"AN ODE TO 'EVA LUNA' " in "SHORTS"

(Based on “Eva Luna” by.Isabel Allende)
(Ruby Astari)

I believe that my life is surely much, much better than Eva Luna’s. However, I feel that she is much braver than I am. She is stronger and much more confident too.
I understand why you love her life story. She is such an unusual character. If she or a girl like her did exist in real life, I’d be honoured to meet and get to know her. She’d be one of the many living proofs that not all girls are such helpless, weakling damsels-in-distress.
However, I do relate to her in a way. She may rarely cry – especially in public – but that doesn’t mean she’s never sad. Her aching loneliness shows from how she surrenders – and succumbs – to her quiet solitude. She builds invisible-but-thick, solid walls around her, just to keep herself safe – whole and intact.
It’s not that she doesn’t need anybody. Eva Luna is so used to short-term relationships and separations that she has grown to learn how to be self-sufficient, like the true Ms.Independent that she is.
Sounds depressing? Maybe, but you and I know that life isn’t always that peachy. In fact, life is not meant to be easy. Controversy makes it more interesting.
It has nearly brought tears to my eyes when Eva first kissed The Turkish old man’s harelip. I bet she was full of mixed emotions. Her longing for a father she never knows, her adoration for the superheroic figure in him – since he had saved her from poverty when she was a little girl. Her first love she’d like to protect in return from everything, especially heartbreak.
Her anger towards The Turkish man’s selfish, spoiled brat of a wife – for having neglected his love for her, because the woman was repulsed by his harelip. I know how it feels. I bet she wanted to tell him: “I love you. If you were mine, I’d never treat you like she always does. It’s just a harelip; it has never distorted your true beauty in my eyes.”
Beautiful, eh? Even when he finally asked Eva Luna to leave him for her own good, that had been true love.
If someday I can have those feelings again, I will feel blessed. Don’t you agree? I’m sure that’s what you’re still looking for too.
You didn’t just lend me the book. You’ve shown me a part of your soul, and I’ll always be thankful. We may never be meant for each other, but I hope someday we’ll find our own true loves – the way Eva Luna has finally found her Rolf.
R.
(Jakarta, 29/1/2015 – from The Couchsurfing Writers’ Club Meeting at Excelso, Sarinah – Thamrin from 8:00 – 11:00 pm. Topic: “Based on Books”.)