Give Garotinha a Dragonfly

Figuring that our time is short, I retrieved one of the two dragonflies that I had smuggled in with me.

Garotinha just sat on the floor with her knees pulled to her chest, holding them close and resting her head against them.

“Garotinha,” I said as I knelt beside her.

She looked up at me and tried to give me a smile, but it came out weak and pitiful.

I combed my fingers through her hair, trying to decide how best to hide the bug in her recently shortened hair. To my surprise, she leaned into my hand, apparently enjoying the simple gesture.

A bit sad that we couldn’t communicate in words, I gingerly withdrew one of Katja’s ‘friends’ from my hair. It gave a quick flap of its wings as it rested on my finger, but went back to its stillness as I tucked it into the girl’s hair. I momentarily wondered how Katja managed to convince them to stay still for days at a time.

I finished petting the girl and gave her a wink, which made her smile before she went back to her former position.