Overheard in Brno, by Anna Dvořáková

Overheard in Brno

I have been touched.

Girl in a tram to a boy next to her: „Everything tries to touch us, you know.“

Boy: „Touch us?“

Girl: „Yep. Touch us very very deeply.“

Boy: „I think I don't really get what you're saying. Sure, sometimes I get a feeling, that that tram isn't as crowded as the lady next to me wants me to think...“

Girl: „By touching I mean touching us here -“

The girl points at her forehead.

Next stop; Úzká.

Boy: „What exactly tries to touch us here?“

The boy points at his forehead.

Girl: „Everything.“

Boy: „Everything?“

Girl: „Yep.“

Next stop; Hlavní nádraží.

Boy: „Why would everything try to touch us here?“

The boy points at his forehead.

Girl: „Well, people are like paper boxes with sand inside them. Everything that touches us puts a tiny grain inside us. And once this one grain is added into the sand, you can't find and separate it. Then, when you do or say something, it's like taking a spoonful of your sand mixture out of the box; you don't really know where each grain of sand came from anymore. But still, it's fully composed of those little grains that things around you put into your box by touching you. No idea appeares on its own, you know.“

Boy: „So by touch you actually meant influence?“

Girl: „Yes – and no.“

Boy: „What?“

Girl: „Influence is way too strong for what I mean. Could you say, that those people there at the sidewalk influenced you right now?“

The girl points out from the tram window.

Boy: „They're just random people passing by...“

Girl: „But at this very moment you noticed them and one tiny grain of sand was added to your box. You've just been touched.“

The girl points at boy's forehead.

Next stop; Nové sady.

Boy: „Should we try to not be touched?“

Girl: „No, that'd be useless.“

Boy: „Why?“

Girl: „It doesn't really matter if you want to be touched or not. Everything touches you anyway as soon as you notice it. At that very moment it has won.“

Boy: „Woah. So what should we do?“

Girl: „I'm not sure. Maybe we should take it from a different point of view and try to be touched by loads of good things to make it up for the bad ones...“

Boy: „I see...“

Next stop; Šilingrovo náměstí.

Girl: „Calvin Klein. Santoku knives. Holocaust. Impressionism. Traffic jams. Hide and seek. Socrates. Lidl is cheap. Fake fur. Homeless people. IKEA. Albert Einstein. Polyesther. Nail polish. Filharmonic Orchestra of Brno. Stainless steel. Cejl. Printing machines. Jesus Christ. Kebab. Czech Railways. Wanna some Fofola? Bulletproof vests. Purina Pro-plan.“

Boy: „What about Czech laws?“

Girl: „Czech laws. Obviously. But I think we're much more touched by the fairy tales our grandmothers told us.“

Boy: „Wow.“

Next stop; Česká.

Girl: „I could never ever work as a novelist.“

Boy: „Why not? Your stories are quite awesome.“

Girl: „I think I couldn't withstand that responsibility.“

Boy: „Responsibility?“

Girl: „Responsibility for all the little grains of sand inside readers' minds.“

Attention please; you've just been touched.