Another Sad Comedy - Prologue

Wrocław, Poland
December 2007

The great lawyer Irma Malinowska stormed into a flat. Her entrance broke the overwhelming atmosphere of decadence, and interrupted Nathii, her daughter, who was busy staring at the clock. The girl waited for the inevitable never-ending clamor to begin.

Irma's little arms strained to raise the many bags she carried. She threw the groceries on the bar without waiting for any help from her child. While searching for the Chinese take-away food, she babbled with a high-pitched voice.

"Did you study today?"

"Nope," Nathii answered with an ironic smile; one would think she was proud of her great achievement of procrastinating.

"Did you see Peter today?" Irma said as she browsed through a woman's magazine and rummaged to find the Chinese food.

"Nope."

"This is no good, relationships need contact, oh look what is written here...people in relationships are more immune, especially the married men...oh no, no, you aren't a married man of course...anyway - did you feed the cat today?"

"Nope."

"Yesterday?" Shocked Irma accidentally pulled one of the bags on the floor, making the take-away meal hit the ground.

"No, Mom. I didn't."

"Why?" the mother ruckled.

"Because we don't have any cat." The daughter was ready to collect the rubbish from the floor. "Though I have read people with pets lived longer. You should get yourself one to increase your chance for a long life since you don't have other relationships."

"No cat so far, you say, oh gee, that's harsh; I could swear I scribbled the necessity of getting one into my agenda somewhere around these days..." Irma turned back to observe a cleaning girl.

"Yeah, Mom. Two months ago, or so. We've been just too busy to get around it."

The older of the two women froze for the second time today after stiffening in reaction to an alarm clock. "We have been busy?"

"What do you think, Mom?" Nathii stood up, and looked up at the face belonging to the taller person. "Hanging around in the city the whole day actually does take time. Which means yeah, I have been busy."

She threw a majority of the never-to-be-consumed dinner to the dust bin. The small bits remained on the carpet.

"Listen, young lady: your mother is not going to live forever. We've overcome the painful times, and now what you're doing to avoid studying, which leads you to a good job, is beyond good taste."

"At worst, I can write a book responding to Mark's; I helped him to become famous after death, so he owes me some money while I'm alive."

"Money, money, who makes money from writing in this country?" Irma couldn't catch a breath.

"Mark's parents at this moment." The girl stayed calm during the whole conversation.

"Child, there is no future in writing. If you graduate in law, just finish it somehow, for God's sake, you'll get a job in my firm; it's always some decent income, and you gain a lot of respect!" she shouted as if her words could decide her daughter's future at this very moment.

"Thanks, I'm not interested in drinking five coffees a day, and passing away of a heart attack before I'm sixty."

"Oh yes of course! It is so much better to hang on Skype for a few hours a day with that Macedonian..." Irma took her time to find a word pejorative enough, and finally screamed, "Bastard!"

"Ouch, as far as I'm concerned, it's you who doesn't have a clue who my father is... Predag actually has both parents of his and his bro's."

If Irma could kick the wooden bar without damaging her Manolo Blahnik shoes, she would.

"Okay, keep fighting against yourself for a while, and I'll bring some popcorn," Nathii couldn't hide her deep amusement. Irma saw it and chilled out.

"You will never stop bringing people to the edge, won't you?"

"No, Mom; it's always funny to see how they react," Nat winked. "And don't worry, I am done with Predag. He has his own life, I have mine - they don't match. I am dating Peter now."

"And how is it going between you and Pete? Good person for you - much older than thirty, this means he is serious, and earns much, yeah, that is very good, almost perfect, isn't it?"

"Meh, not quite... he's boring. He doesn't even know how to argue properly. I guess I should make him jealous a bit, to see some of his real nature. When things are perfect, he looks perfect, and it bores me to death."

"No, no, no, no, no! Don't try your tricks, please! Anytime I hear of you and the tricks, I get shivers. We'll invent something to spice your relationship up, but right now I guess I could get a headache of your ideas. It's been such a long day..."

"Twenty-four hours. Dammit; longer than usual."

Nathii knew she was cutting the monologue about what had happened at work. She promised to get occupied with studying, and moved to her room. She opened a book just to read the first two pages for the thirtieth time. Maybe she would have read the third page for the twentieth time if she hadn't heard a ring. It was Predag. When Nathii told her mother the things between that couple were finished, she wasn't exactly right.

Oh, these were the times, past times, crazy times: last year.

***
Weird punctuation in Irma's quotes was on purpose. It's a comedy, and the characters often have their own features. Try to open up your mind a little; and please, don't point it as my error in the review, unless it bugs you *so* much that you don't know what she's about. I would be very happy if you could spot *other* errors, which surely weren't deliberate.

If you had fun, you can read the Chapter One.

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