But the girls, what do they dream?
Charlie asked it on his head every day, but what do the girls dream of?
He saw so many pass by his bar and at the beginning it was difficult to read, he tried but still had not gained enough experience, did not understand the remnants of coffee and their predictions, could not interpret the bottom of a glass of whiskey and the number of selected beers.
Then he learned, day after day, to read in those eyes drowned by alcohol to interpret the rumpled voices.
There was Anna, she always came at the opening, short hair and eyes of ice, she came from the east, of which est it was nobody has ever known. She wore red shoes and everyone saw her as a witch from the west because of the cold and sudden ways.
Anna looked at everyone with indifference, but there was a veil of pain on her face every time someone like her Albert passed, eyes like ice but hair as black as death, but he never passed, only his ugly copies with slimy hands and fake smiles. They offered her a drink and then ran away, wounded by her icy heart.
And Anna dreamed of him, she saw herself again in his arms, perhaps with a bundle of child on her hands, a chubby child and with ice eyes as well, like them.
When she took that beer with the strongest gradation you could see her, he, a house, a good job, maybe something like a woman who did not waste her hands like a nursery job.
Sh clutched the chalice with those battered hands and stared at him with a mixture of rage and disappointment.
Albert was still in the east who knows where and who knows with whom.
Then towards full night Cristiana also arrived. She was never alone, always with a different company, groups of fiery friends to party to drink until dawn and Charlie casually shut up and tolerated their screams and laughter.
Cristiana was young, she wore her hair in a fashionable cut, colored like the rainbow, every month a different color, blue, green, yellow, she changed her hair color as she changed friendships and loves. In the head a different dream for every nuance.
Sometimes you would see her with boys, all of them young, with leather jackets, lapels on their trousers and hair styled on one side, light-hearted air and futile smiles, a few slips in their wallet and much desire in their eyes. They just wanted to eat her.
They all disappeared after three weeks or so.
And Cristiana saw her there, among all those friends but in her heart, ordered a light cocktail in contrast to the heavy heart, full of broken promises.
You saw her, small and lost, look at those boys with loving eyes, with every boy dreamed of a future, wanted to be held by the hand, brought to the movies, to parents' house to drink coffee, to walk on the river, to exchange kisses looking the stars. And they gave her a thousand promises, promises from a sailor who sank immediately.
Instead of exchanging love they always and only exchanged bodily fluids hurriedly and then the hand never held them to anyone. They walked in the darkness of his heart and no one ever stopped for a kiss
And Charlie thought, keep yourself Cristiana, keep strong alone among those wolves. Do not let them eat you, dance, make love but keep your heart tight in your chest. Keep it for those who want to take you to see the stars on a summer evening. The wolves leave them to dance on their own, go for a run and then let them go back to their pack, that's their place, not your colorful dreams.
And when it came to closure, it overlooked the local Nadia. The prettiest of all, you saw her, beautiful, sweet with white or blue clothes, an angelic face and long blonde hair.
She came tiptoeing and always took something strong, something that gave her a little courage in her heart. Nadia was afraid, she did not believe much in dreams and things that were too good to be true. Nadia did not dream long because she feared that dreams would die in her hands.
He would come and say hello to Charlie, looking at him as if he were looking at a God or something like that. Maybe she had a little dream too.
Nadia dreamed of Charlie from the first moment she had seen him, when after a bad fight with the now ex-boyfriend she had crashed into the bar and ordered "The strongest you have" with tears in her eyes.
Charlie had come down from the counter and held her close, moved by so much candor mixed with pain "This is the strongest thing I have".
And since then she had been dreaming of Charlie, and every night she would close to see him clean the glasses and polish the counter.
And Charlie smiled at her and as she pulled down the shutters, she kissed them, Nadia laughed and hugged him tightly because she knew that her dream had come true and she wanted to hold it tight as a precious gift.
Charlie knew it, it was nice to be a dream and have the courage not to vanish in the morning. When the day appeared Nadia embraced her dream and caressed her hair. "Charlie, Charlie do not disappear"
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