#5 JUST MY IMAGINATION
After two days in Warsaw, she already had a new job. She didn't look like 17. She looked like at least 18 years old, even without make-up. Looking like an adult can make a significant difference, when looking for a job. Furthermore, although she wasn't 18 on the paper, she made such a good impression that she easily got the job. She had to take care of an old lady. It is not common in Poland to pay somebody to take care of your grandma. Most people don't have enough money and live with their parents or with their kids and don’t spend money for such extravagant things. However, there were some people, who became rich after the change of the economic system, earning good money. Of course, they didn't want to show it and cause envy of their best friends and the beloved tax office. Nevertheless, they needed somebody to take care of their weakest family members.
This work was illegal, but for Mia this wasn't a problem. She needed money. Also, this wasn't the only reason why she needed this job. Looking after “grandma Zofia” was easy. Zofia, an old woman, was over 80 years old and almost a vegetable. She was able to understand what you were teling her, but she wasn't able to answer. She just tried to communicate using her eyes and sometimes it worked. It worked when she wanted to hire Mia. Mia was a young girl with this energy young people have, energy which has to be stolen from them, when the old ones don’t get it in another way. Zofia’s eyes were so enthusiastic as if she was high on drugs. This work wasn't so hard. It was all about sitting there, talking with Zofia, reading to Zofia, listening to music or any other form of spreading some young energy in the room. Besides, Mia should just come 2-3 times a week and in the case of emergency there was in a second team of people who should take care of the old lady.
Grandma Zofia had the hands of an old person, full of traces from the past. They were delicate and warm. She always wanted to hold something in her hands. She used to say that she wants to feel life as long as she was still alive. Grandma Zofia`s hair was as white as snow and short like women used to have it back in the 20ies. Mia used to comb it like that and Mia even brought a hair slide in style of the early 20ties. Grandma Zofia was always very pleased when Mia was around. She loved to hear Mia talking. Mia’s voice was like medicine to her.
Mia usually just talked about what she had seen in the city or read books aloud and grandma Zofia was pleased to hear this young, friendly voice like a drug giving her the will to live. It made the old lady think about God. Maybe, he was busy, and then sometimes he sent some extraordinary people you meet in your life.
Mia used to read aloud. It helped her to visualise what the book was about. She could better imagine the characteres from Sienkiewicz’s trilogy, the favourite book of grandma Zofia`s. It was about knights from the 18th century who were fighting with swords and honour, who always followed their codex and never broke the rules. Mia could almost feel the green meadows of Poland and Ukraine and feel the wind on her face, the wind that brought her news about the outcome of battles and complicated fates of the main heroes.
She was almost bleeding like the main characters and she was very enthusiastic when they were happy. It was a strange feeling and hard to describe - how do you describe a feeling anyway - but Mia was almost a part of the book she was reading aloud. Moreover, grandma Zofia liked to hear the emotions Mia apparently transported in her voice. As she was reading aloud, she forgot about the entire world, and reality around her was further away than the things she was reading. She got the impression to know these lands, she had never seen before and to know the knights she had never met. Mia didn't remember since when she discovered this gift, but as far as she could remember it has been there all her life.
Lovefool (Introduction) Page 6