Looking at the dusty books on my wooden shelf, I start to think. At every breakfast my little Ise asked a question.
Interestingly she had a thought about me. Those green eyes hid questions on even unfamiliar topics. But in her thoughts, her father knew the answers to everything.
I can't deny that it made me happy, seeing how you think, as well as being able to entrust your questions to me. But the fact is, parents don't know all the answers, especially where heaven begins and ends?
So I told her that most of the questions that exist in the world are answered with words, under certain circumstances, we can also answer with other questions, but there are those that are answered in silence...
** 1999 - New York **
It was Saturday, one of her favorite days, you can imagine why; he didn't have classes, he didn't need to see his classmates – as the principal said. The good thing about the weekend was that Mrs. Margaret couldn't make her go to school, although Clara created a great deal of admiration for the new teacher.
She and her best friend ventured into the orphanage:
- Come on Clara, quick...
Levy was running ahead, as usual awkwardly. Clara followed him down the hall to the huge glass window at the end, where a group of children eavesdropped on what went on outside the reddish wall.
"Silence..." said Ryan who was comfortably close to the glass.
- Is it another child?
- A couple...?
Asked the other curious...
- Let us see too...
"Be quiet, I'll see and tell you," Ryan replied, stretching his feet.
Clara took advantage of the boy's moment of distraction, pushing him away from the window. And so the other children took over, some even stepping over the boy who had fallen to the ground, letting the words out in the wind. And the uproar began, with shoving, elbowing and shouting:
- My foot...
- I want to see too...
- Get over there...
- Speak quietly...
Levy found a way to help her friend see, as the small space was impossible for two. He joined his hands, settling himself close to the wall and she soon understood the plan, putting her small foot in the boy's hands and finally resting her hands on his shoulder, thus reaching the glass window. Levy shivered, holding most of her weight in his hands.
- What you're seeing? - He asked
- A man talking to the lady director.
Her expression changed as he struggled to keep her there.
"There's also a woman in a red dress and a cane," Clara added, leaning on, bracing her hands on the surface of the window.
- Is she old? - Asked the boy.
- I don't think so - replied Clara, sneaking around the corners - I can't see right...
- I can't anymore... - Charlie commented breathlessly.
So she came down.
One of the girls, by name Gina approached her after hearing:
- Is it a couple?
"I think so," Levy replied, opening and closing his hands uncomfortably.
- I heard Miss Medellin and the headmistress talking about a couple who are looking for a missing girl. - commented Ginny
Clara and Levy looked at each other, until they turned back to the girl.
- Do you know who they're looking for? asked Clara.
- No... But they've been visiting the orphanage for a few weeks. replied Ginny.
"It must be them," Levy commented.
- Let's go to the patio... - Clara said.
The three figures in the hallway some distance away walked around the courtyard. Mrs Margaret; she was the only one she could recognize because of her upright posture and long attire, as to the couple; her faces were less visible due to the distance.
The woman was a few inches shorter than the lady headmistress, but her long red dress made her tall and slender. She held an oak cane, which clattered to the ground every time she leaned it. Beside her a tall man with a slender build. Unlike Mrs. Margaret, the man held himself in a slightly stooped posture, and his long, narrow neck resembled a bird.
The insensitive sound of the oak cane echoed down the hall, piercing the wind and the chattering cries of the orphans in the room. It ran through the children's ears as if the whole world were quiet, calling their attention to them on the other side of the small stone wall.
Soon afterward, the young Medellin appeared, and they shared the conversation with the young woman.
Clara and Levy kept their distance, watching along with the other children.
When she felt the gaze of the young woman on her, an intense cold ran down her spine, speeding up her heart.
- Clear? called Levy with a worried look. – Are they your parents?
He had noticed Miss Medelin's gaze as well, and now they were sharing the same anguish.
- My... - The words failed him...
The young Medellin left the couple and the headmistress, and that scene was repeated again, but this time, the sensitive looking lady showed no feelings as she addressed Clara and her friend.
Her little heart beat rapidly as the young woman approached; she barely felt like she was breathing.
The other children followed the girl with their eyes until she stopped next to Clara.
- I? – asked the girl.
She had watched that scene several times, and finally it was her turn to be adopted. She knew then that everything would change and that was the feeling of fear and uncertainty about her new parents, or who knows, her legitimate parents.
Clara looked at her friend, doubting what she would do. He was transfixed like a stone statue, not knowing what to say…until he took a step closer, and hugged her for a long time. She responded, clasping her hands around the boy's bony body, and a fountain of tears flooded both their eyes.
- Clear? - Miss Medelin said with the same flooded look.
The two walked away, and Levy reached into his pocket, placed a piece of paper in Clara's hands, folded in different regions, forming the structure of a heart.
- Goodbye...
That last word from Clara brought a different meaning to their ears. It would not be a "goodbye" or "see you later" but a sensitive and awkward "goodbye".
Young Medellin reached out, taking the girl's hand, and led her out of the courtyard. But her eyes locked on the only paralyzed friend, as if it were possible to retain every trace of her face, her blue eyes like a summer sky, and her companionable personality.
Turning the aisle, it was no longer possible to feel the gaze of the other orphans, much less her best friend Levy.
That sinking feeling in her heart said in every word that she would never see him again; she would share the adventures with him, or follow him through the corridors of the orphanage. Now the homesickness would be her company and the memories would remain inside to remind him that she once had a best friend at the orphanage.
In the bedroom, Clara received help from the young woman getting dressed, but also silence.
Miss Medelin's sweet eyes averted, fading with every passing second as she watched her standing in front of her.
- Are you going to visit me? – Clara asked, breaking that anguished silence.
Until Medellin's eyes rested on the little girl again. They were reddened and watery.
- Because I'm going to miss you... - Clara completed.
- Promise you will behave and obey your new adoptive parents? - Asked the young woman holding her shoulders.
With her question hanging in the air, Clara wondered if she would ever see her again. Maybe deep down, she knew the answer...
The young Medellin did not respond with words, but with a gesture that confirmed the truth. Clara tightened her arms around the young woman's shoulders, and felt her arms close behind her back. At that moment the strong sigh announcing the painful farewell left Miss Medelin's lips
...
This is an example of questions that are answered only with silence... It doesn't need words, just as the little orphan girl learned. In this case, the answer in the form of a hug could say countless things, from “I love you”, “I'll miss you”... even a “Goodbye”.
Especially when there are no words spoken...
Perhaps a hug would say all it needed... Or, perhaps the silence of the unimaginable size of the sky could answer the immensity of the love that the young woman felt for the orphan; that of the boy Levy by his best friend Clara. A little further; that of a father for his son...