Haitian (story)

Junayd SUAVI

The old man stared for a long time at the window of the children's clothing store, and looked at the thinner one among the children playing a little further away:

- Baby! - he voted. " Will you help me?"

The boy left his friends and came to his uncle. The boy was about 7-8 years old, and his clothes were so worn out that he could be touched. The old uncle stroked the boy's hair:

- I told you to wear the clothes in the window, - he said. Let's see if you deserve it. At first, the boy took this suggestion as a joke. But seeing the person in front of him with a very serious face, he obeyed him without a word. When the boy entered the store with his unfamiliar uncle, he first thought that these events were not happening in a dream, and then he thought that he had never worn new clothes until today. The younger brother always wore the older brother's clothes or clothes that did not fit the neighbor's children, and by the time they reached him, the knees of the trousers were torn and the color of the shirts faded. But he loved his father, who, although he was sick, was earning money to support his family. That's why he didn't buy new clothes for his parents. He wears new clothes for the first time today. It's Eid holiday in three days. When the boy tried on the clothes brought by his old uncle, he noticed that he had grown up. Striped trousers showed the length of her legs, and a neat jacket showed the width of her shoulders. The beautiful coat they wore also turned the boy into a handsome young man. It was not cooling anymore. Boyagina enjoyed playing with her friends by putting the lovers she won in her coat pocket.

The old man turned the boy around and saw him, asked them to pack the clothes, and said to the shopkeeper:

"I bought these clothes for my grandson," he said. I wanted to make a surprise gift for my granddaughter. That's why I tried the clothes on this boy. "My grandson looks like this boy," he said. He didn't know what to say for a while. But he thought for a while and decided that it is not good to announce that he has grown up and grown up. Taking one last look in the mirror, he took off his clothes and threw them in a corner, putting on his old clothes. The man smiled contentedly, believing that the clothes would suit his grandson. He tried to give the boy chocolate money for his service, but the boy was nowhere to be seen.

The boy returned to his friends and went to a corner and sat watching their game. No matter how much he was called, he did not join in the game of his friends.

"Why don't you join the game?" - asked his comrades. - After all, you won the most beautiful lovers, didn't you?

The boy tried to hide his pearly eyes from his friends:

- My lovers were too beautiful to match the old clothes I was wearing. That's why I hid them in the pocket of my Eid coat, " he answered...

Translation from Turkish by Umida ADIZOVA