5. After sunset
During those same autumn days, when the elders began to gather in the barn in the late evenings, the women of the village were also on the move. After dinner, everyone wanted to spend time in someone’s company.
Regina was about to wipe up the flour stains she found on the floor, but Penelope said she would do it herself. She kissed her daughter on the cheek and went to fill the lamp with oil. At that moment, there was a knock at the door. Regina hurried to open the door. Ava stood outside the threshold, surrounded by Irma, Astrid, Frida and Wanda. Regina invited everyone inside. At the end, she kissed Ava with words of greeting, after which she asked her to wait a little while she filled her lamp. While waiting for Regina, Ava quietly approached Penelope from behind and sharply pinched her sides. Penelope screamed hysterically in surprise, and Ava could not suppress her laughter for a long time.
– Sorry, – she said through laughter, – but I couldn’t resist.
Penelope tried her best to contain her smile, but she was unable to do so.
– Okay – Penelope answered as if forgiving. – The main thing is, make sure the baby doesn’t jump out of your belly. Ava appreciated this joke, grabbing Penelope’s shoulder with her palms, as if feeling for support so as not to fall, and, bursting into laughter, almost pressed her chin to it.
Soon Regina appeared. She handed Ava the oil lamp and took a freshly baked apple pie. They headed for the exit. Standing at the threshold, Regina said:
– Well, that’s it, we’re leaving. Don’t be bored.
Ava waved and said:
– Girls, obey Penelope.
Soon there was a knock of a closing door.
On such evenings, Wanda was the one who was most excited about visiting Penelope.
– What’s for today? – she asked.
– Be patient, you’ll find out soon, – Penelope answered, wiping the remains of flour on the floor.
Having finished cleaning, she led the girls to her room and asked them to wait a little. Then Penelope went out to the backyard and said loudly:
– Okay, everyone in the house!
Ursula, Willie and Sven ran as fast as they could to Penelope. Having brought the children inside, she closed the door from the inside and went into the bedroom. There, Penelope, as usual in such cases, spread several wide and warm blankets on top of each other, where all the children could sit in a semicircle, and she herself, with a lamp in her hand, sat opposite, tucking her legs under herself. On each of these evenings, when parents throughout the village went off in search of entertainment and interesting conversations, the little ones ran to Penelope to listen to legends and fairy tales. This time in her hands lay a book with stories by unknown authors.
That evening, she chose a story for the children about the love between a simple fisherman and an emperor’s daughter. According to the plot, the emperor forced his daughter to marry a member of the upper class under the threat of killing the fisherman. The fisherman could not survive this and, feeling how life was fading inside him, decided to pierce his own heart with a dagger. But moments before this, the young man turned to the higher powers and asked for only one thing: to allow him to be reborn in order to see the face of his beloved at least once more, at least with one eye. However, the emperor’s daughter could not bear parting with the young man either. She was so scared that she decided to jump out of the window of her bedchamber in a high tower. The lovers were gone in one day and at one hour. But then, just a few months later, a stranger appeared in the city: a human by day, a huge wolf by night. The stranger suffered for a long time because the face of a certain maiden kept popping up in his head. This face seemed familiar to him. He did not know who this beauty was, but he wanted to find her. He searched for her for a long time, but never met her. The stranger was alone, and this loneliness became more and more unbearable with each passing day. Turning into the wolf at night, he attacked the locals, who soon turned into the same wolves. The stranger was no longer alone, but the face of the beautiful maiden did not give him peace. His second essence, which appeared with the onset of darkness, did not allow him to be alone, creating a pack in which he found friends. But the stranger still felt lonely.
Soon, under the light falling on the pages from the burning lamp, Penelope finished reading the last lines of the story:
– Captured in the flesh of a beast, for long centuries he wandered the earth in search of his beloved in the hope that she was waiting for him somewhere.
Lying on the floor, propping her chin on her fists, the impressed Wanda took a deep breath and said out of habit:
– Will you read anything else?
But Penelope abruptly closed the book, causing a muffled pop, and said:
– That’s enough for today.
Wanda sighed even louder, upset. The others were also annoyed that Penelope refused to read another story, but it was Wanda who was the most indignant.
There was a knock at the door. Charlotte hurried to open it. On the threshold stood Regina with the apple pie and Ava, who had the lamp hanging in her right hand, and with her left hand pressed a cape to her bulging belly to warm the baby.
– Well, finally – Charlotte said, kissing her friends on the cheeks in turn. – Hurry up, come in.
Regina and Charlotte were bosom friends. This could be said about Ava too, but in their case the friendship was fueled by the children’s intention to marry. Charlotte and Regina often touched on the topic of marriage in their conversations, discussing what kind of future they wanted for Erikson and Penelope. Andreas also perceived Regina as a full-fledged relative. At every chance meeting, he said that she should visit him more often, and that he would ask Charlotte to cook something special for the occasion.
– By the way, Yvette said that she can’t come – said Charlotte, pouring boiling water over the rose hips. – Their youngest fell ill. – After a short pause, Charlotte added: – I hope you didn’t overeat during dinner?
– Not really – said Regina, putting the first piece of pie on Ava’s plate.
– You don’t have to worry about me – answered Ava. Having bitten off an impressive piece of pie, she added with her mouth full: – The baby will help me, but it’s always not enough for him.
Regina and Charlotte laughed, and when the laughter died down, Charlotte said:
– Selma promised to bring a baked hare.
Ava lowered her eyelids and thought with some lust about how much she wanted meat, continuing to chew the pie, which she was eating alone for now, since the others had preferred to wait for Selma and the hare first.
– Magdalena also said that she couldn’t – Regina suddenly remembered. – She didn’t say why, though.
Charlotte added in an encouraging voice:
– But we won’t see Roberta.
– She couldn’t? – Regina asked. Ava wanted to ask the same question, but the pie in her mouth didn’t allow it.
– I have no idea. I just didn’t invite her.
This was great news for Regina and Ava, as it will be for Selma.
Roberta, Gustav’s wife, had earned a reputation as a local bitch, with whom few wanted to be friends. However, Roberta had a habit of not so much asking, but simply letting everyone