Dark Dreams by Michael Genelin Read Free Book Online

medical treatment. Yes, said Jana to herself, she was proud of Sofia.
    Jana didn’t tell Sofia what she’d learned, or seen. Sofia had to recover. They both had to grow up, to be able to protect themselves. But there would come a time. Jana promised herself: they would be ready.
    Three weeks later Sofia threw Jana a surprise un-birthday party, as she called it. It was not even Jana’s name day. How Sofia did it, rounding up all the kids that they both knew, and getting Jana’s mother to host it without telling Jana, was a feat that Jana never quite got over.
    Birthdays, not to speak of un-birthdays, are not celebrated with much fanfare in Slovakia. But the kids who came even brought small presents. Sofia baked a cake, not the best cake in the world, but splendid-looking, and Sofia was Miss Personality at the party, organizing everything, making sure that all the things she had planned went well.
    After the party, when most of the guests had gone home, Sofia kissed Jana on the cheek. It was her way of saying thank you for what Jana had done for her on that terrible day.
    They remained the closest of friends. But, as with all friendships, the bonds fracture or strengthen, depending upon fate. Jana did not tell Sofia about her discovery of the identity of the rapist until a couple of years later, when they were in their teens. And it took a stressful event to make her divulge that information.
    Jana and Sofia had gone to Bratislava’s main square, Hlavne Namestie, to visit the Christmas Fair. They had money to spend because they had been working, selling live carp for Christmas dinners from a temporary stand on Frantiskanska, near the main post office. Although the job hadn’t paid much, it had already provided Jana with a pair of shoes at a discount, and Sofia with a dress which she could not possibly have afforded otherwise. Each still had a few crowns left in her pocket. Sofia was dying to spend hers, and she had dragged Jana along to keep her company, all the while encouraging Jana to “live a little less like a timid old aunt,” to be audacious for once.
    They wandered through the Christmas stands and, at Sofia’s insistence, each had a glass of spiced wine when a man had offered it to them. After they finished the wine, the man kept asking them what else he could buy them and, despite their efforts to shoo him away, kept following them, demanding more. Jana was embarrassed at what Sofia finally did to rid them of the fellow.
    Talking in a loud voice so that everyone in the crowd around them could hear, she pleaded with the fairgoers to help them because a depraved man was following them. He had bought them wine and was trying to get “terrible” things from two innocent girls. It didn’t take long for the crowd to begin closing in on the man, throwing things at him, screaming imprecations, even calling for the police.
    He fled.
    Afterwards, using their own money, they’d settled at a small table inside Meyer’s, ordered hot, thick chocolate to drink and two large pastries to go with the chocolate. Sofia did most of the eating.
    It was hard for Jana to muster an appetite. Her stomach was still churning. Through her impetuous conduct, Sofia had involved Jana in a situation that neither of them should have been in. The first time it had happened, two years earlier, it resulted in the horrible assault on Sofia. Now, as a result of Sofia’s conduct, Jana had been forced to participate in an embarrassing incident.
    Jana continued to be upset, reviewing her own behavior. After a few sips of the hot chocolate, she decided, between sips, that it was time to vent her simmering anger.
    “If you weren’t my one true friend, I would kick you, and kick you hard, for what you put us through.”
    Sofia wasn’t fazed.
    “What sin did I commit? The man offered to buy us spiced wine. I like spiced wine; you like spiced wine. What was wrong with letting him buy us the wine? Nothing. We got the wine and he got the pleasure of