Jane and Erwin
Author: Büşra Hüma Tuncer (12 years old)
Illustrator: Ayşe Yıldız (11 years old) Translator: Nefise Karaduman (12 years old)
Jane was affected a lot from her grandmas' death. Since his family was also very upset about this situation, they had moved out of the house they were living in. Maybe moving out of the old house could cure Jane a bit. Jane didn't cause much problem because she was going to be far away from Jean, she liked the others anyway. Her dad was like, anyways, it was no big deal after all. It wouldn't have been much of a problem since he was a writer, but her mother was a teacher, and it was hard for her to leave school. But they were ready to do anything for their girl. Jane wasn't talking much, she answered almost every question with similar quotes like "Yeah.", "No.", "Nuh-uuh." And "Nah.". Her dad always said that he misses the old Jane. Jane just said, "I miss her." about her grandmother. Her mother tried a lot about this.
One hot summer day, while talking about this with a friend, her friend suggested advice that she could get a pet and try to be friends with it. So, her mom ended up at the animal shelter. Most people would go to a pet store and get one, but she had chosen street animals that were left at the animal shelter. She adopted a cat, which was her daughter's favorite animal. When her mother came home in the evening, she called Jane over and told her she had a surprise. Thinking her mother had bought another journal again, Jane went to her reluctantly. She was very happy when she saw the cat in her mother’s arms, which looked pure white and soft like snow. Her mother had seen her daughter smile for the first time since what had happened. Jane asked her mother, “Is this cat mine?” Her mother replied, “Yes, it’s your cat, but it doesn’t have a name. I thought you might want to choose one.” Jane immediately said the first name that came to her mind, “Erwin.” Her mother set the cat down and said, “Then while you two are getting acquainted, I’ll prepare dinner.” Jane took Erwin and went to her room. While Jane was showing Erwin her room, she couldn't help but wonder where he would sleep. Erwin could sleep next to her, the bed was big enough for two, but what if he turned his face the other way and hurt her or bumped into her. While Jane was lost in thought, her dad came into the room and asked, 'Can I see Erwin?' and she finally snapped out of it. When she looked to see where Erwin was, she couldn't help but laugh. Erwin was trying to sleep in bed. He joked to his dad, 'He sure is a bit busy right now!' When she heard from the kitchen that her mom had called them for dinner, she quickly went down. The smells were amazing, the food itself was equally great, though the pasta with sauce was a bit salty. After eating, she quietly went back to her room. She was curious about what Erwin was doing until she heard a voice from inside her room saying, 'This place is too messy.' It was Erwin talking, and having heard him, she immediately went into the room and said, 'You… you talked, I heard you but how?' Erwin replied, 'I won’t hide this from you, yes, I talked.' Jane wasn’t surprised at all; something like this had happened in a story her grandmother had told. Erwin and Jane went to bed together that evening. In the morning, when Jane woke up, Erwin was already up, busy grooming himself. After saying 'Good morning' to Erwin, Jane started getting into her new school uniform. When her mom came into her room to check on her, she found Jane dressed, packing her bag. Her mom had come to tell her about a school-related surprise. Seeing her mom, Jane asked, 'Is something wrong?' Her mom said she could take Erwin to school since pets were allowed. Jane and Erwin became best friends. Jane hadn’t made any other friends.
Years kept chasing each other and Jane finally had a family. Erwin tried to remind her of him, but Jane didn’t remember him at all. In the end, Erwin gave up, forgotten by his best friend…
