nushi lived with her mother on their 6 hectare plot of land ~ lots 9 and 10 of adam's acres

she looked like a gypsy the first time i saw her in 1966 nursing a black label alone at a corner table in the faust bar

she looked like a gypsy the last time i saw her

she smoked and drank beer

she was my daughter's best friend

in her final spring she was able to visit her old country to meet with a friend

it was told to me once in the bar as she sat drinking alone of an afternoon that she was a whore
many years ago, nushi and i got a ride together from the bar ~ we stopped at our place first and nushi said she'd get off as well, and told me that she didn't want to ride alone with the fellow in the car
it was dusk as we went into our log house until she needed to go home
i suggested as no-one was home she could sleep here in a bed or with me
'oh, no,' she answered, 'what would my mother say', though her mother had died some years previous

when the war ended nushi was a teenager in the middle of europe amid russians and germans, czechs and poles ~ and there were few good guys

nushi's 1956 drivers license has a calgary adress
when she came here with her mother we do not know;
emptying her freezer of food showed she intended never to be hungry again, and the wild mushrooms and berries, moosenose broth, and beavertail testify to her integration in two cultures

she was a spunky, straight-ahead woman
i have never heard anything bad about nushi

may she rest in peace
______________________________________________________