The soldiers started laughing at the new girl when she said she could translate an important document in Arabic. They were sure she was only trying to attract attention, but just a few minutes later, the recruit did something that left everyone completely shocked 😳
When Lulu first appeared at the unit, everyone immediately started turning around to look at her.
Among the other soldiers, the girl looked far too unusual. Part of her hair was black, several strands were bright pink, small metal rings were visible in her nose and lip, and her entire body was covered in tattoos.
But it was not even just about her appearance. She hardly spoke to anyone and behaved very strangely.
At lunch, she sat by herself, after training she was always the first to return to the barracks, and if someone tried to talk to her, she would not answer.
After just a few days, people had already started whispering behind her back.
— Let’s see how long she lasts here.
— She belongs in a psychiatric hospital.
— She probably confused the army with some rock festival.
Some deliberately walked past her and asked whether she had been allowed to bring pink hair dye with her. Others called her “the alternative girl” and joked that the command would soon have to check how many kilograms of metal she was carrying on her body.
The girl heard those words perfectly well, but she never replied. And for some reason, that only annoyed the others even more.
One morning, the commander suddenly ordered the entire unit to line up. He stepped out in front of the soldiers holding a folder and looked much more serious than usual.
— We have an urgent problem, — he said. — We have received a document in Arabic. The translation is needed today. The document cannot be sent to civilian specialists, it cannot be photographed, and it cannot be uploaded to the internet. So I am asking only once: is there anyone among you who really knows Arabic?
For several seconds, everyone remained silent.
The commander looked along the line.
— No one?
The soldiers glanced at one another and began shaking their heads.
And suddenly, from the very end of the line, a calm female voice was heard:
— I do.
Everyone turned at the same time.
The girl with the black-and-pink hair stepped forward.
At first someone quietly snorted, and a few seconds later several people were already laughing.
— Are you serious?
— She barely talks to anyone in our own language, but apparently she knows Arabic.
— Now it will turn out she has just heard two songs in Arabic.
One of the soldiers even said loudly enough:
— Commander, don’t give the document to that alternative girl. How do we even know if she can be trusted?
Laughter went through the line again. The girl simply looked at the commander. And then she did something that left all the soldiers completely stunned 😳😱 The continuation of the story can be found in the first comment 👇👇
— May I see the document?
The commander studied her face for a few seconds, then opened the folder and handed her several sheets of paper.
Everyone expected her to get confused. But something completely different happened.
The girl looked at the first page and almost immediately began reading the text aloud in Arabic.
She did it so calmly and confidently that it sounded as if Arabic were her native language. The laughter gradually died away.
Then she picked up a pencil and began translating the document line by line, occasionally stopping to explain to the commander that some of the words were not being used in their usual everyday meaning.
A few minutes later, the commander’s expression suddenly changed. He pulled another sheet out of the folder.
— Read this paragraph again.
The girl read it. The commander turned pale.
It turned out that the preliminary translation they had received together with the document contained a serious mistake. One sentence had been translated almost with the opposite meaning, and if no one had noticed it, the command could have completely misunderstood the meaning of the entire message.
Now no one was laughing anymore. The commander slowly looked at the girl.
— Where did you learn Arabic so well?
She remained silent for a moment and then answered calmly:
— My father worked as a translator for many years. When I was little, he made me study with him every day. Back then, I hated those lessons.
She looked at the soldiers who had been making fun of her only a few minutes earlier.
— Then he passed away. And I continued learning the language on my own.
The commander closed the folder.
— From today on, all documents in Arabic will go through her first.
One of the soldiers tried to smile awkwardly.
— Listen… we were only joking.
The girl looked at him and, for the first time since she had arrived, smiled too.
— It’s all right. I made a wrong assumption too.
— What assumption?
She adjusted her sleeve, covering the tattoo.
— I thought that in the army, people were judged first by what they could do, and only afterward by how they looked.
After those words, no one knew what to say to her.
