MINDAZA

3. KHALLEL

"I don't think so if I am that girl you've known," Mindaza stated after Khallel gave her a cursory glance.

"You're not what I expected," Khallel continued in a cryptic response. He pulled himself away from the wall and said, "Then it is you I have come to see. There is something you should have to know,"

The mood abruptly changed from attention and mild enjoyment to anxiety and, in Mindaza's opinion, terror.

Sulaya seemed to realize that Mindaza was scrutinizing the man's nakedness with undisguised curiosity and said, "Leave out of here, Mindaza. You are still too young."

"But I am nineteen years old," Mindaza insisted.

"Oh, just let the girl see," Granny Juana said with a chuckle. "It won't hurt her to see what a male looks like, say the experts."

Khallel remarked, "It is not about what she sees; it is about what she can hear."

Mindaza followed Granny Juana's cackling into the other room.

"Leaders, come over. Lito let's talk about this." Sulaya urged everyone to follow her. They all go to the outside of the house with her husband. In the backyard there is a cottage where they can have their short meetings and so, most of the elders have joined them. But Mindaza keeps her distance from them.

As the adults talked, Mindaza positioned herself as near the door as she could. Starring on the group of people talking in the cottage. She heard voices murmuring.

Later on, there was a brief silence. And Mindaza heard her mother saying,

"Mindaza! Pack your belongings, we're going to leave tomorrow before the sun is up"

"But Sulaya, she's still young!" Lito urgently responded. Hearing those words surprised him at the sudden decision. His face shows more concerned as much as a father.

"She will be fine, Lito, trust me. We will be right back here to live the way we have here. The sooner, the better." Sulaya explained. Lito turned to his daughter in deepest thoughts.

"Mother is right. I will be fine. Also this is my dream to step my feet into the ground of that big Island. This is my chance father."

Mindaza told him. She was settled in the house she had known her entire life. But by that moment, she and her mother had decided to move from this place. Lito nod. He knows that even he insists there are no possibilities that Sulaya can change her mind.

"This is it?" Mindaza said. After tossing a sack-bag on her back containing her personal belongings. She asks herself who has a dream. Wishing that they all have a safe and happy journey and that she will share it with her father on her returns.

Khallel opened the door and stroked Mindaza's shoulder, saying, "Just don't ask; you will see what lies beyond your future."

Sulaya walked away from the cottage and said, "You've always wanted to travel since you were a kid, you always wanted to see what lies beyond the confines of our small island.Well, sweety, now you are going to do just that," Sulaya said. Her smile lacked humor as her hazel eyes seemed to drive into Mindaza's soul.