June 2006
Albert is lost
At times, some remarkable event takes place on the route from Brno to Prague. The last time I travelled there, I found a blue and yellow plastic bag with the name Albert, that somebody had left in the toilet of the train. I briefly looked inside. A little bird wrapped in a paper napkin was lying at the bottom. I could only see its head. I reached inside. I took it carefully and unwrapped it to look at it. It had a pink colour of flesh, was nice and symmetrical, about 11 cm long and felt nice and warm in my palm. For a while I hesitated whether I should keep it and call it Albert, for example. But then I wrapped it up again and put it back inside the bag. I took the bag with the bird to the compartment and held it on my lap for the rest of the journey. I decided to bring it to the lost and found office in Prague, and so I did.
I was wandering around the Main Station to walk the whole thing off when I ran into Alois Stratil at the sausage stall. He looked sad, so I greeted him cheerfully.
"Hi! How are you doing?"
"Ciao. Hey man, nothing much..."
"I am doing great!"
Then we stood in silence for a long time and Alois was finishing his bun and mustard.
"Guess what happened to me today, Alois. I found this little bird on the train."
"You were also coming from Brno?"
"Sure. Did you see me?"
"No. I didn't. And what does it look like?"
"What?"
"The bird?"
"Nice, symmetrical and pink."
"And how long is it?"
"11 centimetres. I held it in my hand."
"Didn't it feel nice and warm in your palm?"
"Yeah, it was still warm."
"That's wonderful. Can you show it to me?"
"I don't have it anymore."
"You left it there? All alone?!"
"I could never do that. I handed it in the lost and found office."
"In Brno?"
"No. Here in Prague at the Main Station."
"All right, sorry, I've gotta go. I've got to arrange something. Bye then."
"All right then , bye."
Michal Pěchouček, 2006
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