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Anita the little dwarf of the Passage of the elf of the flattened nose

Chapter 8: Roquita in the tree

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Although Brandifur and Mana had prepared a celebration for Anita's acceptance into Madame Candida's singing and dancing academy, they were again eager to prepare another.

For this there was much to do like the last time and therefore Brandifur stayed in the house sweeping and cleaning this one in addition to making other preparations, while Mana and Anita went early to the city market.

As in the previous celebration they ate fish, this time they did not go to the Fisherwoman Square, but went to the Communal Market, which was the place where the inhabitants of Singing Rocks could acquire meat that was not fish as well as fruits, vegetables and various roots.

The place did not have a wide open space like the Fisherwoman Square, but it was made up of several alleys, all of them product of the sales stands that were next to each other in an orderly manner.

It was in this place where Anita could see more dogs than in any other part of the city, in addition to the guards of the burgomaster, who were responsible for ensuring security and order in the streets. She could only see a lazy cat sleeping on a bench since the rest of his kind were spending it in the other market for the sale of river fish.

"Sure it's not a nuisance?" asked Anita, who helped carry some of what they had bought.

"But what do you say, Anita, of course it isn't," said Mana, while she was checking a cut of meat offered to her by a vendor in the city market. Besides, this time there won't be any guests from the city, but only for the family.

Anita was happy and could not wait for the special guests to arrive for the celebration, and it was not for nothing, since nothing less than her parents who were returning to the village of The Pass would attend this family celebration.

"Yes, I'll take this one, please."

"Here you are, ma'am."

"Let me help you with that, Mana."

"No, Anita, you've got a lot of things, I'll carry the meat... Well, I think that's it."

Mana and her niece said goodbye to the salesman who assured them that he would give them a discount if they came back tomorrow and bought a lot of meat like they did a short while ago. They went up picturesque streets with cobblestones that came from the same quarry they had visited with Brandifur.

On a couple of occasions the two of them had to stop to greet someone and although Mana would have loved to talk longer and find out the latest gossip about the city, she had no choice but to excuse herself as she had many things to prepare for the celebration that was just around the corner and it is that not only Anita's parents would come, but also her siblings and if this was not enough, Mana's children would also come.

Anita was not bored of doing this tour and what she liked most apart from the view of the river and the barges that crossed it, was to feel in her face the wind that moved her hair and her long skirt. Where she lived before there was no breeze.

"Now that it's summer it's getting hotter and hotter," said Mana as she paused for a moment to rest a bit.

"Are you all right, Mana?"

"Yes, only this heat tires you more than you should, how good it is that this breeze is so refreshing."

Both looked at each other and then turned their eyes towards the river while closing their eyes, they welcomed the fresh wind. A flock of doves flew over them, surely frightened by the presence of a hawk coming from afar.

"Brandifur told me there were no pigeons in the city before. Even the river gulls were not as numerous as they are now."

"Really? Why would they come to the city?"

"I suppose it's natural, not only do people travel from one place to another and decide to stay and live where they see fit. Birds also do the same thing... Now that I am aware of it, it seems that some sea gulls have also appeared from time to time here."

"And what are sea gulls like?"

"Well, you can't tell them apart from river gulls, or at least I can't tell them apart. But the merchant sailors assure that they are in port, they say that unlike their kin, they are more aggressive and take away the food from their cousins or other birds like the charcoal ducks that swim around."

"That's bad, I wanted to feed the river gulls and charcoal ducks."

"Charcoal ducks don't have much of a problem, they dive into the water and eat the little fish or algae they find. Did you know that charcoal ducks are almost extinct before?"

"I didn't know that, what happened?"

"Well, before, people ate only the meat of charcoal ducks, or so Brandifur told me. Now no one eats those ducks because there's a lot of other food."

"Did you ever cook charcoal duck?"

"Oh yes, I did it once and I regretted it, his meat is very hard."

In the house, they saw how Brandifur was not idle and put everything in its place, plus some posters announcing the welcome of Anita's parents.

"Oh, girls, good of you to arrive, tell me, what do you think?"

"You did very well, dear."

"It looks great uncle."

"And how was the market?"

"We're done buying everything."

"I'll help you in the kitchen, you'll have a lot to prepare."

"I'm going to help you too, Mana," Anita said. "Just let me change first."

"Thank you very much, Anita. I'm going to change first, so get some rest."

"Let me help you with the shopping, my dear..."

Anita went up to her room and prepared daily clothing to help her relatives.

"Roquita, Roquita, where are you?"

The flat-faced cat wasn't in his little bed and there was no sign of him anywhere.

"Maybe he's downstairs," thought Anita, and after washing her face to get rid of the drowsiness of the summer heat, she changed her clothes and then went to help out in the kitchen.

The pans, pots and so on, gave off their vapors at the same time as the aromas of the food in cooking and the sound of knives cutting vegetables and legumes on their wooden bases was present in the place.

"Dear, pass me the salt."

"The salt? Where is the salt?"

"It's there, next to the coriander, in fact, also pass me some coriander."

"I can't find it..."

"I'll pass it to you Mana."

"Thank you Anita. It's starting to smell good, isn't it?"

"Yes, it smells good."

They were still preparing the food, when to Anita's ears came a sound that seemed to come from afar.

"It looks like a meow," said Anita. "It seems to be... It's not Roquita, is it?"

"I don't know Anita," said Mana. "I didn't see your cat all morning, dear?"

"I didn't see him either, because I was busy preparing things."

"I'll go and see."

Anita went to the living room and called her pet, but he didn't answer. She searched her room again and nothing, not a trace of Roquita, while the sound of meowing continued.

"So Anita? Did you find your cat?"

"No uncle, it's nowhere."

"Maybe Roquita went for a walk there... maybe those meows we heard were from your cat."

Anita looked worried and both she and Brandifur left the house to locate the origin of the constant meows that sounded in the distance.

In fact, after walking some streets they came across Roquita.

The poor cat had climbed a very high tree and apparently the poor little one could no longer come down, and he began to meow pitifully trying to get his owner to help him.

"Roquita! How did you get so high up that tree?!"

"Maybe a dog chased him."

"Roquita, get down, kitty!"

A meow longer than the others was the only answer from the cat who looked down frightened to see his young owner.

"Wait, Roquita, we'll get you down from there."

"It's a very tall tree, Anita. In the house there is no staircase long enough to go up to the cat."

"We've got to get him down somehow, uncle."

"Wait a minute, I'll bring the ladder, I don't think it'll go that high, but we'll see later."

Brandifur ran to his house while Anita stayed to try to calm down her cat which again started to meow insistently.

"Wait a little Roquita, that uncle Brandifur went to bring a ladder. If you can, go down a few branches," she asked, but the cat was apparently petrified in what seemed to be the highest branch.

She didn't have to wait long as Brandifur was returning with Mana, both carrying a ladder.

The staircase carried by the dwarf was short and had to be tied to the other by means of ropes that Brandifur took with him. Thus, the dwarf climbed as high as he could and there was no case, Roquita was very above and despite the words of the dwarf and the two women at the base of the trunk, the cat did not dare to lower even a branch.

"Uncle, let me go up to Roquita."

"No, Anita, it's dangerous, you can fall."

"Don't worry, Aunt, I'll be careful."

Mana crossed glances with her husband but there was no other way, so he went down and gave way to Anita, who courageously climbed to the top of the two stairs.

Anita had never climbed a tree before, and for this she took her time, and branch after branch she climbed to the top and grabbed Roquita who thanked her with a meow of sorrow.

Unlike before, this time Anita did not thank the wind that began to blow strong, rocking a little the top of the tree.

"Be careful Anita!" Brandifur shouted.

"I'd better hurry," thought Anita and unbuttoned her dress a little.

The young lady carefully put the cat inside her clothes, which apparently realized that he shouldn't cause any more discomfort and decided not to move so as not to put his owner in danger.

Mana put her hands to her mouth every time Anita went down a branch, and on one occasion she had to drown out a scream as her niece almost slipped on a false branch, but she could breathe calmly when her niece finally reached the short staircase and from there she could descend to the safety of the floor. On that last run, Brandifur was holding the ladder tightly.

-Roquita, you're a very naughty cat, look what...

Anita was speechless, she hadn't noticed, but from the moment she went up to rescue her cat until she came down, a large group of people had gathered and applauded her. A guard of the burgomaster, seeing the crowd, approached to see what had happened.

She turned red like a tomato and some people helped Brandifur to get down the stairs and untie them. After a few words with their neighbors and the city guard, the three returned home to be greeted by the rumble of the two guard geese, who did not care about Roquita's ugly experience, and pecked at the young woman's chest as she hurried along and covered her cat with her arms, which did not dare to come out of Anita's clothing.

CONTINUARÁ...

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