Life for Dreams

In the spring of 1962, I found another way to go to work.
Short, with less people and less traffic.
I took ferry across the Vltava river .

It was so easy for me that I wondered why I did not use it long time ago.
I walked to the ferry just about 10 minutes down the road, then I sailed on a ferry to another bank and without hurry walked to Barrandov.

It was comfortable.
Moreover, the way was wonderful.

Especially in the mornings.
The ferry slowly emerged from a haze.
First you could see only the silhouette of people, later you recognized the faces.
It was like in a fairy tale.
Dream or reality?

It was real!
And the face I looked for was real too.
Because...

From the opposite side came the ferry with a man on board.
He had curly blond hair, was tall, and handsome.
And he was there almost every day at the same time I was.

He just looked at me with his deep blue eyes.
Nothing more.
Not a greeting, not a sign of interest in me.
Nothing.
However he was there.

‘A shy knight,’ was my first thought.
‘This is not the kind of man for me,’  the second one.

Anyway I used to see him almost every day in the morning but his interest in me didn’t change. He stared at me and that was all.

After some weeks there was a little progress, to be honest.
He slightly smiled at me and I smiled back.
My shy knight.

Then I sprained my ankle.
I jumped from a tram before it stopped on the station. At the hospital the leg was put in a cast and I had to stay at home.
I held on for a few days but it was boring.
So I decided to go to work.
Slowly and with a cane I dragged myself along the way.

My knight was not on the ferry.
Actually, why should he be?
‘Maybe he took another way,’ I thought. Really I was not that interested in him.

Then it happened.

At the moment I had walked through the underpass I saw him.
He was on his way to the ferry and little by little he approached me.

Not knowing how to behave, I slowed down and finally, after his “Hi,” I stopped.
But that was not all; he continued and even asked what happened to me.
After a short exchange of a few words, he wished me well.
What a big surprise!
My knight could speak!
Wow!

From this moment something changed.
He greeted me every time he was on the ferry.
Only it did not last long.
Suddenly he was not there and I wondered why, what happened to him.
But I could only guess.

‘That was all,’ I thought, ‘Why should I be worry when I did not know him?’

Maybe he was  just a dream.
A vision that vanished into thin air.


On August 5th, I took an invitation from an old friend of mine, Milena, to her home in Podebrady.
I knew her from my study there.
She was a secretary at the University, and we stayed in touch all the years.
Now I went to visit her and her husband Mirek.

I looked forward to seeing her.
We had so much to talk about; books, movies, theaters, news from our workplaces and all our joys and worries.

This time was not an exception.

We sat in the kitchen and talked, laughed and cooked.
The smell of fresh kolaches filled the air, the pork was roasted in the oven, the potatoes were cooked on the range.
Our dinner was almost ready.

Only Milena’s husband Mirek was not there.
He escaped to the workshop to work on his projects.”
He was not interested in our  women problems, and to tell the truth we did not miss him.
Only now he was due for dinner.
Where could he be?

Milena and I went to the workshop to look for him.

Milena opened the door and talked to someone in the workshop.
I curiously glanced into the room.
There, just in red shorts, stood a man, with oil on his face and dirty hands.
I could not believe my eyes.

My shy knight!!

“Vera, please, meet my cousin Frank, “ Milena introduced him to me.
Smiling at him, I said: “Hello Frank, nice to meet you. I am Vera.”

Fate intervened.

We were both at the right time on the right place.