Duwendina

What you see beside the woman is not a mere toddler. By height, she may easily be judged as a child but in heart and in mind, she is a full-grown woman. By her own account, she is 26 years of age. She has been frequenting numerous peryas in our town when I was still a child. She was fondly named, duwendina (because she is thought to have been conceived out of love of a mortal woman and a male dwarf).

Recently, her mother died leaving her to the care of siblings - who were not treating her as humanly as they could. She is often ridiculed for her stature and features but somehow, there is something in her that interests me.

By the way, she does not speak a single word. We communicate to her through our normal tones yet she only gets to answer us with grunts and moans. Throughout her conversation with my Mom, I was just observing. She is normal as all of us are. She confesses to having a crush with my neighbor and even to the point of wanting to bear his child. Throughout the course of our little chit-chat, she bursts into tears saying that she and her crush has parted ways.

Then in dawned to me, life is never really fair. Oftentimes, those who are ridiculed and even discriminated at do not get the happiness they deserve. They live a life of solitude, dependent to the care of those who sympathize.

But for me, I do not pity her. Pity is the worst emotion I could ever afford her. I know she is happy in her own little way, satisfied with the simple life she now enjoys and longing for the one true love that she is waiting to surmount and sweep her off her feet.

I am keeping my fingers crossed until the day she finds him.