Assignment 2 – Homework

Elsa sighed heavily as she sat down on the train seat. Luckily there were only two other passengers in the car, and she looked forward to a solitary ride home to think through what her mother had said. As she huffed and sighed again, about to give in to the tears, she heard a vaguely familiar voice, “Hello, fancy meeting you here, I heard you have gotten married and moved to Hamburg.” Inwardly Elsa groaned, quickly she blinked her eyes to clear the pooling tears and forced herself to smile as she turned to greet Lotta. “Hello, yes I did get married but Hans works at the bakery here in Chemnitz.” Elsa half listened as Lotta rambled on about how they hadn’t seen each other since leaving school, and it was so fortunate to have encountered one another on the train. It was only when Lotta held her hand under Elsa’s nose that she realized she had not been listening well and Lotta was saying that she was engaged, to someone, too. The color rose in Elsa’s cheeks as she realized she had zoned out and was thinking about her own problems and not listening to Lotta. She mumbled an audible, “Congratulations!” and then blurted out, “We’re moving soon.” “Oh, that’s so nice!” said Lotta. “Are you moving to the big city? I guess Hans has got a promotion.” “No, actually we’re moving to ….Sou..th Africa.” Elsa could hardly say the country’s name without a pain rising in her chest. Before she could say anything more, the tears spilled over and she sobbed, gulping great gulps of air. Lotta just sat there staring at her. Eventually Elsa got the hiccups and managed to control herself.