Day 5: September 1

In the house, as a treat, there is a small bottle of ouzo on the table — the Greek version of an anise vodka. We try it; it burns the throat.

We sit on the sofa and put together a wooden puzzle. Volchy quickly figures out how to assemble it. And I keep turning the pieces for a long time, and in the end I also manage to fit the scattered parts into a sphere.

I like how Volchy sits patiently beside me. He doesn’t give hints, doesn’t help. He just sits and watches me try to put it together. And it seems as if he knows that I will put it together.  Sooner or later. One way or another.

I’m finishing Peter Stamm’s latest book. I’ve read all of his books. I don’t know why I like them so much, why they resonate so strongly in me. But each one has left a mark on me.

Here’s what he writes:

Books move us in a way that films and paintings do not. They penetrate our minds, intrude on our thoughts, awaken images, give rise to fantasies. That is their advantage, but if you think about it, it is also a kind of provocation. And if we come across an author who misleads us, resorts to various tricks, or makes us see in our heads what we do not want to see, it is already as if he were operating on our brains against our will. Any other work of art you don’t like can simply be ignored. But once you’ve read a book, you will never get rid of it. 

I even think I decided to keep this diary thanks to his books.

We went to the beach. It was beautiful there. The sand had a greenish tint.

On one side of the beach there was a mound of sand. We climbed up there and lay for a long time. It was very pleasant to lie there on the warm sand. Gusts of wind blew sand into our eyes and mouths.

From where we were, it was easy to watch the people on the beach. I was even surprised by my own thought that it was so good that they were here, these people.

I liked the man the most. He was with three children, two boys about seven years old and a little girl, two or three years old. I wonder where the mother of these children is?

At first glance, the man was completely unremarkable, about forty, with a receding hairline and a belly. But he behaved with the children in a completely special way.

The way he taught the girl to swim. The way he let the boys fool around and fooled around with them. They all looked so harmonious. With one another and each on their own.

I felt a little sad. I didn’t have that in my childhood. Dad never went on vacation with us. He earned the money for our vacation.