"The Wasteland Keeper" by Haidji - Book: "Harables - Short Stories 2"

Book: Harables - Short Stories 2

The Wasteland Keeper

Olivia was not allowed to drink coffee at home. She was only 8 years old. But now and then, when she went to play at a neighbor’s house, an old woman, Marlene, gave her a coffee, with two spoons of sugar.

Marlene’s house, wasn’t really a house, it was more some pieces of wood nailed together with some metal plates over it. The garden around the house wasn’t a real garden, but a wasteland, a perfect place for kids to pretend to be in a real jungle, opening the path to new discoveries; a nightmare for parents, running to the hospital, searching for stitches or vaccines, as their kids once again got rusted nails in their feet, through their flip-flop sandals or running shoes.

Marlene wasn’t a real registered owner, but she lived there for so many years that she could be recognized as an owner – if she would like to take the place out of the heirs’ hands and fight about whether she or the trust fund would pay the taxes for it until it could be decided who owns the place, the Heirs or Her – living there so many years that even she couldn’t remember how many they were. She believes to have been born there.

She lived there for so many years that the whole neighborhood saw it as her place; Marlene became part of the landscape.  The ugly part you did not see anymore, focusing only on the beautiful part of your life.  Accepting, ignoring and moving on. A poor house with a big devastated garden, in the middle of a fancy neighborhood.  Categorized between Wasteland and Magic Space, depending on the point of view or mood of adults or children.

Where people had electronic gates and alarms, and glass shards on top of their walls, Marlene had an old wall, grey, made by blocks, full of graffiti expressions and drawings.Where people had house walls, she had wood plates. Where people had swimming pools, she had an old tub, covered with cement to fill the holes. Where they had slides and swings, she had old tires and mounds of earth. Where people had a ceiling, she had metal plates, of the kind that seemed to be singing as raindrops fell over them.  

A paradise for kids, a nightmare for real estate agents trying to sell the houses around her place, as some were free and available from time to time.

A cup of coffee with 2 spoons of sugar is what she offered to all her visitors, kids or adults. For the kids, she was the keeper of a magical place. For adults, the wasteland keeper. No matter what point of view, she was the keeper as each and every one of them enjoyed her coffee.

Now and then Olivia was allowed to visit Marlene and spend some time in paradise. A place where she could take her sandals, flip-flops or running shoes off, leave them on the ground and climb a tree. Walking around the Coffee trees, also called Coffea trees, from time to time she tasted some of the red or purple fruits, chewing the seeds, the two coffee beans she could find inside of it, laughing as Marlene told her not to eat raw coffee beans, better to search for berries, bananas or other edible raw things. “Coffee you need to prepare yourself and make the coffee so you can drink it, it is not a banana or a berry, Olivia, which you can take directly from nature and eat.  Coffee has deeper secrets and needs preparation from both sides and from time.” Bringing her a cup of coffee, as Olivia used to come down from the trees.

All that Marlene had to offer to Olivia was paradise and a cup of coffee.

Marlene had a face as would she already have been born old. Hairs as would they always have been grey. So far as Olivia could remember, she was old, grey and magical. Olivia couldn’t remember her in a different way.   She was old since Olivia saw her the first time; probably she had never been younger, thought Olivia from time to time.  There was a rumor between the kids, saying that Marlene was a tree spirit, turned into a human to protect the trees in this garden, so kids could have a real place to play.

Marlene thought she had only coffee to offer, while she offered all the neighbor kids a piece of paradise.

Some people give more than they think they do, or can, because they do not really know how much they really have, or the value of what they are giving.

Olivia spent most time of her childhood’s free time in this place where trees were stairs to heaven. A place far away from all the noise of her daily life, school and TV; a place where kids could create their own adventures.

As Olivia turned 13, Olivia’s family moved away and took Olivia with them, despite her wish to stay there.  She finished growing up in an apartment condominium on the other side of town, with the beauty of her childhood memories:  Marlene, the magic place, and the cup of coffee…

As Olivia turned 18 and got her own car and with it a piece of freedom, she decided to visit the magic place.  Olivia was sad about her older brother living abroad since a few years ago, and mostly about herself, moving out soon, with an uncertain faith, going to university. Would she be able to achieve her goals? Fulfill her own dreams?  Sometimes she felt so alone with her decisions. Even if it was what she decided to do, she was sad about moving away from her parents’ house.  Unsure about being able to do it, not sure if she could be happy moving again into a new place.  Searching for a physical proof of paradise, she parked her car in a nearby street and walked slowly in the direction of Marlene’s house, afraid to see if Marlene would still live there, or even remember her.  Should she turn back?  Olivia forced herself to keep walking, in slow motion, as would she be a child again, expecting the Earth to turn backwards to her steps’ direction, making her steps be slow jumps, as would the Earth itself be carrying her into the place she was trying to go.

Whether it was the Earth’s rotation or her own feet moving, Olivia arrived. Marlene was still living in the same house. There were holes on the walkway in front of her place.  Weeds growing out of those holes.  Broken wall pieces around, over and who knows, maybe even under those weeds. 

“Are my memories faked?  Did my sense of beauty change?  This place is so miserable”, mumbled Olivia to herself, as she saw the old broken wall from the street, trash on the sidewalk, and weeds all over the place. “Poor Marlene, living in a wood house, no real roof over her head and weeds all around her house, this all looks so devastated. I shouldn’t come back here and destroy my memories.”

If you go back to places you were as a child, people you met in the past, see people you admired as a child; There is a risk for you to devastate your memories and crush your feelings. Places are mostly not so big or beautiful as you remember them to be, people not so intelligent,  as you supposed them to be. Situations are not exactly as you remember them to be; time paints your memories with different colours. Drawn into the moment, into the feeling you had in this moment, you could see only part of reality, this part is intensified and grows with time passing by, erasing all other aspects of your memories.

Maybe paradise has been inside a cup of coffee.

Living in other places, Olivia was able to come back and see the place through different eyes. 

She wasn’t blind-happy anymore, the kind that ignores the trash and sees only the beauty around.  Being depressed, all she saw was the trash.

Olivia decided to enter the place, trying to watch her own steps, not to fall walking with high heels over all the holes, weeds and stones on the path, as an old woman came in her direction. “Good Morning, can I help you?” All that Olivia could say was: “Marlene?” then she closed and opened her eyes three or four times and added: “Marlene, are you still living here, after all these years? I’m Olivia, do you remember me?”   Unconsciously she took her shoes off, speaking to Marlene, in veneration to the place or to her shoes, maybe a mix of both.  Respecting the place, taking care of her shoes, feeling the taste of the Earth with bare feet.

“Olivia, oh yes!  Olivia! Kids grow up so fast, you are a woman now! Do you still like coffee?”

“Marlene, how can you live here?  Aren’t you sad?  Do you need something?”  Not answering about the coffee offer. 

Marlene didn’t answer either. All Marlene did was to smile, and invited Olivia to enter her ‘house’.

Olivia followed her. In silence Marlene made her a cup of coffee, boiling the water in an old wood burning stove, using coffee beans out of her own garden’s trees, burned and ground by herself, passing the coffee through an old cloth coffee strainer into an old coffee pot.  Olivia never watched Marlene preparing the coffee before.  She was speechless; as a child she was more focused on the garden, with no idea about the ritual it could be, the creation of a simple cup of coffee. Marlene poured the coffee in an old metal cup, took a small silver spoon from a glass containing different cutlery pieces, opened an old can whose image faded away a long time ago; taking sugar out of it, pausing the spoon a few centimeters over the cup, letting the sugar slide into it, as the sun, coming through the door, reflecting on the sugar crystals, made it seem like a river of diamonds, flowing into the darkness of the coffee. Marlene then dropped the spoon into the coffee and mixed it slowly in a clockwise direction, whispering: “May coffee and sugar mix as would they be day and night and bring joy and happiness into all moments of life.”

Marlene offered the coffee cup to a speechless Olivia.

Olivia drank her cup of coffee from the old, dented metal cup.

The taste of the coffee brought her memories back, intensifying them again. Olivia could see the beauty again, even if she did not ignore the poverty of the place, because, to see beauty and be happy does not consist in ignoring the bad things, focusing only on the good side of life. But in acknowledging the bad, and seeing the beauty, in spite of it. In being able to be happy, even with problems, and trash in your life. Being able to live one moment at a time, preparing yourself for the battles and happiness of the next one. Marlene’s words were still echoing in her mind:  “…day and night…”

Sometimes all you need is the right cup of coffee, to see the beauty in front of you. Olivia felt as would she be on the top of a tree, surrounded by the blue of the sky, happy and confident about achieving her goals and dreams. Olivia went out of the house, went down on her knees and kissed the ground in front of Marlene’s door.

Marlene asked: “Olivia, what are you doing?” Olivia answered: “I kissed the ground because the sky was too far away.

As my lips touched the ground an overwhelming feeling took over. I felt love for the Earth, which made me rise, so I could touch the sky.

Then I realized I love the place I’m in as much as I used to love the sky, climbing this garden’s trees, feeling so close to it.”

Marlene smiled.

Olivia said good-bye to Marlene, not sure if she would ever see her again. Her University was abroad. A new step in her life would begin.

One of the first things Olivia bought for her new place was a coffee maker. It wasn’t old, but new, it was an Italian moka pot. Which she used to make coffee for herself and for her colleagues or friends, when they came to visit her.

Whispering in her thoughts: “May coffee and sugar mix as would they be day and night, and bring joy and happiness into all moments of life.”

Sometimes she cried, remembering Marlene, wondering how she was doing or if she was still alive.  Sometimes she smiled remembering the beautiful moments in paradise. Paradise and wasteland, together in one single place, inside and outside Olivia’s heart, life and mind. Olivia learned to be happy, despite all the trash in her life. Not ignoring it, but seeing that no matter how hard life can be sometimes, everyday there are beautiful things, big things, small things, like a cup of coffee. Coffee that isn’t only a dark powder mixed with hot water, but the seeds of a fruit, life seeds from a tree, grown under the sunlight. Roasted by fire, ground, filtering the water of life, for you to drink, fully filled with secrets inside, revealed only after preparation from both sides, the coffee and the person drinking it, bringing happiness into day and night.

Because sometimes, paradise can be there, close to you, every morning, inside your cup of coffee, bringing joy and happiness into your daily life; helping you to wake up, so you can see all different aspects of your life.

...thanks for reading "The Wasteland Keeper"

This short story is part of "Harables- Short Stories 2"

Harables - Short Stories 2

Haidji, author of SG Suicide Game, Life into Mist, Fancy & Adriaan, Harables - Short Stories 1 and Ines' Words now brings us Harables - Short Stories 2, with fifteen new stories. Each story showcases Haidji's unique voice and imagery, including "The Gondola Walker", "Lob's Castle", "The Blue Spot", "Final Destination" and "Candles". True to Haidji's form, this book is beautiful and magical. You'll want to read each story more than once, to uncover all Haidji's meanings. Entering Haidji's world, you will find hope, love and wonderful mysteries.

You can find "Harables - Short Stories 2" available as e-book or paperback on Amazon and free with Kindle Unlimited. 

I wish you a beautiful day and thank you for reading this short story.

Haidji