Ewa

 

arose in the morning. She looked out at the world from her altitude of 50,000 km. Somewhere in Hawaii, day was beginning. India, shrouded in darkness, slept, unaware of the madness taking place in the hearts of people on the other hemisphere. What was the date 20 degrees east of Greenwich? She took a closer look at the rather large city, located at 22 degrees east longitude. Shop windows were awash in red hearts, people were exchanging notes wrapped in pink envelopes. She knew everything now. She turned her head. She looked into her life. She had never known this feeling. Always on the sidelines, unloved by people and unnoticed. She, Ewa—ugly, stupid, and hopeless. She returned her gaze to Earth. Somewhere in the crowd, she saw herself. Back then, she had been a child. She peered into the mind of her former self. An image of her old dream flashed before her eyes—a tiny dog ​​to cuddle with. Deep beneath these thoughts was a true dream, suppressed, smothered, trampled, and never fulfilled—a dream of true love.

She didn't want to return to the clouds. She decided she wanted to linger in the past, in her former, tiny body. The past was so fascinating...

She saw him again. A man with a vacant gaze, wandering somewhere between the ceiling and the heads of his friends, who were discussing important matters (after all, there was a disco coming up, and they should have invited the girls). In a warm jacket, a long scarf, black trousers, and leather boots. As usual, he was walking down the street with the most beautiful hairstyle she could imagine. Disheveled hair peeked out from under a woolen cap, forgetting the appearance of a comb. Who would waste time on such trivialities as combing one's hair? Ewa stopped in the doorway of the tenement building. She didn't want him to look at her. She didn't deserve it. She watched him surreptitiously, watched him chat with his friends who were gathering from all directions. She envied them. They were beautiful, intelligent, they knew how to laugh and talk.

She returned to the sky. Down there, neither she nor he were. She shouldn't remember any of this. She wiped away her tears. The future of this little, gray girl was beautiful, in its own way, but different from all the fates of ordinary girls. Ewa smiled at the sun. A new time had come. That life was no longer important...