‘Rest here, it’s the most comfortable bed in the village,’ she said, fluffing the pillows for me.
I sat on the edge of the bed too exhausted to undress myself as Luda pulled my t-shirt over my head and helped me out of my muddy socks, insisting on taking them to wash.
And finally I lay down on the soft bed, my head resting on a cotton pillow case decorated with native village patterns, and there in the pretty bedroom watched over by an array of wooden icons I fell into a sleep deeper than any I had had on my journey through the country.
And that night on the blue bedstead in the wooden village of Soboli I dreamt a vivid dream. There was a beautiful girl with long flowing hair in which she wore a colourful garland of flowers. And she wore a white dress that was decorated with the same native patterns as the pillow on which my head lay. And she asked me what I saw on my trip through the land and I said, ‘Let me show you.’ And we flew up into the azure sky over the radiated forest and I showed her the swamp and the forests I had crossed, the people I had met, the places I had seen. And after I had shown her it all she turned to me with beautiful grey eyes and said, ‘You are ours now. You are ours.’
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Although I made my journey alone, the book would not have turned out as I had wanted without having had someone to bounce ideas off and offer encouragement. For this I turned to my girlfriend Alina who I knew I could rely upon for some brutal Belarusian honesty where it was needed. Thank you.
Thanks to my mother who taught me the difference between stalk and stork.
Also, thanks to KR and YG for their support.
AUTHOR BIO
Arthur Chichester is a writer and film maker. He can be contacted through his YouTube channel: bald and bankrupt.
The Burning Edge Page 13