Date: Sun, 7 May 2006 19:40:58 +0200 From: Harry Anders Subject: Little-Harrys-youth-11 MY FIRST BOOK 'LITTLE HARRY' IS FOR SALE... Please buy it. It costs only $ 19.95, and it's helping other people to cope with their own feelings! Copy this link into your webbrowser: http://www.harryanders.com and have a look. Thank you very much! ============================ LITTLE HARRY'S YOUTH The end of chapter 10 said: At last my parents and I decided to return to this camp after our vacation, and stay here for another few days. Dominic started to dance around and dried his tears, looking forward to our renewed meeting within a few weeks. Suddenly I had a strange feeling: I wouldn't see him again until after many years... I shook my head, and pushed the feeling away. A few grown-ups helped my Dad connect the caravan to our car, and we all hugged each other, promising to see each other again within a few weeks. My Dad started the engine, and we drove off, cheered at by everybody and waving until we rounded the corner and couldn't see them any longer. Again we were on our way to see more of those strange gadjo countries... ----------------- Chapter 11. Smoked trout, and meeting my soul mates. We left the town and drove on for a couple of hours, until my Dad parked our combination in a small clearing to stretch our legs. I scouted the surroundings, and soon saw a stream where several huge and shiny fishes were jumping out of the water. I looked at them in awe, and ran back to our caravan: "Dad, do we have something to fish with? There are lots of huge fishes in that stream over there." Together we went back to the stream, and my Dad told me: "Those fishes are called 'trout', and they do taste heavenly. Let's get some fishing equipment." We returned to our caravan, where my Dad rummaged in a drawer to find a spool of line and a few small fishhooks. He attached two hooks to two pieces of strand, and offered me one. Next we had to find some bait. I proposed to use little bits of toast, but my father grinned and told me the trout wouldn't appreciate that. They were used to eating a living prey, so we had to find small insects or river crabs or such. We walked along the stream, until we saw a couple of minnows in a puddle. My Dad handed me a little fishing net, and I scooped a few small fishes out of the water. We attached them to the hooks, and started to fish by throwing them into the water. Suddenly my line slipped through my fingers, until I got a better hold of it. Ouch, that was painful! I bit my lip, but didn't let go of the line. Now a huge fish started to pull at it, and jumped up and down to get rid of the hook in its mouth. I was elated, and carefully brought in the beautiful fish, that struggled and shone in the sunlight. I had caught my first fish, and it was a huge one! My Dad took over, and showed me how to kill it by biting its head. Yuck, that didn't look very tasty, but it was really effective. We put my fish aside, and I put the next small baitfish onto my hook. Ten seconds later I caught my second fish, causing my Dad to mutter: "They seem to like you. Why don't they bite MY bait?" A second later he caught his first trout. After that we caught fish after fish, until we had to go back to our caravan to get a basket to transport the small wagon load. My Dad showed me how to clean them by opening their stomachs and get everything yucky out. We made a small campfire to smoke them, thus conserving them for future use. I went back to the stream, and returned carrying some greenish moss and a few small leaves that smelled and tasted good. I spiced our fished with them, and we put all the fishes onto stakes over the fire. That evening Dad, Mom, and I ate smoked trout until our mouths dribbled with fat and we were filled to the brim. The next morning we left the clearing and turned onto the road. Suddenly I started to grin, and pointed to an enormous billboard showing: 'Trout nursery; fishing strictly prohibited' in several different languages... We started to bellow with laughter, and my Dad nearly steered off the road having tears in his eyes. We had found the best fishing ground mankind had ever invented. We stopped, and hid our smoked trout in a bag under our couch, as a precaution. One could never know... The landscape started to change, and again we had to stop at the border of the next country. Again the customs didn't even look at me, and soon they beckoned us to drive on. Slowly I got used to the fact that the customs officers didn't look for a little blond-haired gypsy boy at all, and popped up from in between the seats, this time feeling a bit ridiculous. My Dad looked over his shoulder, and grinned: "Still afraid those customs officers will put their nice looking gadjo trousers onto you?" I started to punch him, until my Mom warned me not to distract him from the ongoing traffic. I promised her to be well-behaved until we would stop at the next clearing or gas station. Then I would GET him! We drove on for a long time, looking at the leveled landscape where now and then a lonely farm or a small village showed up. Suddenly our car started to hiccup, and the engine nearly stopped. My Dad competently steered our combination towards a nice looking village, and parked it in a small clearing along the road. We left our car, and my Dad dived under the hot hood to have a look at the engine. Of course I was glued to his side, and looked at the greasy thing: "I think it's a clogged nozzle, Dad. Pietro's snow scooter produced that same hiccup noise, until we cleaned its carburetor." "Do you think so? Maybe you could even show me where those nozzles are?" I looked carefully at that strange looking thing that held the throttle, and finally thought: "I think we have to remove the air filter first." We went to our caravan to get some tools, while from across the road a few gadjo children looked at our ministrations. We removed the air filter, and now I saw where the nozzles were. I unscrewed them, and tried to look through the small holes in the bottom. This one seemed to be okay, but the other one held a small piece of dirt. I had found the problem! I blew the piece of dirt away, and carefully reassembled everything. My Dad went inside our car, and started the engine. Immediately it produced the friendly noise we were so used to. We had repaired our car all by ourselves, and I started to cheer and dance around. We went into our caravan to wash our hands, and then my Mom insisted on cleaning my face that showed some smears. Women... We sat down around our small caravan table, and had smoked trout for dinner. Again we had to wash our hands and faces... My Dad was silent for a long time, and finally asked us: "What do you think, shall we go home? This is only an old car, and I'm afraid from now on we can't really trust it. We are nearly out of money, our clothes are becoming filthy and worn, and I'm getting a bit homesick. I think it's time to go home..." Suddenly I felt sad, but didn't understand why. I had a feeling as if my Dad was talking about leaving for always... My eyes started to tear, and I crawled onto my Dad's lap: "Yeah, I think it's time to go home." I could see my Mom was a bit sad too. She agreed, and we decided to depart early in the morning, all three of us sighing and having teary eyes. Our jerrycan was nearly empty, so I took it from under the sink and went outside to ask somebody to help me fill it with water, as was my task as our water bearer. I squinted in the sudden sunlight, and waited until my eyes were used to it. I looked around, and saw across the street the same gadjo children I had seen before, looking at me curiously and talking to each other. They seemed to be nice and even smiled at me, so I decided to ask them for help. I crossed the street, and pointed to my empty jerrycan: "Please, can you help me to get some water?" They answered me in a strange language I had never heard before, but somehow it sounded familiar. I didn't understand the words, but it was very easy to feel their energy, and thus I knew what they were saying. I also had a feeling that I could learn to speak and understand this particular language very fast. Maybe I had spoken it myself during one of my past lives? I could feel they understood my need for water, and one of the boys asked me to follow them. I smiled at them, and nodded. One of them took my jerrycan, while one of the girls took my hand and guided me around the block to another street. We crossed the street, and went to a gadjo man who was washing his car using a brush, and a water hose. Yes, that was what I needed! I left the girl, took my jerrycan, and went to the man, showing him it was empty: "Please, can I have some water to fill my jerrycan?" The man smiled at me, ruffled my hear, and at that moment my world turned upside down. I started to pant, and my heart jumped in my chest. I KNEW this man, I was absolutely sure! I had never seen him before, but he immediately felt as a dear friend, a kindred soul, a soul mate... The man looked at me for a long time, as if he tried to remember me. Inwardly I started to shout: 'Yes, I am the one you are waiting for!' but I didn't know the words in the foreign language, and I didn't understand myself either. What strange things was I thinking now? Finally the man took my jerrycan and carefully rinsed it out. He took the hose and filled the jerrycan to the brim, looking at me all the time. Every time our eyes met, we grinned at each other without words. Now I was sure he recognized me too... The man told the children something in the foreign language, but I knew what he was saying: "Shall we accompany the little blond boy, and help him carry his too heavy jerrycan?" The children agreed, and the man took my jerrycan and beckoned me to show him the way. I wormed my small hand into his bigger hand, and that felt totally natural to do so. He pinched my hand tenderly, and together we went to my caravan, closely followed by the children. My Mom saw us coming and opened the door. I went in first, followed by the man carrying our jerrycan. I showed him where he could put it under the sink, while the other children hesitantly entered our caravan one by one and curiously looked around. We went to the living room, where my Dad rose from the couch and greeted the man and the children. They all sat down on the couch and the opposite bench, crowding our room. My Mom went to the kitchen, and returned carrying a tray with glasses and lemonade. She looked at the children with a questioning face, and they all understood the unspoken question and nodded. Mom started to fill the glasses and deal them round. I looked at the children curiously, and soon my eyes returned to the oldest boy. He seemed to be a very nice boy, around ten or eleven years old, having short dark brown hair and deep brown eyes that looked back at me showing warmth and tenderness. He resembled the gadjo man, and I thought they could be father and son. He smiled at me, and I smiled back. Something unspoken happened between us, and suddenly I wanted to be his friend. In a way he reminded me of Micha, but I was sure this boy would never exchange me for another boy... We couldn't keep our eyes off each other, and smiled at each other all the time. He was the friendliest boy I had ever seen. Now and then it felt as if we had a conversation without words. He could have been my brother, or at least my very best friend! The other children sipped their lemonade, and started to talk to each other and to the man. My parents didn't understand a word of what they were talking about, but I could feel the energy of their words, and picked up things as 'poor', 'out of money', 'helping out', and 'offer some food'. I heard the oldest boy call the gadjo man 'Jack', and he called the boy 'John'. The other boys were called 'Thomas' and 'Mark', and the girls were called 'Marrie' and 'Chrissy'. I liked them all, and they seemed to know each other very well. Maybe they were a family? The nice man turned towards my Mom and asked her a question, a bit hesitantly. She didn't understand him, but I did, so I tried to translate his words: "Mom, the man's name is Jack, and he's asking us whether we want some help and food." My Mom was already used to my strange abilities, and gratefully accepted my translation: "Can you tell him we are nearly out of money, and we will be very thankful for any kind of help?" I tried to use the words I had picked up from the conversation: "Jack... err... help want yes, food want yes, money out." Jack seemed to understand me and broadly smiled, warming my heart. I didn't know why, but I already LOVED him. And I loved his son John, who resembled him and again smiled at me showing those same deep brown eyes and funny dimples. They HAD to be father and son. Jack rose from his seat, and beckoned us to follow him. We left the caravan, and again I put my small hand into Jack's bigger hand. Jack smiled at me, and told me something I didn't understand but that felt like: "You are a very nice boy", making me blush. Suddenly John took my other hand, and grinned at me. Now I nearly started to skip from the joyful feelings in my heart. I was befriended with the two most lovable and nicest people in the whole world, being Jack and his son John! Together we went to Jack's house, where his wet car patiently waited for him in his driveway. The other children followed us closely. Jack rummaged in his pockets until he found his keys, and invitingly opened the front door. We all followed him into his house, crowding the hallway. Jack asked John to get some plastic bags from the kitchen, and asked me to follow him upstairs. There he went to a hallway closet, and started to rummage in a huge pile of clothes. He collected a whole bunch of them, and we put them into the plastic bags John brought upstairs. Finally he had gathered enough, and went downstairs followed by us carrying the filled bags. We entered the kitchen, where the other children were waiting for us. Jack went to the refrigerator and raided it, filling a few cardboard boxes with its contents. He opened the cupboards one by one, and took several things out of them, putting them into other boxes. Finally he closed the boxes, and asked the children to carry them to my caravan. In procession we went back to our caravan, carrying and dragging all the filled boxes and bags. My parents were elated, and abundantly thanked Jack and the children. My Dad proudly handed them the bag with the remainder of our smoked trout, making a deep bow. Jack bowed back, and told him it was his pleasure to be able to help us, while I translated his words to my parents. Jack sniffed the bag, looked into it, and made a sound that resembled "Yummy!" Jack ruffled my hair, John and I hugged each other, and the other children lined up for their personal hug. They left us a bit reluctantly, and suddenly our caravan was dead silent and very empty... I felt sad to see them go, knowing we would return to our own country early in the morning and probably never see them again. We started to sort out all the nice and colorful clothes that turned out to be very useful. My Dad dressed into nice looking white trousers and a dark blue shirt, and my Mom found a beautiful mohair sweater and warm socks. My Mom tried to persuade me to dress into blue jeans that were at least two sizes too big, but I declined. Maybe they would fit me within a couple of years? However I found a beautiful colored T-shirt which I thought it could have belonged to John, and put it on. It was way too big for my small body, but it wanted to wear it anyway. We opened the cardboard boxes and stowed the contents into our cupboards, looking at all sorts of foreign foods. We opened a few of them, and munched on the tasty crackers and nicely smelling tablets of colored chocolate, feeling very grateful. My Mom opened a loaf of real gadjo bread, buttered the slices, and put some cheese and tomatoes onto them. They tasted excellent, and soon filled our stomachs to the brim. After the meal somebody knocked on the door of our caravan, so I opened it and looked outside. A beaming John broadly smiled at me, accompanied by the other children who looked at me expectantly. John asked me to join them outside, and I asked my Mom and Dad for their consent. They both agreed, and wished me a pleasurable evening. Outside our caravan John immediately threw his arms around my shoulders, and told me they all had enjoyed the exquisite taste of the trout very much. I could understand him quite well, but didn't know the words to tell him I had gathered those spicy herbs all by myself... I threw my arms around his waist, and we cuddled for a moment, both of us smiling from ear to ear. That felt good! My new friends wanted to play a game of hide and seek, and of course I joined them! I knew that game, and had played it many times before in our woods, where I used to be very good at it. Mark closed his eyes and started to count, while we swarmed out and tried to hide somewhere. I nestled myself into a small but very dense bush along a garden, from where I could nicely see everything without being seen myself. In this game I had definitely the advantage of being a small runt! John hid himself behind our caravan, Thomas crawled into a small gap between two adjacent trees, Marrie hid behind an old wheelbarrow abundantly filled with plants and flowers, and Chrissy obviously couldn't decide where to hide and ran around blindly. At last she hid behind a too small tree, and I expected her to be discovered first. Mark reached the end of the counting, and started to look around. Two seconds later he saw Chrissy, who carelessly tried to peek at him. Chrissy stepped from behind the tree, and giggled: "I know where John is hiding himself!" "I'm warning you: don't say a word!" "I'm only telling you I KNOW where he is hiding. I'm NOT saying he's hiding behind a caravan!" John stepped from behind the caravan, and tried to look angry: "Chrissy, I've told you many times to think first before you are telling us something stupid." "I'm NOT stupid, and I didn't tell Mark where you were hiding this time... or did I? I'm sorry..." I bit the tip of my tongue to avoid laughing out loudly. Now we were three to three. Mark, John, and Chrissy were looking for Thomas, Marrie, and me. They walked around, and I saw John grinning at Marrie but he didn't say a word. He walked on until he saw Thomas and winked at him, and now he started to look for me. Chrissy followed John like a faithful puppy dog, but fortunately she didn't look at anybody else. Mark walked around in circles until he finally saw Marrie. Ten seconds later he discovered Thomas who tried to stretch his painful muscles. Now we were five to one. They were all looking for me... At first they looked around everywhere in silence, but after a while Mark hesitantly asked: "Did any of you see where that little Harry hid himself?" "No, I didn't see him after we went away to hide. Where can he be?" "I hope he didn't leave us and go home early." "I was hiding behind their caravan, and could see their door all the time. He didn't enter it." "Well, I think he's laughing at us this very moment. Come on, let's go find him!" They resumed their quest, and even looked into our caravan. My parents turned up at our windows, both smiling and looking around, but of course they didn't see me either. They winked at the children, and John winked back at them. Finally my friends started to painstakingly search all the bushes around the gardens. One time Thomas nearly stepped onto me, but I ducked my head and held my breath, and he didn't see me. I nearly gave away my hiding place by chuckling, but he didn't even hear me and went on... Now they became a bit more anxious, and huddled together: "I hope nothing has happened to that little gypsy boy... Shall we give up and call him?" "Nah, we've looked everywhere. Where can he be? Is he really that good at hiding?" "I suppose so... Okay, let's give up and call him." John stepped forward, and brought his hands to his mouth to amplify the sound: "Harry, where are you? Please come out of your hiding place, we're giving up. You won!" I left my small bush, being barely ten feet away, and smiled from ear to ear... "THERE you are... how come we didn't find you? I'm sure we've looked into that bush several times!" "I... good hiding, hiding good. Thomas look bush, no find little gypsy, me." They started to laugh, and told me I had to be the very best hider in town. I so wanted to tell them about my sneaking through our woods every day, but couldn't find the proper foreign words. I felt a bit frustrated, but also happy to be with my new friends. John took me onto his shoulders in triumph, and together we rounded the block and went to Jack's house. Jack seemed to be happy to see us. He invited us in, and immediately took me aside. He told me they had really feasted on the trout. They had set up a table in the garden, and invited all the parents to join them. Everybody went home licking their fingers. We went into the cozy living room, where the children slumped down onto the leather couch and into a few armchairs. Obviously they had been here many times before. Every available place was occupied, but where would I sit down? I looked around... Suddenly I grinned, and crawled onto Jack's lap. Jack looked a bit surprised, but folded his arms around my body and held me close. That felt good! I slumped backwards and let myself melt into my Big Friend. I felt him kiss the top of my head tenderly, and that felt very good! I marveled in the feeling of being loved, and slowly closed my eyes. The children started to tell Jack everything about our game of hide and seek, while I enjoyed the closeness to my big friend and slowly fell asleep in his arms. I started to dream of my newly found friends, and teaching them how to properly play hide and seek. I woke up when Jack carefully lifted me off his lap and rose from his chair. For a moment I didn't know where I was, but then I remembered everything and started to smile. I saw it was nearly dark outside, and my friends had to go home. Jack lifted me onto his shoulders, and the children accompanied us to my caravan. My parents invited them in, but the children politely excused themselves because they had to be home before total darkness. John spontaneously threw his arms around me, and sniffled: "I wish you could live with us. I will miss you terribly!" Jack kissed my forehead, and got tears in his own eyes too: "I will miss you too, my little friend! Take good care of yourself, and I hope we will once meet again." I understood their words, got tears in my eyes, and really hoped we would see each other again some time! That evening my parents and I sat in the small living room of our caravan, and talked. We talked about how the togetherness of the trip had made us more close to each other than we ever were before. We talked about the different gadjo's we had met, and about Jack and the children who were really nice to us. We talked about how good it felt to go home, but how it also felt sad to leave our newly found friends behind. At last my Dad took me onto his lap, and tenderly kissed my head: "My precious son; please promise us that, if ever something would happen to us, you will look for another Dad to live with. Don't be sad, because we will continue to look after you from heaven." I didn't understand why he told me that, and asked him: "Why are you telling me this? You are not planning to die, are you?" "You know we will always be honest with you. Your Mom and I have been talking a lot lately, and we both have the same feeling something is going to happen to us soon. We don't know what will happen, that's why we are telling you this as a precaution." I knew I had felt that same feeling myself a couple of times, as if something was going to happen that would change my life forever... "I promise you, Mom and Dad. I will not be sad, and look for another Dad once you are in heaven. But I hope that will not be necessary..." My Mom sat down next to us, and together we cuddled for a long time, until we started to yawn and prepared to go to bed. I don't know why I did it, but that night I wanted to sleep alone: "I want to give you the space to put your penis into Mom's vagina and breed a duffer before we're going home." "Maybe we will do that, thank you for being so considerate." My Dad laughed and started to tickle me, until I shrieked with laughter and begged him to stop. He helped me set up a small bed in the back of our caravan, next to the front door. I undressed, told my parents goodnight, and crawled under the blankets after drinking a glass of water. Two minutes later I felt myself drift away into a deep sleep. ============================ Thank you for reading this chapter of 'Little Harry's youth'. My FIRST book, 'Little Harry', is for sale! It costs only $ 19.95 ... Please visit my homepage http://www.harryanders.com and buy it. It's helping lots of people to cope with their feelings! I love your emails, please send them to harry@harryanders.com . Maybe I will not be able to answer all of them, but be assured I will certainly read them all! I wish you lots of Love in your life, and Peace in your heart. And thank you, Nifty, for hosting my stories. Harry AnderS, alternative writer. I'm living in The Netherlands, and my native language is Dutch. Please have a look at my site http://www.harryanders.com or send me and email at mailto:harry@harryanders.com