Drops of water fell on the pavement. The thin produce bag must have had a hole or tear in it, which was letting water out. Lumikki had shoved her wet clothes from the sink into this bag and all the rest of her stuff into her backpack as quickly as possible. She had taken only five minutes to pack. Now she stood on the street wondering what to do. She could try to find another cheap hostel, but would anyone let her in at this time of night? It was already past eleven o’clock. The thought of tramping from hostel to hostel in hopes of finding an open room didn’t appeal to her. Neither did spending an hour surfing on her phone or in an Internet café and trying to track down a bed that way. Suddenly, Lumikki was exhausted. She felt like calling home and asking her parents to buy her a ticket that same night if there was a flight. She knew she wasn’t going to do that, though, because that would rob her of her independence. That would just make her a helpless child who couldn’t manage on her own.
