Valentina's Vlog · Mon, week one

The queue at the counter

Three hundred and forty today. A passport, a ticket, a visa, and a stamp that takes a second and decides a life.

Elias stands next to me checking the list and does not look up much. He is better at this than I am. I keep catching faces and then I am slower, and slower is cruel when the line goes round the block.

There is another desk through the side door where the same papers cost more and arrive faster. Everybody knows. Nobody says. I stamp, and the line moves.