Two of us

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Photograph I : John Ronald Reuel Tolkien – The Lord of the Rings, Frodo

Two of us

It would be the third time, wouldn’t it.

I had to save a farmer, more than once.

Outside, in a foreign country, you often learn

more than you can imagine.

Two volunteers, while the other ones

went back to Holland.

August and September, after June and July.

We had no time, to do the dishes.

The table was continually covered

with our food while a thousand mice

where sheltered for our daily bread

all the time.

He gave me a driver’s license, anyway.

You should have seen it, any way.

It took him 15 minutes, that would be enough.

That day, late in the afternoon,

Annemarie, also from Noviomagum, and I

were milking cows in one of his fields.

We were tired, we noticed.

The Sun was going down, but we did our job

after a lot of trouble.

Then, on the way back, some French car

came in front of us. Annemarie lost control.

We got in the lost waters, almost.

I said, she had to keep on breathing

because she had become very white.

Keep on calm, I would get some help.

Then, it was all, up to me.

The stars were covering me in a sky

above me, and it was the best feeling,

I can have.

Sometimes, I ran and then

I walked slowly but certainly not

losing time. I knew, who was waiting.

I reached the village, got in the house

of his brother Joseph and found his wife

in the kitchen by a small light.

I thought, for a moment, it was Tonda

or Juro, Merten, not Lyschko, or Michal.

It was not a Fata Morgana but it was Petra.

She stumbled but did not tumble. I explained

the whole story and what I expected.

As soon as possible, all the men

of the village were called by one of the telephones

we had out of there. It would be alright, after All!

I waited, till Annemarie was safe, back Home.

The men, I guess five or six had a real great

and big job before they all came back.

The milk was spoilt but the water had multiplied.

I reached the place, where I slept these days.

It was after midnight, I could hear the owl

flying above the old, green and silver fields.

It is hard, to understand but when I had

to return to the Netherlands, Isidore made sure

I could drive with his sister, back home.

I had a great meal and all kinds of little presents.

He played his favourite music all night long.

Some sadness came over him, I noticed, silently.

It was good, to see all the green trees

when I got back in my country where I lived.

Petra Cecilia Maria Hermans

Europe, the Netherlands, Tilburg,

April 23, 2019

© 2019 Petra Hermans

Photograph II : J.R.R. Tolkien – The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit

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