Part 37.
/End/
The noise in the yard grew louder. The noise was followed
by shooting. From the cellar hatch, the Padrone only caught a glimpse of
someone running away with Dada.
According to Ugo's plan, Dada was to be abducted from the
bedroom, as he was the only one who knew the way; he had wished to carry out
this task himself, although no one would have let him go alone, and two gypsies
had already been assigned to follow him in advance.
Ugo managed to leave one gypsy downstairs and killed him
as he came back out. As for the second, he slit his throat as soon as they
entered Dada’s bedroom upstairs.
The Padrone ran in pursuit. Ugo brought Dada to the man
with the dangerous eyes. The man was beside himself with joy; he only managed
to smile once before a bullet fired from Ugo’s hand pierced his forehead.
The Padrone caught up just as Ugo picked up the
unconscious Dada.
For a second, their eyes met; both had their weapons
pointed at each other, yet neither was in a hurry to shoot.
The moment seemed to turn into an eternity.
A roar from Zeki and the sounds of gunfire were heard
from the house side.
Ugo slowly began to retreat backward. The Padrone paused
his gaze for another second. Then he quickly turned his back and rushed into
the blazing house to help Zeki.
***
For a long time, a very long time, Dada could not regain
consciousness. History repeated itself.
Once again, she witnessed the raiding and destruction of
her family. The screaming, the shooting, the fire—it all happened again.
Again, a savior appeared unexpectedly, and there was a
flight and escape into the night. These two events differed from each other
only in time and place; everything else followed the same pattern.
The tragedy of her childhood, which she had long
suppressed in her mind and forgotten to the point where she never recalled it,
resurfaced in her memory. Or perhaps, she truly remembered nothing at all.
It was also amazing that Dada never found anything
strange; she easily got used to everyone and everything.
Perhaps that is why she accepted the Padrone so simply,
at first sight, and had considered the years spent with him since then as happy
ones.
Unconsciously, she had developed the belief that every
new day is the beginning of a new life, and what had already happened was gone,
taken away by the passing of time.
The story repeated itself once again.
She was saved again.
Once again, she took refuge in the forest.
She had to start her life from a clean slate once more.
She did not even want to look back at the old estate and
eventually forgot about that place entirely. The ruins of the house that
remained were eaten away by moss. The once beautiful homestead, scorched by
fire, was barely sold after many years of desolation and destruction. The
estate was bought very cheaply by some crippled, lonely old man, who then
donated it to a monastery. With this, all the stories and memories of that
place were consigned to oblivion.
Dada lived in a small, beautiful house in a completely
different place, in a completely different region. Neither the estate nor the
house was as huge as the one where she had lived with the Padrone, but
everything was arranged beautifully and neatly. Some of the children resembled
Dada, others resembled Ugo. Dada was happy. She rejoiced in the joy of her
family.
One day, an old beggar wrapped in rags appeared at the
yard.
Dada froze in place.
Her heart skipped a beat. History was repeating itself
yet again.
There were few residents in this area, and they were not
known for their wealth, so beggars never visited these parts.
The old man asked the children only for water. He refused
food and started on his way with a very slow, stumbling gait. He had terrible
difficulty walking, leaning on a cane with one side and barely dragging his
other leg.
Dada walked toward the old man. She thought that perhaps
the children had not offered him bread properly.
The old beggar had already reached the road. At the gate,
the beggar's bag was lying on the ground. Dada was very worried. She thought
the poor man had left it behind, and how could she let him know? So she decided
to catch up and hand it to him, but the old man was already disappearing from
view. Dada reached for the bag, but to her surprise, she could not budge it.
Inadvertently, the bag opened. In the sunlight, gold bars
shimmered dazzlingly.
LEX. Saturday, March 26, 2016.
No comments:
Post a Comment