Jullian's adventures

Untitled Part 1

'Is there anything you want, dear?', an old lady asked in a worried tone.

'I think I wanted something Auntie Greta, but..... I forgot.', Julian replied, concentrating hard on her memory.

'You really need to work on that memory dear, or you might forget who you are someday.', the old granny chuckled jokingly.

'Yes, I guess you are right.', Julian chuckled back.

She said goodbye to the old woman and continued her journey back home.

'Mother will be really angry. Oh lord, why do I always forget the things she asks me to bring from the market.', Julian said to herself as she walked her way home.

She walked down a dirt road with wild trees and shrubs lining the way. It was her favourite road in the town. The beauty of nature and the roughness of the path seemed familiar and comfortable to her. Julian was a country girl, living in the town of Wandera which made her love of the greens an obvious consequence. Yet she was unlike any other girl in the whole area. This little girl was beyond her age. She was very mature with a bright sense of humour and still a visible tomboy. When her imagination ran wild, Julian could make the sky fall, the trees sing and the cars fly. She could make her mother her daughter and the worst scenarios to take place. Julian's mind was the place of dreams and fantasies which could be opened anytime, which was also ironically the only trait that made her life a bit troublesome. Though she was a bright minded person, she would get lost in her imagination and from there the things would turn exactly opposite of what was intended.

She glanced at the cemetery beside her as she passed it and then at her tiny home a few meters away and dreaded what had to come next. Her mother was not going to be very happy when she would find out that she had forgotten something yet again, but still, with a sense of honesty, she went towards the house and as she entered, she stood in front of her mother and told her the truth. Nevertheless, her mother was angry, but she calmly talked Julian through with the instructions on how she could make things much simpler by just a few measures. Julian listened her talking but couldn't help wondering if she would ever remember the measures her mom had taught her. Her mother then handed her a paper with 'Radishes' written on it.

'Oh, so it was radishes that I forgot. I will be on my way, mother.', Julian said as she began to carelessly walk out of the door again.

'Wait, Julian.', her mother stopped her from behind, 'Take this slip with you. Just in case you forget them on your way.'

'Okay, mother.', Julian said taking the slip from her mother's hand with a bit of embarrassment glowing on her face.

'Wait, now, do you even have enough money?', Julian's mother asked as she began to leave again.

'Oh yes, about that, I think I have a dollar less.', Julian said as she examined her pockets.

'Oh, those prices have shot out of the roof, well, here you go then.', her mother took out a dollar from her pocket which hung like a sack around her waist.

Julian was walking down the road, on her way back to the market, thinking about what her mother said. What would it have been without the war, she thought. It had been last five years since the war had started. Since then, her town has only seen loss. First, the men had been called for recruitment, then, then the plague struck and now, the prices were going higher and higher by the day. She recollected how her own father and older brother were called to the war. They left the next day and when they returned home, they left everyone they left in tears. That they the sky roared yet again on the bodies of those who have gifted their lives to their homeland. Not only her father but nine other bodies were buried in the cemetery with great pride that day. And though everyone poured their pride with the soil on their graves, Julian was left with the infectious hate for war in her heat. It left to ask many questions that looked senseless to the others. People dejected her, shushed her whenever she would ask why the war was of any use till at last, she lost the trust in her elders. She thought about it as she walked down the street and to the same old vendor who now seemed pretty satisfied to see the certainty in her customer's order.