Tuesday, july 4, 2006

Departure from the Netherlands

Friday morning I closed the door of the Parlevinkerpad 8 for good behind me. At that time it did not affect me particularly, but you don't know what you’re missing until it’s gone. Saturday, we arranged to eat at Richard II and afterwards go out with our mutual children for an ice cream at Capri's.

My California Poppies

It was half past five and still unbearably hot. The street was empty, there were no kids playing about as usual in the late afternoon. Beyza jumped out of her swimming pool and ran dripping wet after Deirdre. She wore a shabby blue bathing suite. Deirdre wandered into the garden of our former house. She stood still before the closed door and looked up. Beyza told her giggling that the house wasn’t hers anymore. She pressed the book "Mes premiers apprentissages" (My first subject matter) close to her and walked out of the garden, followed by foot by Beyza. She walked directly to the house of Sebastiën and Daniël and refused to come out till after dinner.

My Purple Loosestrife

The garden was enchanting and smelled of rosemary and lavender. The pink and purple flowers of the lavender, the dark green shrubs of rosemary and the orange, red, white and yellow Californian poppies stood colorant as if their lives depended on it. The new habitants do not give them water. With these temperatures they would certainly die within a week.

Our garden

I slowly started to hate the sun and I suddenly couldn’t stand the idea anymore of leaving the Netherlands. The sight of my helpless Californian poppies and the bathroom chopped into pieces in a corner of the garden made me feel sick. I should not have come back here. I wanted to kiss the ground and cry ceaselessly but I didn’t because the neighbors called me for diner.

posted by Ruud at 1:34 AM

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