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Svea chortled as her son, Justus, cartwheeled in excitement. He stopped, grinned at her and did it again. His petite, slightly chubby body swirled in the air before landing back on his feet in a flawless aerobics move.
"At last, I'll go with you and Papa to the city?" He asked again to be doubly sure it wasn't a prank. The last time his parents visited the city without him, he cried himself sore. In the Anish community, the residents seldom leave and when they did, it was to visit the city during the biannual trade fairs and return as soon as possible. They felt uncomfortable in the city due to their height difference compared to the city people.
"Yes and no."
Justus grabbed Svea's hand and gave her his best puppy eyes. "What do you mean yes and no? Pleaseee."
"You and I are going without Papa. Okay? He has work to do." Svea chuckled at the relief on his face.
"Okay, Maa. But we'll have to get Papa something nice and special."
Svea shook her head. "And will you pay for it?" When he hung his head in thought, she nudged him towards his room. "Now hurry up and get dressed. We'll leave soon."
The gentle breeze tempered the heat of the sun glaring out of the blue sky. Justus held his mother's hand as she'd instructed. The trade fair grounds were crowded with tall people as he expected. He pushed back his head to gaze around. The city people were not just tall, they were more like giants.
Svea's grip on his small hand was so tight that it hurt. He glanced up at her. Her heart-shaped smooth face glistened with sweat as they moved amid the crowd.
He tried to wriggle his hand out of her grip. She looked down with a scowl. "Stop that. Do you want to get lost?" She'd warned that children often went missing at the Fair. He shook his head. He didn't want to be one of those children.
The Fair grounds looked better than the stories his parents told him. His excited eyes darted around, capturing interesting images that he would share with his friends at school.
Sprawled before him were different towering tents used as stalls to display wares and merchandise. He couldn't get a good look as his mother pulled him along very fast. They passed through the organic vegetables section and he was awed by the giant carrots, cabbages, beetroots and green leaves.
"Wow, Maa. These carrots are as big as my arms—" he started to say and Svea shushed him. Then they stopped by an apple seller and his mother struck the side of a wooden crate with her umbrella. He wondered why she would do that when a giant face popped out by the side of the table.
Justus almost fell back in shock but Svea held his hand tighter. The giant face was a tall man with thin moustache and full beard. He wiped his large hands on the dirty apron hung on his neck and bent low to speak to them.
"Well, if it isn't Mrs Svea my best Anish customer—"
"Yea, so you say every time and take away all my money with that devilish grin of yours," Svea replied with a smile and the apple seller grinned, his beard stretching wide to reveal pale teeth.
"My apples are good for it and you know that. So how many crates today?"
"One and a quarter please."
Svea reached for her handbag, her grip on Justus' hand loosened a little just when a small group of tall, young men pushed into them, and somehow dragged Justus away.
"Wait! Justus!" Svea yelled and her son's shrill voice replied from within the crowd of tall people, "Maa! Maa!"
"Oh no." The apple seller's exclamation reached her ears as she hung her bag back on her shoulder, dropped the umbrella and pushed through the crowd like a small-sized bulldozer, screaming her son's name.
But her push didn't make any difference as her son's screams faded. 'No, no!' She yelled in her head and pushed some more.
"Let me through, you Skunk-Apes and Beanpoles! My son!" Svea yelled at the top of her voice but the crowd formed an impenetrable barrier between her and Justus. Her head barely reached their knees, and for some, only their calves. In that instance, Svea felt a deep regret about her dwarf stature as tears welled up in her eyes.
She raised her fisted hands high above her head, jumped and punched the man in front of her on the back of his knee. His leg buckled and he almost keeled over. He swallowed the expletive that was about to issue from his mouth when he gazed down and saw a slender, dwarf woman with teary eyes scowling at him.
Svea noticed he was a young man probably in his early twenties. She punched and kicked at his legs some more. On a normal day, he would have laughed at the scene before him but the tears in the woman's eyes stopped him.
"Get out of the way. My son…." Svea pointed ahead. "My son…he's in there."
"Yes, man. I saw her boy pulled away as your friends rushed by, just now," a gruff voice interjected. It was the apple seller. He stood beside the young man whose mouth shaped into an "ohh", understanding the situation.
"What's his name?" The apple seller asked Svea.
"Justus." She said, tears trickling down her face. Her neck was hurting from staring upwards but she didn't mind that. She wanted her son back. She watched as the two men raced forward and shoved through the group, calling out her son's name.
The crowd parted for the two men and Svea followed after them until they got to a section where the aroma of roasted meat permeated the air. White plumes of smoke swirled above charcoal and pellet grills. The sight of Justus sitting comfortably in a meat vendor's hand made Svea gasp with relief. He was twelve but appeared like a toddler in the man's hand, his lower lip jutting out in sadness.
"Justus!" Svea yelled from behind the two men who had approached the meat vendor to explain the situation.
"Maa!" Justus' face lightened up with a wide grin. The meat vendor quickly set him down. Justus ran between the tall men into his mother's arms. Svea knelt and swept him up, muttering her relief.
"Thank you very much," she said, standing and gazing at the men one after the other.
Svea had had one hell of a scare and lost interest in shopping. "Let's go home, young man. You've had your adventure," she said to Justus.
This is my story for The Ink Well Monthly Contest based on the prompt "barrier". I hope you enjoy reading it.
Thank you for visiting my blog.