An FWA Story by Parwez Aullymun and Matthew Crouch
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“Come in…” the old man said. Valentino has now reached the graceful age of 89. Nearly 9 decades spent on this earth and he spent most of his life alone. He was living in his house on the hills of Italy where he spent the last twenty years. Today he was having the visit of one of his old friends, Katrina; who also retired after a 30 year service in the local hospital.
Valentino was not well, since the past few days now, that horrible cough was still here. That is why he called Katrina. Lying on his bed, he was unable to make a movement without coughing. “Hey my friend, what has happened to you?” Katrina asked. “I’ve known better days my friend; I guess my duty on this earth seems to be over… “
“I can’t stop thinking of what I did my whole life… A life full of surprises and now only memories remain…” said Valentino
Katrina asked her friend to go out and off both went for a stroll on the beautiful hillside. Vast cultivations of grapes could be seen. Some of which belonged to Valentino. Valentino had some difficulty walking. His body was tired with age. They went to sit near one of the fields where some men were still working the earth “like in the past” with traditional tools and horses and were ploughing the land where Katrina lost her husband a few years ago; an accident which the villagers still talk about. Valentino has always been a lonely man and a very kind one also. Always ready to help the poor whenever needed. He had his own world of his. He is also a very quiet person, with a heart of gold and was not afraid to show that he preferred men instead of women. He was always an open minded person. His life was not always as smooth as it is now. Taunts from the people who could not accept him in a society already divided amongst itself and full of political propaganda. Worse of all, the only laws would seem to be gossips and taunts that only make your life unbearable.
Valentino and Katrina became very good friends after the death of the husband of the latter. She also was facing the cruel world of a society in which widows were not allowed to live normally, would it be in a city, things would have been different, but each village has its own traditions and this one has its own set of “rules”. A society plagued with unjustified fears. Katrina had no other person to turn to and luckily she met Valentino who guided her and helped her overcome this period of unjustified torture.
Katrina comes from Poland. In her country her whole family was killed by the Nazi soldiers. She was a young girl at that time. She managed to run away from that hell in which it was raining bullets and in which a sea of blood was drowning everything on its passage. Hungers raging the stomach of the young girl, tears were to be her only companion.
Katrina had no money. On her arrival, begging was her only choice. One day she met with a priest, who looked for a place for her to work. It was a huge task at that time. Fate was by the side of Katrina. A rich family was looking for a maid to do the household chores, and that is how Katrina started her life. It was not easy. Kicks would be the rewards of any mistake, and better not mention the pervert master she had… Two years later, she met with Joseph, a good worker some would say, and on a fine Saturday afternoon, Padre Paul gave his holy benediction to the couple. Joseph was a laborer and with time passing and sacrifices done, the couple bought a plot of land and started cultivating some vegetables and started rearing a few goats.
On the hillside where Katrina and Valentino were sitting and gazing, there was a silence. This said it all. Those souls which had been crushed and sliced to pieces so many times were there, sitting. Thinking of those times when they were younger.
Katrina’s only daughter left the house to seek new horizons in America. Ever since she went there, she never contacted her mother until a few days back. Asking for money and telling her mother to go to rent those council flats and sell the property they had.
Katrina has no one to speak to apart from Valentino. Katrina, in tears, asked Valentino to help her... She does not want to leave the village where she spent her life… even though she has to bear the taunts and shouts of the villagers. Living in a box surely is not appealing to her. “Well, you know these youngsters nowadays…” said Valentino.
Katrina sobbed. Her life was at a crossroads. Should she take her own path of life, or lead the one demanded by the only remaining link she shared with the departed? There was only one man who would know the answer. A wise, old man, who proved to be not too far from her side.
Valentino lay still, basking in the Italian sun on one of the rare opportunities he got to go outside nowadays. He propped up his head against a lemon tree. This lemon tree had been in the land as long as he had been and seen more civil rivalries than any human could ever fathom. This tree had the thoughts, the knowledge and the experience to sort out any quarrel, were it able to.
“Patience, my dear,” spoke Valentino, “Good things come to those who wait.”
“But I can’t wait! You must understand this! My life has been torn to pieces and I don’t think I can spare any further pieces of my soul before I –”
“Patience! God shall find a resolve.”
Katrina had the upmost respect for her good friend. He wasn’t looking well and any such quarrel could lead to undesirable consequences and only compound her spiraling lifestyle.
They both walk back up the hill towards Valentino’s house where, all of a sudden, he breaks out in a coughing fit. This wasn’t unusual and gave no cause for alarm, but it became the straw that broke the camel’s back. Valentino was like a brother to Katrina. They had been through countless sorrows and joys in their lives. Their history goes back a long way. She couldn’t bear the thought she could possibly be losing a member of her family again.
“Don’t do this to me, Valentino! Don’t do this!”
“My… my darling… God shall deliver whatever fate he sees fit. It may be my time, but I’ve got one over on this guy on so many occasions. Don’t take me out for the count just yet, my dear.”
“I couldn’t bear it if I didn’t have you. No husband, no daughter, no steady foothold in any career. My life might as well just be over when yours is.”
“Hush now, hush now. You have much of your life to live for. Don’t whittle your life away like this. You have plenty to live for. Your husband would not approve of your actions. He would want you here, where you belong.”
“Here? But my daughter wants me elsewhere. Oh, Valentino. Oh my.”
Katrina scurried off into the village at the bottom of the hill, with tears falling around her like shrapnel. She had no idea where she was heading. Running just felt like the best option. She had no opportunities left in her life. All the best things, taken. If she could run, she could make a new beginning. Forget her life back at home. Start a new family, start a new life.
She cut through the grape vines surrounding her husband’s fields. Everywhere she looked she saw a dead end with no immediate path ahead of her. She stopped. She turned to look but the vines were too much. Everywhere she looked she saw her husband, her daughter, her master’s indecent actions as she lay helpless now, on the floor, sobbing to herself. Why had her life become like this? What would make it all come back?
Villagers stifle together and collect their pitchforks. After seeing her running, they know she’s alone and vulnerable – a perfect time to strike. They storm though Katrina’s husband’s field, slicing their way through priceless vines and stepping on immortal fruits of his labour in order to get to her. They run full speed to the neighboring field where she lay. As they catch sight of her, they lose momentum. Roars become moans. Moans become sighs. Sighs become silence. Even the angry mob has heart.
Katrina lay there, embedded in the clearing of vines she made as she clutches a poppy. The poppy came from the fields around Poland she and her husband visited thirty years ago to visit her hometown and the memorials in place for her departed family.
“He swore he would never leave,” she sobbed to herself, “He swore.”
Holding the poppy to her heart for a couple of minutes made her realise – This isn’t how he would have wanted her to be. He was always a pro-active person.
“‘Live for the moment!’. That’s what he would always say,” she sniffed.
With that decision, she stood up, looked around and spotted the lemon tree where Valentino was sat. You could always spot the lemon tree. Everyone knew about the lemon tree.
She wiped away her tears and began running towards Valentino. Before she reached the hill, she stopped off at the stream which ran around the hill and her husband’s field. She stood staring at the flowing water moving fluidly through the village and onward to the unknown. She picked a petal off of the side of the poppy, placed it above the water and let it drop in. Let the village never forget your heroics.
Lifting her head up, she proceeded to run up the hill. She didn’t lose breath like she did on the way down as she had a target. She knew what she was aiming for. Valentino was her calling. She must appreciate the world’s greater beings before turning sorrow on those who had left it.
Valentino lay motionless against the lemon tree. His eyes shut, his mouth closed, his hands grasping a piece of paper.
“Valentino! Valentino! I have realised my calling. I shall no longer dwell on the past! The past has been and gone, the present is now. The future is my calling! I finally feel that God no longer hates me and my being. I feel like I have been freed of an eternal curse! Nothing can stop me now!”
Valentino gave no response.
“Valentino?”
Valentino had passed on. He died shouting after Katrina who, too engrossed in her world of self-pity, blocked out the hurtful outside world. No words could have deterred her. Not even the ones of her closest friends. Not even his last. Katrina took a turn for the worse.
Thumping the ground with closed fists, the Earth gave no response. Valentino was gone. She screamed at the top of her lungs in grief. She couldn’t take another person dying on her. She insisted it was her who was to go next.
She composed herself. She will deal with her loss as she had done for everyone else who had left her. Think about other things. She watched as a fruit from the lemon tree dropped into the arms of Valentino, where she noticed the piece of paper. Anything he was to grasp with such might must be important.
Unfolding the note, she was taken aback. She could not believe what she was holding in front of her. She wiped her eyes to make sure it wasn’t a bleary eyed impression it was making on her, but no, it was real. The address to her daughter’s house in America and two tickets for a boat to get there. Valentino obviously made it his last wish to see Katrina happy.
So she stood up, shook her legs and walked onwards into the fading sunlight, address and tickets in hand.
“Live for the moment!”
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