The Mischievous Girls Marian Lutzky Illustrated by Karina Cocq
Prelude 11
First prophecy 13
Birth of three 15
Blue and white 17
Bee 19
Rain season 21
Full moon night 23
Waves breaking the sea 25
Wedding ring 27
The inn 29
Chiaroscuro 31
In-so-lennnt 33
The rooms 35 Black 39
Thunderstorm 41
Mecha 43
Ramona 47
Paralysis 49
Dragon's breath 51
Ariel 53
Sayén's hairdresser 55
Blue covers notebook 57
Vagrant 61
Diario Austral 63
End of the year 65
Two out of three 67
Beach day 69
Valdivian night 71 Bird and fish 73
Retrograde 75 Muriel 77
Sayén 81
Leroi 83 Castaways 85
Pig's year 89
And dreams, dreams are 91 Teapot 93
Epilogue 97
The first elders say that the prophecies belong to the Forever and Never time Liliana Bodoc
PRELUDE
At dusk, when the sky throws its ochre shell over the city, the girls make a pact. Under the fig tree, the hat made of green and pernicious leaves protects them from artificial lights. They do not know their fate yet. They have no certainty of their present yet. What are they, but the constellations on the ground?
As the night thickens the mothers’ scream and wave. The girls, shrouded in the darkness of a corner, enjoy their pranks.
FIRST PROPHECY
The sky talked to the river, Muriel said, and all went silent. Nothing was heard but the thought of a crying girl. Then the clouds announced the rainy season.
Why was the girl crying?, Sayén asked.
The blue tree she had grown with her grandmother had died. Fallen on the path of his house, caused by the first rumble that the earth heard. Then came the lightning a spark and the croaking of the frogs and the weeds.
BIRTH OF THREE
By how close Muriel's eyebrows were, Sayén could guess her anger level, a warm anger almost imperceptible, or a fiery one like the ripe pepper from her yard. Muriel used to tie her hair with snail shells, worms picked by herself with salt and matches. Muriel counted them: More than ten are a pest, ten is the western limit. Over there in Ariel's yard are luckier.
Ariel is cautious, collects cacti and succulents in her room They all have the honour of a name. But when Ariel runs, all her discretion fades away. She opens her arms, stretch her legs out to occupy all the space that the air allows her. She runs just like the trees dance with the city wind with no direction
Sayén is interested in all the marine animals. Big ones, little ones, and tiny ones, especially crayfishes. How does it rain in the water? Sayén sinks into the bathtub and imagines an intense
shower similar sound. She plays the guitar as if they were rays from heaven.
Today it's raining in Valdivia, Sayén says, because the girl is crying.
The three of them dress the courtyard with stories. The thing is to never tell them as they were, in order to keep the secret of their creation. All words are born and buried there, in the span of a butterfly life.
BLUE AND WHITE
That day, the wind was such that it managed to mould even the rocks at its will. And Sayén thought of Raúl. At first, it was a whisper, an air in the ear, and then a clear thought aloud. He called him to make him real. She had remembered him. Only a few months had passed since that fateful day when everything turned blue. As if the sea and the sky took over the view and consumed everything in a whirlpool. To become empty. White, as the moon. Blue and white. Sayén thought about that and imagined it. She closed her eyes as the wind hit her face hard. To maybe get her out of Raúl's plea. Sayén did not curse, but she wanted to. Perhaps, that would have been better.
