detail from: KRK Art dizajn

A CHILD OF FIRST LOVE

NOVEL 2019

Preface

This is a romance, a story about the premature love of two young people, which her mother is forcing, and she is still quite young and eager for her own love, in an effort to marry her daughter as soon as possible. A young man, Boris, who was in love with an extraordinarily beautiful and handsome girl, Dunya, makes up for that loss by working hard through his studies. When he graduated from the faculty, he soon gained recognition for good professional work, which took him into the world and he became very recognized in his profession at the international level. The trace of the girl, Dunja, is lost, she marries a man she didn't love, but her mother, Branka, chose him. Almost at the beginning of the Second World War, Dunya's father died and her mother was left alone as a widow, with her only child. Dunja, she remembers her first love very often, she can't forget it, but she doesn't manage to find out anything about the young man she loved. During the last war, she was a widow herself, very beautiful and handsome, although a refugee, treated inhumanely, was spotted by a Canadian general, who seduced her and had sexual intercourse with her. He has been living as a married couple for some time, he promises to marry her, and after completing his duties he returns to his hometown, Canada, without giving any information to his service or family about the Yugoslav woman. He contacted her upon his return, only claiming that he was arranging things for the wedding.

Dunya's son, Borislav, is successfully graduating from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, and in the meantime she goes to Canada and marries her general. When her son is visiting, Dunya comes to an unexpected and completely accidental encounter with her first love, during which she reveals to her son her secret about his birth, a secret she kept only for herself throughout her life. The two of them, lovers from their youth, will tell each other all their life details and continue their lives separately, but happily.

All the names and places in this story are made up, and every similarity is accidental and unintentional.

Author

Growing up

The May spring sun warmed, the grass on all the hills turned green, and the flowers bloomed everywhere and smelled intoxicating, enchanting. Bees move from flower to flower, collecting pollen and the buzzing of their wings can be heard. A bumblebee is sometimes seen among the bees. And they set to work. And the birds, as if they had all left their forest nests and were flying near the houses. All nature has awakened. The stream seems to murmur better. The waters from the recent snows came and washed away the surrounding hills, merging towards the valleys. The first frogs can be heard croaking, and the storks have not yet arrived to endanger them.

The boys drove the cattle to the meadows and started to think of games that they liked the most. Some suggest slipping, others chewing, and still others would rather play ball.

- Who has the ball? Boris asked. Everyone looked at each other and started laughing. Nobody brought the ball.

- We can play "Rotten mares", suggested Petar, so we don't need any devices. The second time, whoever has the ball, let them take it, so we will play football. There should just be enough of us to be able to split into two teams. Everyone agreed and began to set themselves up for the "Rotten Mare".

The sun was already warming, cows and sheep were grazing peacefully, and the boys got so carried away in the game that they did not even notice that some cows had entered the already green wheat in the neighboring fields. They had to return them to the pasture quickly, so that none of the wheat owners would notice them. It was agreed that one of the boys must always be on guard, that their cattle would not be harmed and that no one would see them.

This is how the days of the boys from Podgrmec went, while they were not in school, and those were happy times from their earliest youth. Only a few years before that, everyone came out of the war and all the villages were impoverished. There were not enough cattle, much less food. Everyone was mostly hungry and malnourished, but everyone was happy and kind to each other. The children were similar to their parents, because as he raised his child, so did he treat his neighbors and acquaintances. The elders recounted their events during the meeting and agreed on plans, while for the children these were unimportant topics. They were interested in socializing and games. Sometimes they would just mention school assignments, but they all solved them very successfully.

Boris lost his mother very early. He was only about four years old and almost didn't remember her. And he was not the only one among his comrades. Many were left without one or both parents. The war took away many fathers, and mothers in most cases were tortured and died early. Boys and girls remained orphans, they suffered in the earliest years, but they matured too early. They knew they understood responsibilities almost as adults. There were serious and good students in the schools as well. There was no need to point out the seriousness of their school obligations, they knew that without warning.

Boris's older brother worked with his father, doing all the field work, and he went to school regularly. He was an excellent student and the teacher often took him as an example in front of other students. Those praises of the teacher served Boris as an example, which he was proud of. Their sisters had already finished primary school and did not even think about it for the future. They knew that it was the limit for rural girls and they did all the housework, especially since they did not have a mother. The father was very proud of the children, who were obedient and hardworking, and at the same time very well brought up. The father knew that his children would never embarrass them anywhere. He was proud of them and never raised his voice at any of them. He didn't even need to order anything from them, they even asked him when something extra needed to be done. These were the characteristics of rural education in the Podgrmec region.

The Bosnian Krajina is the area from the Una River in the west to the Vrbas in the east, and from the Sava River in the north to the Livno and Duvnjan fields in Herzegovina in the south. And the region of Podgrmec includes the areas below the mountain of Grmec on the Bosnian side, villages: Jasenica, Zalin, Benakovac, Gorinja, Suvaja, Vojevac, Hasani, Potkalinje, Pucenik, Gudavac, Vranjska, Japra, Dobovik, Risovac and others. The peasants of Podgrmec are an extremely characteristic people, very honest, with words, clear mind, brave and very hardworking. Their given word is more important and more appreciated and respected than a written contract. When two Podgrmeclijas shake hands during the purchase and sale, it is more important for them and is better respected and appreciated than a written contract. In Podgrmec, the given word is respected more than the law.

Boris, when he was not at school, kept cattle or sheep. Most often, he and Đorđe joined forces in keeping cattle, alternately, one week Boris kept his and Đorđe's cattle, and Đorđe kept sheep, and the other weeks they changed. On Saturdays and Sundays, when they did not go to school, all the boys kept whole flocks of sheep and cattle together in the fields between the two villages. There were enough of them then that they could be divided into two football teams. Those days were their favorite. At that time, Muslim children also kept their cattle nearby, and occasionally allowed them to mix. When they went home and drove the cattle to drink, the cattle knew how to separate themselves, each animal went to its own house. The boys didn't care about that, they knew that they would bring everyone home in full numbers.

Somewhere near the end of the war, partisans held a telephone exchange in Boris's house, so he was somewhat familiar with how to communicate over the wire. The partisans carried the wires of that time wound on reels and unwound them where they needed to. And after the war, during the reconstruction of the country, wooden poles began to be placed in the villages and telephone wires were mounted on them. At that time, only municipalities, militia and medical institutions, where they were, received telephones. Even schools have not received them yet. When the school talked about telephone lines and teacher Milan explained to the children how telephones work, Boris suggested that he make a telephone line for himself from scratch. Teacher Milan told him that it was impossible, and most of the boys in the class started laughing. Boris felt ashamed, but he was still thinking about his idea. He was silent and went home thinking about how to make an imaginary phone. And it wasn't long before Boris and his older brother Nenad stretched the thread between the house and the chapel, at a distance of about 150 meters. He tied empty matchboxes at both ends of the thread, which served as a headset and a microphone. He tried out the line with his brother, his brother stayed in the house and he went to school. First Boris answered, simply speaking into an open matchbox:

- Hello, Nenad, can you hear me? And then he paused to listen. On the other side, my brother's voice was heard:

-I hear you, can you hear me?" He asked.

- I hear you, I hear you. It is hard to hear, but it is heard, we understand each other. Our phone works, bravo. Tomorrow I can brag about it at school showing that we succeeded.

- I don't know if the teacher will believe you?

- Maybe he won't, but if he wants he can come to us to make sure, and if he really needs it, I can take my phone to him to mount next to the school, so let everyone who doesn't believe me make sure.

-You're right, tell the teacher tomorrow and suggest what you just said, and let him decide," his brother replied.

At the suggestion of teacher Milan, Boris brought his phone from a thread and a box of matches, mounted it on the school window and over several trees in the yard, and then he and the teacher were the first to talk. Behind them, students lined up, one by one, each talking to Boris. As at home, the voices were barely audible, but they were heard and could be understood. The invention succeeded and everyone was satisfied. Teacher Milan congratulated Boris, acknowledged his discovery and promised to report on it at the meeting of the educational council of schools from Podgrmec. After that, Boris bragged to his friends with whom he kept cattle. At first, Kasim, a Muslim, whose village bordered on the land of Boris's father, did not believe him, so he came to Boris's house and convinced himself on the spot. Since then, the two have become good friends.

All the children of the surrounding villages were poorly fed at that time. There was little to eat. The fields only started to be cultivated in those years and there was not enough grain, and no one had cattle for slaughter yet. There was no store, so there was nothing to buy, and the population did not have enough money, there was no place to earn. However, everyone was modest, everyone was satisfied with what they had. The boys were picking other people's fruit while guarding the cattle, and often the hosts would chase them, so they had to flee. At home, they never told their parents about it. They presented themselves as modest and honest, which in fact they were. They had to pick other people's fruit from time to time because they were hungry. The peasants of the Podgrmec area have always helped each other, both in business and in everything else. It was known who had what, for example some of the agricultural tools, so they lent it to each other without discussion. Mutual payments were most often settled in kind, in the form of wages.

The women organized the prela, during the winter evenings. There was mostly talk about cooking in the prelims. Prelima was also attended by young men, knowing that the girls present were ready to get married, so they used the opportunity to meet. Falling in love with young men and women was called "flirting". And most often, young men and women who meet in rural areas, during the summer, went together to rural church choirs, where they played, and agreed on propositions and engagements. Hence, rural springs were almost the only way to meet young people, who in most cases bore the fruit of forming rural families. And in Podgrmeč, prelims and church words were given exceptional importance. And as soon as it became known that two young people liked each other, a story about them would spread in the village, and as all the villagers in the villages knew each other, the families gave the young people information about their parents. It was very important whether the parents of a given boy or girl were hardworking and characterful. Then weddings were arranged.

Boris was still a minor for Prela. Even his older brother was not yet grown up, but they still sometimes went to the nearby neighborhood and on that occasion came more to plant adventures and jokes. He especially liked to make jokes with old people. All his friends behaved similarly. However, none of them made "unsavory jokes" that would harm anyone. Boris's uncle's brothers made tambourines, and played the prelims, so the village prelas were fun village evenings. And boys who knew how to play any instrument were very popular among girls. They were all self-taught, because at that time there were no schools or professors of music education. Whoever knew what, learned it from each other.

And no matter how poor the village life was after the Second World War, it was still interesting and remained in everyone's long memories.

***

When Boris finished the fourth grade of primary school, his uncle from Vojvodina suddenly came to visit them. His son finished high school in forestry at that time and moved away from them, so Uncle Đuro asked Boris's father to let Boris go to him, where he would continue his schooling. In those days, when Uncle Djuro was returning home, the school year had already begun, it was the beginning of September. Boris's father Vladimir agreed to his brother's offer and allowed Boris to leave. Until then, Boris had never boarded a train, he saw the train only from a distance, when he was going to the city with his father to the cattle market.

On the day when the two of them, uncle Đuro and Boris, left for Vojvodina, Father Vladimir escorted them only to the courtyard gate and kissed them both, wishing them a happy journey. Boris turned several times to see the house and the orchard around the house. And when their houses disappeared from view, he continued to walk in silence. He even answered some of his uncle's questions with a nod of his head. They had about 12 kilometers to walk to the city, and it took them almost three hours. At the spring of the river Svetinje, they drank clear spring water, and Boris also washed his feet in the stream, to cool down a bit and rest. About half a kilometer from there, they arrived in front of the house of Đura's godmother Bebe. All her acquaintances called her Beba, and no one addressed her by the name of Branko. She accidentally found herself on the balcony in front of the house and was happy for Đuri to see him. She went out in front of them and kissed Đuro. Borisa patted her on the head, asking whose boy it was.

- That is the son of my brother Vladimir, Boris, I am taking him to my house, he will continue his school there.

- Do you have time to stop by for coffee? Baba asked him.

- We have so much time, Đuro answered her, so he continued the story of how he coped with colonization and what he was doing. They entered the house and Beba immediately made coffee. In the house sat Beba's daughter, Dunya, a ten-year-old beautiful girl, with long curly hair and auburn colors. She had distinctly blue eyes, which were immediately etched in Boris's memory. She was silent and just secretly looked at Boris. She had a notebook with homework in front of her, and as she kept her head down, her hair fell over her face, so she peeked secretly between strands of hair. Her mother Branka, after offering chairs and brandy to Đuro, introduced her daughter, saying:

- This is my only daughter, Dusica. I only have her and she is all mine I have. You godfather Đuro knows that my Milan died. Dusica didn't even remember him. She was born during the war, and he, my godfather, died a few months after he was taken to the partisans, before the end of 1942. I don't know if he saw Dusica more than twice since he left for the army, and she couldn't even remember him.

- Well, that's right, my godmother, we've all lost someone. You know that my Mara also died, and Boris' mother was killed by the Germans. He lost his mother in the fourth year. I don't think he remembered her either. Almost all our children are orphans.

- My godfather, Beba continued, you and your brother Vladimir made a mistake by returning from America. You could be there in peace and save your heads.

- You know I left my wife and parents here. I went to America to earn some money, to build houses. And here comes this damn war again, it took everything from us and I had to move to Vojvodina.

While the two of them were talking, Boris approached Dunya (Dušica, as her mother called her from miles away) and looked at what she was learning. Branka liked that Boris approached Dunya and she often looked at the two of them.

At that, the coffee would be ready, Branka put it in Đuro's cup and herself, and offered Boris and Dunya the cookies she had on display. Boris refused, but Branka made him take it. Dunya didn't take anything, she just laughed and looked at Boris once more. When Branka and Đuro had their coffee, he got up with the intention of heading towards the train station, and Boris got up immediately afterwards. Leaving the house, he did not take his eyes off Dunya.

- You like my daughter, don't you? Branka asked him. Boris was silent, but in his heart he accepted the offer.

- Stop by again when you arrive. I'd like to see you.

- I don't know when I will come again, said Đuro, but very gladly. And these young people will come more often, so let them visit. Their future is before them. The two of them hugged and kissed, and Branka kissed Boris, adding:

-You study well and be my son-in-law. Have a good trip!

The train left sometime in the afternoon. After leaving the train station, the train immediately entered the tunnel, which was filled with suffocating smoke. In the further journey, he passed by the river Una, which overflowed over the sparkling stones as if whispering and that she also wished them a happy journey. Greenery overflowed around the Una, and willows towered over the river, some even touching the branches with water. Two fishermen were fishing from the shore, but the train quickly passed them. On the left hill above the river, some shepherds were guarding a small flock of sheep, and a hodza was heard from the mosque, who was performing his afternoon prayer.

***

Branka and Dunya, whom her mother affectionately called Dušica, lived alone in a house partially built as a sojenica above the river Krušnica. Dunya then finished the second grade and in those days went to the third grade of elementary school. And Branka's mother didn't work, she had a pension in the name of her lost husband. They made a living from it, there was no god knows what, but they covered the necessary expenses. Branka sewed all women's and men's clothing well, so people brought her what they needed to sew or fix. She had these jobs every day and was known as a good craftsman.

When Đuro and Boris left, Dunya asked her mother:

- What kind of godparents are you, Mom, when you call yourself that?

- Djuro married us, Milan, your dad, and I and I have always respected each other as godparents. You know, daughters, godfathership is a great family in Podgrmec.

- As far as I know, Mom, the godfather is not a blood relative? Dunya asked.

-No, her mother answered her, and added: -Maybe you like Boris, so you would prefer not to be related, you could love each other when you grow up. You know my daughter and I like him. We'll keep that in mind.

Below the road to Lušci Palanka and Sanski most, there is a valley through which the river Krušnica flows, in its course only about 6 kilometers long, to the mouth of the river Una. It reaches that valley from its source, from where it springs under a huge rock about 50 meters high, like a sinkhole, and immediately after a few tens of meters it descends in the form of small waterfalls. In its further course, it is calm, completely clear and blue-green in color. It flows from the spring between a set of hills that block the sun's rays until around noon. That's why she's very cold. Several mills were built there, which the villagers reach by a steep footpath. At the mouth of the Una, Krušnica improves its cleanliness, as it does not receive any wastewater in its short course. Una from there has a beautiful green-blue color like the eyes of mature women in their prime, who radiate warmth and love. A dozen houses were built in the valley through which Krušnica flows, some of which were built like sojenica. Such is the house of Mrs. Branka, whose steps the river reaches when the spring waters come. Dunya was born in that house, and she met Boris for the first time in that house. They were both children, but they were remembered.

In Dunya's hometown, the Una River offers a unique beauty of the river environment, with mills whose wooden wheels are constantly turning slowly, while mills are working, and the river reflects the fortress on its right side. The whole ambience gives the city a unique, poetic look and the beauty of a medieval building. And when Una receives her sister Krušnica in her arms, for some time their mixed waters flow over the travertine stones, foaming, as if whispering to each other what she saw in her course. Further, only Una flows, calm, but still blue-green-turquoise, which pleases the eye of every passer-by.

Children who grow up in such an environment are naturally gifted, healthy, and possess natural beauty. There are outstanding students in schools, and when they grow up, they are able to solve all natural tasks and survive in all circumstances. Branka was like that and she raised her unit, Dunya, like that. As she grew up in a healthy environment, Dunya was naturally withdrawn, calm, but also cheerful. She knew how to assess on which occasions how best to position herself, and her school friends loved her. In addition, she was extremely beautiful.

Dunya went to school with her two friends from the nearest houses, Milka and Rada. They walked about a kilometer to the school, maybe a little more, but no one had to follow them at that time, except when there was a storm. Only during the winter, Milka's father usually drove them in sledges. Boys and girls, Serbian and Muslim children sat together in the school. No one has ever made any distinction between them. At that time, faith and religion were not talked about in schools. Their school was on a hill, next to the house of culture, so during the winter, during the school holidays, the children sledded along the road that led to the main road. In the summer, they mostly went swimming on the Una. On the left side of the river was a sandy beach, which could be reached via a wooden bridge under the fortress. There, Dunya learned to swim when she was only about seven or eight years old.

While Dunya was at school, her mother sewed orders almost constantly. In front of their house, only about a hundred meters away, was the city market, where the villagers brought cattle for sale every Monday. And as everyone knew that Branka was a good seamstress, many from the village brought her orders, so she earned a lot of extra money. Although she was left a widow early on, she managed and successfully managed the expenses. She sewed the most beautiful dresses for her unit, so Dunya was the most beautifully dressed in her class. And as she was really naturally a beautiful girl, she was still so beautifully dressed as a model among girls.

That is how their days passed, even though the two of them were lonely, Branka without her husband, and Dunya without her father, when she didn't even remember. Sometimes Branka saw Vladimir, Boris's father, when he caught the cattle for sale. They would always ask themselves first about their health and how they were doing, and then Branka would know, as a joke, to ask about Boris.

- He went to Vojvodina, to my brother's. Brother Đuro was left without children in the house, his son ended up in a place and went to work, and he and his wife were left alone, so they say that a child in the house will come in handy. We hear that it is quite difficult for them, and they rarely write, but no one is well.

-My godfather, you were both wrong to come back from America, Branka will tell him too, so keep talking about how she's doing.

- I'm succeeding somehow, I'm raising that only child, God willing, I'll be fine, I hope. If only health would serve us, it will somehow succeed. For Dunya, I would just like her to finish school, and to get married well when she grows up, so her mother will live to old age with her. Good luck. So, Vladimir, if you have time, stop by for coffee when you sell those piglets and let's talk a little more.

- I will definitely come back, and we rarely see each other anyway. And you will never come to our village upstairs? If you have the opportunity, come to us, we could prepare some vegetables and fruits for you. You have to buy it all here in the city, and we don't know what we will get from it.

-Thanks godfather Vladimir, thank you for the invitation, I will look to stop by, and if you know, I would like to come to you when your son comes from Bačka, so that our children can be seen. It would be good for them to stay in a relationship.

It will be continued

School in Jasenica, Podgrmec

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