Bridges Playing

(Part of the set of Russian street kids stories from St. Petersburg)

The “white nights” of St. Petersburg. Such a beautiful sight to behold. The constant daylight lasting almost throughout the night. Tourists travel from all over the world to watch the bridges on the canal rise up and seemingly float back down. All this mystery and excitement masks the darker side of the city.

A frail young 7 year old also watches the bridges playing in the night. Barely able to stand she asks a passerby for a cigarette. The cigarette that will be lit as soon as she finishes the one destroying her seven year old body at the moment. The moonlight gets entangled with the dirt and lice living in her hair. The shoes on her feet strain to stay together in order to provide Nina some protection from the broken vodka bottles on the street. As she walks toward the canal the rips in the dress slowly grow to reveal the bruises on her body. Like a little child who has lost her teddy bear or one piece of candy, the tears well up in Nina’s eyes when she realizes she has no more cigarettes to smoke.