vignettes from nicole

1. rachel and i were walking on the side street between vodickova and narodni trida one bright afternoon when we saw a man drop a small black leather pouch. it looked deliberate to me, so i just pretended not to notice. but rachel stopped and half-whispered 'nicole!' i looked back and she was staring at the pouch and gesturing at the man, who was quickly walking away.

r:'nicole! open it!'
n:'i think he dropped it deliberately.'
r:'i know! open it!'
n:'i don't want to open it. you open it.'
r:'what if it is a bomb?'
n:'why would i want to open a bomb?'
r:'open it!'
n:'you open it.'
r:'what if it has money in it?'
n:'then you should open it. but i don't want to open it.'

then rachel went up to kick it and make sure it wasn't a bomb. we were both still alive after she kicked it, so she bent down and slowly unzipped the pouch. inside were several small tubes and what looked like a needle. she zipped it back up and we walked away.

we thought it'd be funny if we'd taken the pouch home and gotten really fucked up on mystery-drugs before rhys came home, but then neither of us are in to hard drugs, so we just pretended and told rhys that we shot up some mystery drugs.

2. the days are getting longer here, which means that my 6-7:30 jewish studies class coincides with sunset. the classroom has a huge double-window that looks out on a view of the prague castle ('prazky hrad' in czech). last night at the sunset, the castle was an obscure mass with towers rising steeply from it. the sky glowed intensely with pink and purple swirls. it was like someone had poured pink and purple acrylic paint in pools on a bright light. some black birds flew by in a flock. my professor looked over his shoulder and stopped what he was saying mid-sentence. 'ees bootiful, ma frenz. les go to wihndoe.' and then he turned off all the lights and we watched the sunset pink and purple, and then purple and navy, over the prague castle. this is where i live.

3. on my way back from jewish studies class, i saw a 100 kc note on the ground. i debated over whether to pick it up or not. there was nobody anywhere near, so i wouldn't be able to locate the person who dropped it. i picked it up. then i couldn't decide what to do wtih it. i thought it'd be good to buy some friends dinner with it or something. like give it back to the community or something. but then a 100kc is only work about 4 or 5 bucks, so it wouldn't be enough. i bought myself a bagel sandwich and a bottomless soda, and i felt sort of guilty about it, but also happy.

4. on my way to bohemia bagel, where i bought myself a sandwich and a soda, i saw a guy walking across the sidewalk with a bottle in his hands. without slowing down or changing the expression on his face, he threw up on the crosswalk. it was gross.

***

today is st. patrick's day. folks are going to the blind eye, but i have a bad scratchy throat and we're going to vienna at 9 in the morning, so if i go out, i'll be in by 11:30. that's my limit. i think i'm going to go eat vegetables and fruits now, to try to scare away this scratchy throat problem.

last week we saw dvorak's and karel capek's grave.