We talked with our eyes

I finished my secondary education at the age of 17, as I was one of the 6-year-old students, and I started working in Veliko Tarnovo. I didn't want to continue my education, even though I was a very good student.

Every Friday of the working week I traveled to my native Elenski Balkan. I lived in an apartment in the city. Back then, in those distant years, many, many things were not allowed in the quarters. Like cooking, laundry, very ordinary, but necessary in everyday life… Well, leaving on Friday to the family, especially in autumn, when everywhere in the city, apart from the impressive dyes that overflowed the whole city, smelled of the marinade from almost every home, for the preparation of pickles for the winter… and who doesn't love roasted peppers!?, I couldn't wait to arrive and mother had prepared some of my favorite feasts… It was beautiful in Veliko Tarnovo, it was fragrant, but I was lonely… I felt the happiest on Friday evening, when I was already getting on the bus… Usually at this time of the day, on the last working day of the week, there were more elderly people traveling. Tired, pensive, lost in thought, in their loneliness, shared only by the dim light of the meager lighting provided by the driver. I, too, felt tired and alone, buoyed by the thought that I would be home soon. However, on one of those Fridays, a young, handsome man sat next to me, dark-skinned, with a beard… An interesting type. I felt some impact, some warmth… He looked at me and smiled at me… I nodded my head as a sort of greeting. It turned out that he was deaf and dumb… But we talked to each other the whole trip without words. We understood each other through gestures, facial expressions, we spoke with our eyes… He got off in an intermediate town, before the final stop of the bus. She stayed until she passed and kept her hand on the glass behind which I stood… And so - every Friday… I looked forward to Fridays, I was no longer so lonely in autumn, nor in winter…

After some time I got married… I gave birth to two beautiful daughters who are now big girls. I no longer took the bus on Friday night…

Many years have passed since then, but the memory of the warmth I felt from the presence of that person next to me on the seat remains vivid. And whenever I feel nostalgic and melancholy in autumn, I invariably return to the feeling of my maidenhood and the presence of my deaf companion.

Participating in the competition Autumn mood in words