Gherda is perhaps the most mystical of the Mansion residents. She only speaks Creole and I have had little contact with her. She thanked me with a silent smile when I bought her a pair of new sneakers, and she seemed pleased when I brought her  two books written and published in Creole.

She is a profoundly meditative person, a mystery to me. She often sits in a chair by herself, starting regally out into the air, she seems like a monarch to me, sometimes she seems to be floating in air. When I asked her if I could take her photograph, and i pointed to the camera, she looked up at me, smiled, and nodded, and then retreated into her meditation.

Her face has great character to me, I am  certain she was a Queen somewhere, ruling a faraway kingdom.

(I should add that the minute I saw Gherda, I wanted to take her picture, but my camera is busted and the new one hasn’t come yet, so I pulled out my Iphone X and took the shot. I was surprised  by the range of this camera, as I often am. It will hold me until tomorrow, when my new camera is supposed to come.)