54
TALES FROMTHE FUTURE
ment inside this hut in two days. The outside can be peeling. But inside . . .’
“Two days later, on Sonya’s parcel, next to the birch tree, on the spot
where her tent had been, the peeling construction trailer had been placed on
a brick foundation. It was peeling but had been prepped by the builders for
painting, and the Finnish paint and brushes were inside.
“Sonya painted it herself later—the first house of her own in her life,
standing on her own land. The next year, this house was transformed into a
fairytale cottage, entwined with ivy and wild grapes and surrounded by
blooming flowerbeds.
***
Ten years passed. Sonya had graduated and had been living on her own
homestead for a year. Houses had gone up in the settlement, which was
drowning in greenery and blooming gardens, but Sonya had the very best,
most beautiful plot of all. When her classmates left the children’s home, re-
treating into oblivion, trying to matriculate at some educational institute,
just so it had a dormitory, to find some kind of job, just so they would have
enough to feed themselves, Sonya was already a wealthy person. The settle-
ment’s residents gave their excess fruits and vegetables to a manager. The
crop yield from the homesteads was bought up at a fairly high price and ex-
ported to countries of the European Union, to special stores selling organic
food. Sonya, too, gave the manager what she had raised on her homestead,
although most of her produce went to people who came to her directly from
the city, having heard about the unusual girl and her marvelous homestead.
Sonya also gathered medicinal herbs and helped cure many people of ill-
nesses.
One day, Edik came to visit his parents, who now lived on their
homestead year-round. He had studied at a prestigious American university
for three years. He faced a difficult medical operation. The overseas water
and food had probably created problems with his liver and kidneys. Before
