There is a woman sitting by the Charles Bridge in Prague. She
closes her eyes because it is sunny and tilts her head back. In
her there is no communism, no tourism, no noise, there is peace,
we say to each other, and she opens her eyes as we pass.
We started this game because the world was hard to understand,
that is what we told each other over beer and cigarettes and scrabble.
We are both game players, the sort of people who turn up at parties
and want to be entertained.
The world was hard to understand. It seemed to be at the edge.
We felt like we were at the edge, each one of us balanced on one
toe, about to leap or fall. Then, over beer and cigarettes we
came up with this game. And with it we leapt.
We are in this together, you and I. We make our choices based
on where the dart lands. First we used a map, strung it up against
a wall and threw the dart so it landed in a country. If it hit
the sea the rules were throw again. We travelled you and I, and
the world made less sense, but became more beautiful. Then the
map was so full of holes that we used pages from the dictionary.
It was P that brought us to Prague, not the map. We had come from
Perdition.
The woman that we are talking about joins us for supper. Together
we eat goulash and drink cheap beer. Prague is busy, we say, noisy,
frozen in time by tourists. She tells us she has lived here since
she was born, through communists, tourists and sunshine. We say
good bye to the woman, the sun has gone down, and go to the museum
of Communism. After this we will take out the dictionary. It is
your turn to chose a page, you say as we tumble to the hotel.