1.13.19
(If you missed last week’s newsletter, some background here.)
Luca was the youngest of his family’s four boys and two girls. Luca’s mother, Azra, had been a schoolteacher in Albania before she had met their father, and now taught all the children in the village -- from Luca to 12-year-old Živa -- in a small stone annex Luca’s father had built onto their house. Luca was pretty sure that Samuel, his oldest brother, was in love with Živa. One day Luca told him, and Samuel chased him around and around their house, Luca gasping through furious giggles. Getting chased by Samuel was Luca’s favorite game. Some days Samuel would play a giant, nasty dog, and would pretend to viciously bite Luca on his arms and legs. Some days Samuel would play a pompous king, and would order Luca to run around the yard collecting stones and twigs for his “palace.” Other days Samuel would be a tiger. Luca wasn’t sure what a tiger was, but it sounded frightening. But the best and scariest character Samuel played was the Crnobog. “What’s a ’bog?” Luca had asked the first time Samuel debuted this character. “He’s a demon that climbs out of Hell once a year to feast on little children,” Samuel had said, stretching his fingers wide like claws. “He is called the Black God.”
Thanks for reading. I’ll see you next week.