AUGUST 3rd: Luna

During our last days in Miami, when any of us was leaving for good, the rest of the remaining friends did whatever the leaving one wanted as a farewell gift. It was kind of the last wish of a prisoner sentenced to death. Simone was not an exception and the night before her departure back to Austria we all went for dinner to a great teppanyaki restaurant somewhere in Kendall. On top of the great food, my secretary Juliane paid my bill (I’ll give her a raise soon if she keeps treating me like that). After such a food orgy we were ready to add some alcohol on top of that food, as usual. We couldn’t find any bars open around so we made an alcohol stop at CVS to get some supplies and we headed for Lav’s place. After some “long-cuts” we arrived a little bit later than expected and we took over the Bernfests’ living room. We were drinking beers and watching basketball on TV when Luna and her friend came in the apartment. Lav introduced the group at once from his seat. While Luna said “Hi” to us with a shy voice, she smiled with one those little embarrassment smiles and I think that she even blushed slightly. It was less than a second, but enough to tell. I love people whose feelings betray traditional social manners.

When Luna first saw me at our camp she introduced herself and I said “Yes, I know who you are. We met briefly at your place” and she answered “but you guys were so many that I don’t remember anyone”. Even before she finished her sentence, the same kind of shy smile appeared on her face, again for less than a second. Ever since that moment I felt a special connection between us that grew through time, reaching the point where her mere presence made me feel happy.

Luna is probably the only non muslim person in the world that observes Ramadan, a very particular one, since she allows herself to drink alcohol and water, but instead of eating after dusk, she just does not eat whatsoever. Not even one bite she had during the days we spent in Pag and she was planning to keep it for 10 days in a row.

I remember how during the real Ramadan most of my muslin friends in Spain look so pale, almost yellowish. They have enormous eye rings and they just lay down for the whole day until dusk when they eat like crazy. Nevertheless, Luna had so much energy the whole time, especially by night, like if she got it from the Moonlight (luz de luna). She could drink and dance like a hurricane for hours. This ascetic girl had more energy herself than most of her eating partners and such a will power that she joined us for dinner every night, she saw us eating right next to her, but she wouldn’t eat anything.

The second night in Pag, after having dinner in Novalja (everyone except for her) we were on our way to get the cars to drive back to the camping. We stopped in front of a seesaw and everyone jumped on except for Luna and me who were walking a little bit behind. There was a tiny space by the seesaw fulcrum and Lav exclaimed “Come on guys, join us!”, “Come On! The oldest and the youngest!” Lav’s sentence made me think how until that moment I hadn’t felt any age gap between Luna and me and I didn’t feel any for the rest of the trip. On the contrary, when she was teaching me the golden rule of a camper “zip it before you fold it” or when she was buying me some ice cream, I felt that she was the mature one.

Luna was the cherry on top of my Pag cake. We had a tent connection, a travarica connection, a pillow connection and even a FKK beach morning walk connection and the only thing I regret is not having had more time in Pag.