Newsletter (2017-2018) March 2018 Newsletter | Page 13

ber and a name. But wait––my father’s name is and I noticed how pale she was. She was holding
Bretislav, and the one written on the paper was another piece of paper. Her hands trembled, so
Horymir. I was confused.
I took it and started to read: “Sorry, stop. Your
Father…”
My mum just winked at me. “Did you really
think your father was my first boyfriend?”
But my mother immediately stopped me: “Do
not read it aloud. Please.”
I was not able to find anything to answer, so I
just took another paper from the box. It was a The word “please” was pleading in a way that I
photo of a man in a uniform and a child with its was not sure if I would like to read the telegram
tongue stuck out.
even just for myself. However, I was curious, so
I unfolded the paper again. I felt my tears start to
trail down my face.
“Is that Horymir?” I asked her, confused.
“You cannot recognize your father? He was a
soldier when you were a baby. Can you see the
handkerchief in his pocket? Look at the table.
Yes, that’s it. The green and dirty thing on the
table. He does not want to throw it away and I
do not know how to get rid of it. Once I tried to
throw it to the garbage bin. Unfortunately, that
was the only time he was throwing the garbage
away and he saw it there. He did not speak with
me for two days.” She was grinning!
“I gave your grandma five more minutes of not
knowing anything. Five minutes of being hap-
py.” Her face was covered with tears. I wanted to
hug her, to squeeze her, tell her that everything
will be all right, but I knew that nothing can re-
move this pain from her heart.
The sound of keys opening the lock made my
mum to wipe her tears and close the box. She
looked like a strong woman again. My father
had come home.
“And what about that baby sticking her tongue
out?” I asked.
Sorry, stop. Your Father died from heart attack, stop.
“Come on, that’s you! You did not respect au-
thority even when you were a little girl.”
Barbora is an exchange
student from the Czech
Republic. She has been
writing since she was four
years old. Her dream is
to publish a book about
Czech heritage.
She put the photo back in the box and started to
look around the box slowly as it seemed that she
was looking for something. After a while, her
face completely changed. Her smile disappeared
11
MARCH 2018