The escape

Central Station. M. is watching the information board with train departures.
So what is it gonna be today? The options are Pilsen, České Budějovice, Cologne or Brno, pick whichever you want. M. is clutching a rail pass in his sweaty hands. Suddenly he hears a call:
"At platform number seven, stop boarding the fast train 945 in the direction of Mladá Boleslav, Turnov and Liberec."
That's my favorite trail, M. tells to himself, and he quickly runs to the seventh platform. Will he make it? Will he not? He will. M. boards the train, his favorite motor train, the one he loves so much. He sits as close to the engine as he can. The train is moving. To the right, he can see the Trade Union House, where his father works. M. was there yesterday.
-"So how's school?"
- "I don't go there."
- "Why?*"
M. wonders whether he should tell the truth or lie again.
-"I have a cold."
He lied and suddenly he felt really bad about it.
-"I don't have a cold," he corrected himself.
Lies, lies, lies, lies. That's your problem, M., you know that? You lie all the time. Can you even tell the difference between the truth and the lie? No, you can't. You can't!
-Why aren't you going to school?
-"I can't.
- "Why?"
-"Do I have to explain it to you in a complicated way so you don't understand again, or do I just give you some excuses, as usually?"
M's father bought a beautiful piano. Too bad there's no one in his new family who has musical talent. M. plays it, when he visits sometimes.
The train has already passed through the tunnel under Vítkov hill and is heading towards the bridge over the Balabenka district. The Palmovka bus station is in sight on the left. The bus is just leaving. M. looks at his watch and immediately knows that it's 187 departuring at 17:55. There is nothing clearer in this world.
Meanwhile the train has stopped at the station in Vysočany, but after a while it starts moving again. In a few minutes, the Černý Most housing estate with its hypermarket and the final subway stop will appear on the right. It was here that M. changed buses for home and suddenly he met his brother:
-"The two basic components of this place are concrete and mud."
He was right.
The train turns left, starts to climb out of the Prague basin and disappears in the curves between the fields.

(Creative Writing- 3.III.1999)

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mila_von_prague

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2023-07-25

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My illustrations for the stories Full Bladder and Escape by Martin Rokos

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