3 - In Orăştie

Summary

The day I withdrew from the high school in Blaj, I wrote to Ion Meteş to ask him to notify the high school in Orăştie that I was registering there, so I could take my room in the dormitory right away. I then went to Obreja to say goodbye to my mother, because in the future I was going to see her only on vacations, not every two or three weeks, as I had up to that point. I stayed in the village for three days to allow the letter to reach Orăştie. A week before had been grape picking time, and there were a whole lot of grapes and must left. I enjoyed them fully, and when I left I took only a roast duck and a kilogram of must and one of wine, to celebrate with Meteş the new turn in my education. At home, the celebrations had gone on for the entire duration of my stay.

I got to Orăştie past midnight. The city was far from the station, and I only knew Meteş, who lived in the dormitory, and I could not get in there at night, naturally. In the third class waiting room there were a lot of people, and the smells hung heavy. I stayed on the platform, and after I set my bags on a bench I started strolling around. It had been hot during the day, but now it was cool enough. As I walked, I warmed up. I don't know why, but I was so happy! Ioan Breazu and Ion Meteş had spoken to me fondly of Orăştie and even more so of the headmaster. Just as they did about the general atmosphere of the high school, where reading Vasile Conta was encouraged, not frowned upon.

Late, after two o’clock, I did get tired, though. I felt a chill too. I took my heavy coat out of my bags, I put it on, and, after I got warmer, I sat on a bench for a quarter of an hour to rest. I set the bags over my legs to keep me warm. How beautiful those bags were, handmade by mother in such harmonious colors, just like the cloth she tied at the front of her skirt on Sundays for church. Hanging symmetrically on my shoulders, they straightened my back. And now they kept me warm too.