Telepath These Days

8 - Pehube's Town

The morning sun was reflected on the dining table through the kitchen windows. After two days, they could only get rid of the moving fatigue with the end of the work. Neither Togan nor Ozan had the opportunity to see the town except for a few trips to the market and hardware shop.

"Mum." Ozan said. "Since there is not much work left. Should we take a tour around the town?" he asked, drawing a half circle on his glass with the index finger of his right hand.

"I don't know what to say." Said his aunt, taking a sip of her tea.

With the smile on his aunt's face, Togan seemed to see his mother for a moment.

"Since my last visit..." said his aunt, staring at the ceiling as if calculating something. "I mean, I wonder what has changed in the town in the last five years, but of course you want to have fun without me now."

"Let's not put it quite like that, Mum. Let's just say we two cousins need some alone time." He said, elbowing him. "Right, cousin?"

Togan paused for a moment. "Ha... Yeah, sure."

With that confirmation they went to get ready for their room. Togan had moved things around in his mind many times before he brought his room into its current order. He had made his final decision last night.

Two colors dominated his room: blue and snow white. He had placed his bed against the wall. He had thought that this was the only suitable place for his bed in every room layout he imagined in his mind. There was a snow-white nightstand right next to his bed. On it, there was a blue night light with the appearance of a dunking hand. Opposite his bed was a dark blue single armchair with his acoustic guitar in its case. In the other corner of the room, there was a snow-white desk almost as long as a bed. Between the armchair and the desk was a snow-white wardrobe, as in all wooden furniture.

He thought of opening the wardrobe and choosing a t-shirt and a pair of trousers from the new clothes his aunt had bought for his and his cousin, but he hesitated to make the same choice as Ozan. His aunt had bought one of each outfit for each of them so that there wouldn't be any disagreement. This was a bigger disagreement. Fortunately, it was unlikely to choose the same one among so many clothes. He decided on a pair of black jeans and a red polo-neck t-shirt.

When he finished his preparations, he left the window slightly ajar to let the air out. As he opened the window, he saw Toprak in the window of the neighboring house. Soon after, Toprak also noticed him. she had suddenly disappeared from in front of the window, but it took only a few seconds for him to appear. She placed a small board on her knee. She grasped the pencil with her right hand. After scribbling something, she lifted the board between her hands.

'Hi.'

Togan turned his hazel eyes into his room. Knowing that he couldn't find a practical solution like her, he took one of his notebooks and wrote his answer on the blank page.

'Hi.'

As Toprak bowed her head and wrote the new answer, Togan silently watched her without moving.

'Were you watching me?'

He felt his face flush. He opened a new blank page in his notebook, not knowing what to answer. But there was no need for that. Toprak showed the board in his hand again with a smile.

'It was just a joke.'

As Togan sighed deeply, Toprak hurriedly threw the blackboard in her hand and abruptly closed the curtain. Togan's smile disappeared in surprise. He just stood there. While he was waiting to understand whether this was a joke or not, he was confronted with his mother's dark gaze behind the rapidly opening curtain. Her eyes captured Togan's eyes as if she would not even allow him to look away.