school Amina was
going to finally get the letters on the way, but instead she stayed
and talked with Tessa who was leaving at the same moment.
Tessa wasn't ashamed to
tell about the financial situation of her family. They went without
food for almost three days every week when she was attending the
school and even without the school fees, everyday meals weren't a
certanty.
Amina couldn't in turn
tell much about the Streckke family as she had been staying with them
for such a short time and most of that she had kept to herself.
Tessa knew that the son
of the Streckke family had been severely ill at least three times
during the past three years as she and her siblings had been
gathering herbs for Mr. Augustin for a small fee. In fact, she had
been there with the other children to discuss a chance to borrow a
basket or two during the coming summer for the plant collecting, when
Amina and Mrs. Streckke had come to the apotheracy on the previous
day. Instead of giving them baskets, Mr. Augustin had scolded them
big time even though the last basket they borrowed got broken but it
was an accident two years earlier.
Amina was interested to
hear everything, especially about the plants. She had never before
heard much about medicinal herbs even though she knew a little about
some of their uses and she remembered that Emma had planned to grow
some in the back yard in the summer.
At last Tessa stated
that she had to go back home to take care of her younger siblings so
her mother could get some stuff done and they bid good day to one
another.
Amina was lost in
thought after the facinating conversation and all that she had learnt
and forgot to send the letters again. In the evening, she added a few
lines to each letter and hoped they would eventually find their way
to Kros and Jared. On the next day she finally got the letters to the
post.
As the son of Streckke
was evidently recovering, the atmosphere in the house was lifted.
Praie wasn't moping anymore but it kept to itself still. Amina
decided to get to know Tessa better even though it wouldn't be
possible at school as it would be inappropriate for her to befriend a
child from such a poor family in public. She had plenty of free-time
in the afternoons. Amina was determined to learn more about the
plants. On the other hand, she was worried about Tessa's family, who
– unlike the son of Streckke – simply didn't have enough food to
drive their hunger away.
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