"hello, is that you Payman? Do you remember me?" was the sweet sound of a girl that I met maybe two years prior in a tea house in Prague. "Hi," I stuttered. "I mean yes, how are you? how did you recognized me in this crowd?" my lips were muttering words uncontrollably. "Well, you were the only person without a camera and not looking at the status or the artists but staring down into the river. What were you doing?" She asked as if she was told to find me in the hundreds of passing tourists in one of the most congested tourist areas in Europe.
"I" I stopped a bit then continued "I was going to jump." She laughed "into the river? seriously? what did you do wrong to punish yourself like this? I mean I don't want to intrude in your life but did you do something so bad that you can only forgive yourself by jumping into the river?" She stressed on the word "wrong" bent her head and smiled sarcastically.
"No. I did not do anything wrong. I did not" I kept repeating the last word "I did not."
"well, I am going to have lunch with a couple of my girlfriends we then go out to have drinks and then possibly go dancing in the evening. If you come to your senses and realize that you are not the one to be punished for something you did not do, then come join us and have a fun evening with three loud and funny girls." She then gave me the direction to an authentic Czech restaurant close to the bridge and with a wink said "so in half an hour either a cold beer or a cold river. You choose" and walked away.
I watched her beautiful slender but physically fit body moving gracefully away from me and within seconds she was lost in the crowd. That was like a thunderstruck. Vltava was smoothly passing under the bridge and still calling for my surrender. One does not send an invitation without persuasion. But the shock of Sylvia's words were paramount.
I looked deeply into Vltava, made a gesture with my index finger and talked loud like a strong leader talking down to his troops "No, not me. I should not be the one jumping. You fantastic river, the river of Kafka and Mozart, next time send your invitation to the person who did the wrong thing. I am going to enjoy my life from now on until the time when my breath cannot catch up with my yearnings for life and love and up to the point that I have no more use for this world."
Boy I had fun later on that day.
