Hello Ester (Evening, Day 7)

When I went down to dinner, it was still early and the sun had yet to set. I hadn't had anything to eat since noon and my stomach was rumbling. I had planned to walk along the Cadde-i Kebir and get some fresh air but as I approached the Tepebaşı Gardens, I saw a young girl. She was thin, with your build and with red hair like yours. For a second I thought it was you and prayed to the Almighty that it was. I started to walk towards her although I was so excited I could not keep up with her and she quickly slipped into the gardens, seemingly in a rush. I went in after her and although I lost her at first amidst that sea of tables, it did not take me long to find her. She was sitting by herself, her back to me, at one of the tables in front of the pavilion in which the orchestra usually played. I walked up to her, nervously and hesitantly, and the closer I got to her, the more hopeful I became. The way she leaned her head ever so slightly to one side and curled her hairs over her fingers made me think of you. But when I was just a few metres away, before I even saw her face, the painful truth hit me: the last time I had seen you was a good four years ago, and even then you had already become a young woman so how could you have remained the same over such a long stretch of time? Still, I was not discouraged by that fact. And why should I have been? You have always been one for miracles. I did not give up until I saw her face and when I did, she was exactly what I had anticipated; a complete stranger. She was young, very young, no more than eighteen, if at all. When she saw me staring intently at her, she smiled back at me, and quite alluringly too, and I realised she was one of the many ladies of leisure that are to be found plying their trade around the Tepebaşı Gardens. I smiled back but did not go any closer, finding instead another table far from the stage with a wonderful view of the Golden Horn.