Conversation – part 5
I’ve been here in the colony for some time now. The matriarch wanted to speak to me before I gave birth. She said: “Here you can be yourself, be free, be in your own right. I’m glad you came down here and found us. Welcome.”
First I was afraid that it was a place like the one I came from. It turned out to be different; no indoctrination, no suspicion. Friendliness, mutuality instead.
There are very strict rules. Here too. For example: all boys have to leave this place when they become twelve years old. They have to grow up with their fathers from that moment on. Twelve years is a long time, but still. A scary idea. Out there, so young.
Only the girls remain inside. The boys, or the men, can come to visit from the age of sixteen. The women are free to go outside, but if you want to be a couple with a man, you stay outside.
I hope to be at home here. Hope this could be the place.