on my left was a milk-coffee-coloured honda shadow, ridden by a man in blue jeans, blue t-shirt and a black backpack. right in front of him, in his lap, carefully protected by his arms, was his daughter: a five-year-old blonde girl with long curly hair, with her small black shiny chopper helmet, her doll, her flower dress and her flower girly backpack. all she was doing was curiously looking all around, then looking back to her father, not uttering a word. i felt young and stupid.
- in the parking lot -
i was getting something from the trunk and had just closed it, when i felt a tap on the shoulder. i turned around: a punk girl, probably not over 21, very pretty, small, thin, long-haired, black clothes, leather cut gloves, tattooes, piercings, with an overall scruffy appearance, started talking really fast, in a high-pitched voice: 'hi, please, i'm sorry, please, don't get mad, can i ask you something?' 'sure', i said, fully aware of what's coming. 'yes, well, i.. us, me and my friends, we're trying to get to the seaside, you know, and we need money, do you think you could spare some? i mean, we really want to get to the seaside, it's the first time for us this year, you know, vama veche..' icy glance from my side: 'i don't like vama veche.' the pretty punk girl stopped talking, goggled her eyes right into mine, and, in a second, turned around and scrammed. i felt old and wise, yet stupid.
- in a populated square -
i went to get an icecream from one of the (oh, so many) booths available. just as the icecream girl was handing it to me, three gypsy kids surrounded me, not saying anything. they were just moving their little bodies from one leg to another, anxiously googling their big, black eyes to me, then to my icecream. they were thin, dirty and not over nine. all three of them had used plastic bottles with water and detergent and a windshield wiper, so they were probably on a break. i stared at them, just to see what their reaction was. when they figured out that i wasn't going to get them any icecream, their skinny shoulders dropped in a relaxing stance, their eyelids came down and covered half their eyes, with their long, black, thick eyelashes covering the other half. i felt a little torn, so i didn't lay my mouth on the icecream for about 15 metres. it was so good.
and this is the song i've got now.
