Peppa

Before Christmas I stopped at my sister. They lived in small, completely renovated 1 bedroom apartment in the historical part of town. They had four year old boy at that time. Everything was in preparation for Holidays. There was a big laundry going on, in the kitchen the cupboards were scrubbed and all dishes washed, and she was also in the middle of baking Christmas cookies. Of course she had a couple of new recipes she had to try. In the bedroom on the bed stand there was a half finished crocheted doily - a Christmas present for her mother in law. I excused myself if I can go and wash my hands. I went to the bathroom. In the bathtub filled with water was swimming a good ten pounds size carp. The carp's color was already changing to the whitish grey color from chlorine in water. The carp was a part of traditional Christmas dinner.
"You have a fish in the bathtub."
"Yes, I know. His name is Peppa."
"Are you taking a bath together?"
"No, we take showers at Jarda's parents. We talk to him and Milan likes to play with him. He was full of leaches, especially around gills, so I pulled them out with tweezers. Now, he is clean.
I was in the hurry to catch a train, so I wished them Merry Christmas, and left. I stopped again after Holidays. The bathtub was empty.
"Did you make fish soup and fish fillets?"
"No. Milan cried. He loved him so much we couldn't kill him. So we put him into a shopping bag, walked to the river and released him. He swam away."
What did you make for dinner?"
"I fried wiener schnitzels."
I wished them Happy New Year. There was another train to catch. Copyright (c) Marie Neumann 2007