THE THIRTY-FIFTH
‘I didn’t know you had a sister,’ Martin said to Monika.
‘I didn’t either, for the longest time. She’s my half-sister, from my mother’s first marriage. She’s a lot older than I am. I saw her a few times and knew her back then as this young lady who came to visit my mother from time to time. Mostly I remember her as being very tall. Estera.’
‘So her name is Ester.’
‘I’ve always heard her spoken of as Estera. I don’t know why.’
‘I know so terribly little about you,’ Martin complained. ‘Nearly nothing.’
‘On the other hand, I know more about you perhaps than everybody else taken together,’ Monika laughed. ‘So many adventures. You know that you’re constantly telling adventure stories?’
They kissed in the frosty mountain air. They kissed as if each were searching for his
