Accabadora

Why Maria ended up living in Bonaria Urrai’s house is a mystery that is difficult to understand in Soreni. The old woman and the little girl walk through the streets of the village followed by a trail of malicious comments, yet it is so simple: Tzia Bonaria took Maria in, will raise her and make her her heir, asking in return for her presence and care when she needs it. The fourth daughter of a widowed mother, Maria is used to thinking of herself as “the last”. That is why she is constantly surprised by the respect and attention shown to her by the old village seamstress, who has offered her a home and a future, but above all lets her live and does not seem to want anything in return. “All of a sudden, it was as if it had always been this way, soul and thread, a less guilty way of being mother and daughter”. Yet there is something about this old woman dressed in black and her long silences, a mysterious aura that accompanies her, along with that shadow of fear that lights up the eyes of those who meet her. There are night-time outings that Maria notices but does not understand, and an almost millennial wisdom about the things of life and death. What everyone knows and Maria does not imagine is that Tzia Bonaria Urrai sews clothes and comforts souls, knows spells and charms, but when necessary, she is ready to enter homes to bring a merciful death. Hers is the loving and final gesture of the accabadora, the last mother.