'Old friends and new' by Birgit K. Gaiser

“Where are you going?” Velika asked, looking at her friend with tears in her eyes.

Bruno looked down at her and lowered himself to his knees, groaning a little. He really wasn’t young enough anymore to kneel down without carefully planning the movement.

“I don’t know,” he said.

“Then why are you going there?” Velika asked, her little face scrunched up in wonder.

“It’s our way,” Bruno explained. “We rarely stay anywhere as long as we did here. After a time, we pack up and go. Find a new place we like and stay there. Every town and village has a market, and they all need well-crafted goods.”

“I don’t want you to leave,” Velika cried. “First my mum and dad died, and now you’re leaving.”

“What if I promise you that I’ll write you a letter?”

Velika sniffed. “That might be acceptable.”

Bruno laughed. “Where did you pick that up?”

“Auntie Melina said it to the man who’s courting her.”

Bruno laughed even harder. “Give her a hug from me. And don’t be sad. You’re such a smart little girl, you’ll find plenty of friends once you start looking for them.”

“Why do I have to do the looking?”

“Because not everyone has eyes as sharp as yours,” he said. “But now I really must go. Look, the sun’s about to set, and the others are waiting for me.”

He pointed towards the group of people, maybe twenty overall, who were waiting, their belongings packed onto old-fashioned carriages with – where had they been hiding the donkeys? Velika was twice-upset now.

“Byebye,” she said, turning away and hugging the other Bruno, the bear the old man had sold her at a heavily discounted price two years ago, tightly to her chest.