I had never visited my aunt and uncle in the countryside before, because I simply did not know what to do there. And what difference does it make that there is a forest and fresh air, if you can rest much better at the sea? But this year it so happened that my help was needed, and I am a reliable person, so I came.
While I was looking for my uncle’s house, winding around two neighboring villages, I accidentally saw a girl who was selling apples. She had three huge buckets with her, and by the time I drove, it was already evening. The girl was so beautiful – it took my breath away. As I imagined that she would have to carry all those apples home by herself, I stopped beside her, found out the cost, and took all three buckets. The apples were delicious, sweet, and juicy, but my uncle still scolded me for bringing so many. It was good that my aunt was understanding, knowing full well that I had met Veronica – and she was a real beauty.
While I was helping my uncle with the construction, I involuntarily remembered that girl myself, thought about her. I asked a few relatives, found out that she was an orphan herself, but lived with her great-aunt and her relatives. She stays at home all the time, or sells fruits and vegetables by the roadside. They don’t let her live her life by putting her to work, and they don’t let her go to school in the city.
I am not a shy guy, but I was embarrassed to just show up at the house mentioned by my aunt, so I was driving around again until Veronica came out with two more pails of apples. I had to buy them, while talking to her and asking her out, just for a walk around the neighborhood.
The first time she refused, saying she was busy, but when I bought two more buckets of apples from her a day later, she had to agree.
She was a terrific girl: sweet, funny, intelligent. She kept asking me, smiling slyly, if I had opened a cider factory with my aunt and uncle. Why else would I have so many apples?
Some would say I was crazy, because we had been dating for about two months while I was helping my uncle in the village, and then I literally kidnapped Veronica from her family, proposing to her. She didn’t refuse, and in early fall we moved to my place in the city.
While we are getting ready for the wedding little by little, Veronica is taking hairdressing courses, and occasionally she reminds me of those apples. My uncle and aunt probably still eat them…
