Chapter 7

• "And did you see Tristan again?" asked Natasha.
• Sarah glanced at the wristwatch on her arm. It was after two o'clock in the morning and the girl was there, her eyes wide , curious.
• "Maybe we'll continue tomorrow?" Sarah suggested.
• — Only if you're sleepy... As far as I'm concerned, you can go on. I'm sleepless - said Natasha in the crowd so that Sarah didn't want to go to the sleep booth.
• Sarah smiled:
• “I barely sleep. Whenever I lay down and close my eyes, I see my whole life pass in front of me.
• “Then go on, Sarah. Please.
• - May I continue...
• "And don't stop…" Natasha heard herself pleading.
• Natasha looked at the ashtray. He even smoked. And he hadn't done that in so long. I was trying to stop.
• "Did you sit in this seat when you took the first trip on the blue train?" asked Natasha.
• — Yes... The first, the last and all the others.
• — Do you swear? Tell me everything...
• — I'll go on... You can close your eyes if you want.
• "I can close it, Sarah ... But even with my eyes open I can see everything exactly as it was." It looks magical...
• Sarah sighed.
• — Yes, at first it all seemed really magical. There was so much love, so much joy ... But little by little all these feelings were transformed into pain and sadness. And the girl who was once a flower turned into pain and stone.
• "But you went to boarding school?" Or did you go back and look for Tristan? But he was so young... He was only 11 years old. Was I in love? ’ Natasha asked so many questions Sarah couldn’t answer them all at once.
• — I went... And all I could think about was that boy. Years passed and I couldn't get him out of my mind. I was already a woman and Tristan should already be a man. I wondered if he remembered me still. He counted the days until he could leave that place. But it wasn't all so bad. I learned to read and write. I took French, German and piano lessons. I learned to sew and about everything the Catholic church has built in the past, including mandatory attendance at Sunday Mass. Then I turned 15.
• Natasha closed her eyes and went back to the train station in Deolinda, where Sarah was waiting for the blue train to go home.