Nadia

NADIA


Nadia slides the fabric onto the presser foot of the sewing machine. She has such an incredible ability to sew that she can even talk to her coworkers as she does her work. She laughs, she jests and enjoys life as she checks out and then she takes the bus. When she gets home, she turns on the tv and goes to bed. She thinks about her family, sends them money every week. Sometimes, when she leaves home she waves at her neighbors, her smile is so powerful that they can´t avoid it even if they sometimes would wish to do so. They feel compromised to have a small talk with her.

One day Nadia gets called by her boss. He gives her a yellow envelope. She opens it. There´s a layoff letter and a check. Staff shortage, it says. “What am I gonna do?” she asks herself at home, and she braids her dark long hair for the umpteenth time as she watches random tv commercials. She has to send money to her family, pay her rent and get a grip on her own. To top it all off, two days after this, she gets

a cheek tooth cracked, she can´t have it fixed because that would imply she would have to spend more money. Then the gum gets infected and she can´t sleep because of the pain. She takes painkillers and antibiotics and at night she stares at the ceiling until the new day breaks inside the ripped curtains of her untidy room.

Days go by, long, slow and dull as they are for her. She stops cleaning her house, she stops sending money to her family for she is penniless and, she stops waving and smiling to her neighbors because if she does so, her mouth hurts. Then destiny shines back on her. She gets a new job at a military uniform factory. Her salary is doubled because her new boss finds a great potential in her. She´s clever with her hands and needles. On the first payment day, she gets her tooth fixed and the pain goes away.

When she gets home, she flings herself into her couch, she is tired. She turns on the tv but she is not watching anything. Her mind starts waving the last details