Elisa K

AUTUMN - 1994

The rural school employs a strict teaching method.

Eight different grades of pupils, divided into two rooms.

On the right, Miss R teaches the younger children.

On the other side, Mr S is in charge of the older children.

Today, Mr S breaks the rigorous school schedule.

Instead of telling his students to open their books,

he says they won't be reading today.

The class falls silent, as if the pupils were afraid.

He is going to talk about something very important

You won't be reading today.

I'm going to tell you about something very important,

so I want you all to listen.

Interrupting the silence ,

he clears his thro a t and continues in a solemn voice.

Today, I'm going to tell you

about Martin Luther King.

Hi, kids. How are you?

Fine.

I'm Maria. I'vejust finished cleaning the house...

Elisa Kiseljak turns eleven this winter.

But that's four months away, four months is a long time.

So she's not thinking about it. Not yet

At her cousirs First Communion she wore a new white and blue dress

and she tried not to dirty it.

Her little sister had exactly the s a me dress, identical.

Elisa doesn't like that they dress the s a me.

Her sister asks their father

if she can sleep over at her cousirs house.

The father agrees.

Elisa Kiseljak leaves with her father and her older brother.

It's dark when they get outside. Very dark.

Elisa stares at the squ a res on the pavement.

One, two, three, four, five.

Every five she has to jump or she'll go to hell.

Come on, Elisa.

The following morning, like every Saturday,

they get up late, without any hurry,

and Elisa, her dad and her big brother

have breakfast in their usual café.

Afterwards, they walk to their d a d's friend's house.

They ring to tell the friend and his kids to come down.

The friend's wife answers with a met a llic voice.

- Hello. - Hi, it's us.

Come on up.

Okay. Let's go.

Let's take the stairs, it's the first floor.

Hello! Hello, sweetie.

Hello.

Wow, you've grown.

What do you feed him?

Vitamins and minerals.

Keep your eye on this one, he climbs everywhere.

Don't worry.

A kiss.

Bye, sweetie.

I've got it.

See you later. Ready?

He gives his right hand to his daughter and the left to his son.

Elisa's father tries to do the same, with the same ease,

but it doesn't really work.

Elisa Kiseljak and her brother find it funny,

their father doesn't know how to do things like that

When Elisa sees her brother coming out of the museum ,

she quickly gets off the big wheel ,

She thanks the m a n who is whistling, with a friendly smile.

- Hello, sweetie. - Hello.

Were you cold up there?

- Why can't we go on the rollercoaster? - There was hardly any queue.

Another day.

They all had lunch at the usual restaurant.

Their father's friend's wife too.

Elisa's father asks them up to his place.

Will you come to mine for another coffee?

His friend's wife and their children can't go.

They have to visit grandmother.

Their father's friend decides to go.

I think I will.

Elis a is upset with her father.

He didn't insist enough that they all come up.

She w a nted to play with the friend's d a ughter.

The four of them walk back slowly,

feeling dozy after their lunch.

In the lounge there are two worn leather sofas,

a silver television,

a l a mp h a nging immobile from the ceiling,

a portrait of a lady with a violet hat and orange scarf,

a lacquer coffee table and a rug.

The father serves his friend some coffee.

Rememberthe restaurant I told you about?

- We could go there next time. - The seafood place.

- The seafood is excellent. - Yes, good idea.

Dad, I'm going out on the terrace.

- What are you going to do there? - Nothing, I'm bored.

Can I?

Yes.

Close the doorthough, please.

And you, Elisa? Are you bored?

The father had a bit too much to drink at lunch

and will soon fall a sleep,

and a few minutes l a ter Elis a will be raped.

Then she'll lose her memory

and the conversation between the friend and her dad won't matter.

The father's friend is a jeweller.

He lives in an expensive part of town.

They're people with money.

You can see it in her father's friend.

In the aftershave he uses, in his clothes ,

in the type of haircut he has, in his h a nds,

in the food he orders,

and even in the way he sighs.

When he sees Elis a crying, he whispers in her ear.

If you stop crying, I'll give you a silver bracelet.

- How are you? - Fine.

The brother comes back inside.

He doesn't notice what's h a ppened.

Nobody could have noticed.

The brother comes in and the father wakes up.

He m a kes room for him on the sofa.

And as he h a s to move, he stands up completely

and invites his friend to the bar.

The friend accepts, stands up, and the two of them leave.

I'll be back soon.

Then, later on, when it's dark ,

seeing that her father has not returned ,

they go down to the bar to ask him for money

to go eat at the usual restaurant

The next day, Elisa feels a slight pain in her stomach,

a s if something h a d made her sick,

She's gone with herfather and brother

to collect her little sister from their cousirs house.

Then, a s always, they go back to the station,

where the father will say goodbye,

until the next time fifteen days later.

- Bye, bye. - Bye, Dad!

Yes, press the button.

- See you, son. - Thanks. Bye.

Bye.

Bon voyage. Bon voyage.

When the train starts ,

they open the biscuits their dad gave them,

like every Sunday when they go back to mum's house,

and they e a t them, and no one looks at them ,

as if it were not so uncommon

for three kids to travel alone.

- Hello, Mum. - Hello, Mum.

- Hello, sweetie. - Hello.

Let's go, quickly, I'm badly parked.

- Your hands are cold. - Yes, I've been waiting long.

- So, was it good? - Yes.

- You fell asleep, I suppose? - Yes.

- So you had a good time? - Yes, very good.

When their mother asks them if they had a good time,

how the Communion went, and what they did with their d a d,

the brother explains th a t they went to the amusement park

and the robotmuseum.

The little sister says she went to her cousirs house

and that they stayed up late.

But Elisa is silent, she doesn't say a nything.

And when her mother asks...

What about you, Elisa?

Elisa?

I saw Dad's friend.

He said he'd give me a silver bracelet.

How come you're awake?

Are you okay?

What?

Are you okay?

Yes, Mum.

Sure?

Sure.

Then get dressed.

Elisa stays in bed a while, a lthough she doesn't sleep any more.

All week, whenever her mother goes in to wake her for school ,

Elisa is alre a dy awake and her mother asks her if she's ok a y.

Come on.

- Did you pick up the sandwiches? - Yes.

- Good. Have a nice day. - Thanks, mum.

- Do you have basketball today? - I don't know yet.

Well, you let me know.

- Bye, Elisa, have a good day. - Bye.

You too, Mum.

A proportion of the water which falls on the ground as rain

evaporates.

Some of it filters into the ground

and some of it runs over the earth's surface

forming water courses which we call rivers.

Rivers are currents of fresh water

which flow

into the sea, into another river or into a lake.

If there's something wrong, you can talk to me.

Dad's friend said he would give me a silver bracelet.

Mum!

It's the second time she's said that in a week.

Her mother thinks it strange that Elisa thinks about it so much.

But then the little sister calls her from the lounge ,

a nd she goes inside and forgets what she was thinking.

But on Monday she remembers,

and goes to see Mr S, Elisa's teacher,

to tell him that she's acting a little strangely.