Agnessa And Juan ((link)) -

That was seven years ago. The road has not started again. Not yet. They fixed the schoolhouse. Juan teaches children to draw maps of imaginary countries. Agnessa built a greenhouse and grows tomatoes that taste like the ones her grandmother grew in Minsk. She still keeps a go-bag by the door. He still leaves mango pits on the windowsill.

They hitchhiked south. A fisherman took them to Chiloé. A nun driving a tractor took them to the lake district. In a small town called Futaleufú, they found an abandoned schoolhouse with a red door and a garden overgrown with fuchsia. Juan said, "We could stay." Agnessa felt her chest crack open like a geode. agnessa and juan

"Until the road starts again."

"And yet," Juan replied, "here we are."

"North is a straight line," she said.

"I made you tea," he said.