I still remember them. One of them was Edgar, the other was Allan.
They called me Lidelle, the doll.
We were always living in the forest. We moved from one forest to another every
summer. I was a tomboy and very dependant on them. They were everything to me.
They were very knowledgeable and I learned a lot from them. When I saw a village for
the first time on our way to a new forest, I was very surprised. There were younger
kids than me and bigger people than Edgar and Allan. I asked a lot of questions to
Edgar.
"Why are there so many people? Do they also find another forest in summer?"
Edgar said, "Everyone develops year by year."
I asked Edgar why he told me to eat despite that they didn't eat.
In fact, they drank flavored tea and ate very little. Edgar said I needed to eat
because I was developing and I was going to be bigger than Edgar and Allan.
It sounded very strange to me.
Every garden that we had was filled with roses. They looked very red and beautiful
like blood. Our life had a harmony and I spent very peaceful days. I wonder why
I sometimes felt very reckless without a reason. When Edgar and Allan made a quarrel,
I was always on Allan's side because he was the weaker.
One day, Allan said Edgar hated him and me. "That's not true." said I.
Allan said, "He is always talking about getting rid of you." I hid myself in a closet.
When Edgar found me, I asked him not to get rid of me. He said he wouldn't.
However, I ended up leaving the forest alone.
Lidelle: Why do you want to hear about my childhood?
Orbin: I'm obsessed with the boy called Edgar. I'll talk about my experience
some other day. Please go on.
My grandmother had kept on searching for me since I was missing at the age of two.
My parents were killed while traveling and I probably was kidnapped.
There are many things that I don't know. How did I meet Edgar? Why did they know
our parents had died? How did Edgar find my grandmother?
I remember the last evening that I spent with them when I was 10.
It was in early spring. There was a fire in a mantle piece. Edgar told us a story.
The story was about an exciting adventure which had a shining golden apple in it.
I almost forgot everything about the story, but I discovered years later a book that
contained the story. It was an old Scandinavian story. Whenever I read the story,
I recalled the fire in the mantle piece and the excitement that I felt in the last
evening.
I went to the town where my grandmother was living in a carriage with Edgar and
Allan.
I was overwhelmed with the number of people and buildings. The carriage stopped in
front of a big house. My grandmother was very happy to meet me and held me. Even though
I wanted to leave the house with Edgar and Allan, they left me behind. I wondered why
they got rid of me.
However, I was after all a 10-year-old girl. I came to love the dog that my
grandmother bought for me, the second house for summer, and my grandmother, who was
always smiling to me. I ended up starting an ordinary life. I learned a lot about how
to live in this world. When I almost became an ordinary girl, it occured to me that
Edgar and Allan were images that came from paintings. What were they?
Edgar said they didn't grow old. I was very sad to think they left me because I grew
old and they didn't. I slept every night with the windows in my bedroom open,
expecting them to visit me. I ended up closing the windows and I got married.
Years passed. I loved my husband, raised children, chatted with my friends.
I'm satisfied with my everyday life. But I occasionally miss my childhood.
I sometimes say to my husband I was once living in a bird's nest in a faraway forest
and I was raised by two birds. My husband hears it and just smiles.