Prague

(Having missed out on the Arvon shortlist I am consoled with a short airing here on W&A).....

The water covered Jenny’s body as her head rested on the edge of the bath. The ceiling needed another coat of emulsion and where the wall tiles finished there was still a broken piece of plastic edging. She would be waiting for ever for anything to get done though unless she did it herself. It was always far more important for her husband to go gallivanting for a few days to sort his head out than to do anything around the house. The boys weren’t interested in helping; they had girlfriends and besides they’d virtually moved out now. Jenny sighed heavily then ducked her head under the water to wash her hair. At least Benji downstairs wouldn’t let her down; dogs were so much more reliable than men.

As the lift door closed he heard the voice of an American tourist calling for her child “Amy?” A young woman had followed him from the hotel lobby into the elevator. Probably aged twenty but with the clothes of someone much younger, she stood improperly close to Chris, her shoulder resting against his. She was smiling into his eyes. His face reddened as he felt himself getting aroused. Before he could gather his composure the doors opened on the second floor. Chris awkwardly acknowledged a waiting couple as he entered the corridor and headed for his room. If this hotel was full of beautiful Czech girls like her he was going to have an eventful stay.

His room seemed even larger than it actually was due to the sparseness; a small double bed, a set of drawers and a rail with six coat hangers. A payphone sat on the drawers. There was no TV and a Klimt print on the wall was the only decoration. The ceiling was high and the huge window stretched from his knee-height to well above his head. The curtain was minimal almost without function as if the huge window was to allow the outside to see in rather than the opposite. The view stretched only several yards to a bank of similar concrete four-storey buildings complete with unsettling windows. The ground floor units were used as shops, the other floors seemed residential. The street was busy with frequent traffic and noisy tramlines. Further down the road Chris could see the lights of a couple of bars and what looked like some club or brothel. A small group of adolescents seemed to be drinking and drug taking next to an oblivious queue at the tram stop almost directly below his window.

Too tired to venture out he used his bathroom then slept fully clothed on his bed.

The next morning Jenny had woken an hour later than normal. Knowing she had a couple of days off work she had slept surprisingly well. She sat in the garden with a coffee and cigarette while Benji sniffed around the garden looking for somewhere to pee. Her mother would be here about 10:30am; they had arranged to go to the supermarket together. Jenny had tidied up last night and without the boys and Chris there to create the usual mess there was just Benji’s hairs to vacuum up. It was uncharacteristically quiet apart from Benji’s playful barking as he bounded back to her.

Jenny could not remember the last time she had the house to herself for a few days. Then, calling Benji, she remembered that Chris had taken the boys camping to Scotland for a long weekend about five years ago. He always had to be doing something! He worked nights so Jenny inevitably spent much of her time alone on an evening and when he wasn’t working it always seemed to be about him. Fell-walking, cycling, golf, studying, playing guitar, music CDs, concerts, drinking; everything was always what Chris had to do.

She lit another cigarette and stroked Benji’s head as he sat protectively at her side.

The trams had seemed to run all night and by 5am Chris convinced himself he would get no more sleep through the noise. Showered and changed he left the hotel having grabbed a complimentary guide to the city from reception. The trams went straight into the centre of Prague so following the tramlines on foot would be the preferable route. Initially the road descended quite steeply, flanked either side by shops, bars, small hotels and accommodation agencies. Further along there were a couple of adult clubs, Italian and Chinese restaurants, and a Thai massage centre. Locals stood eating breakfast in a delicatessen. Trams passed frequently suggesting a much later time of day than it actually was and as the road levelled out Chris passed a huge football stadium.

Jenny had spent the evening with Helen playing Bingo. Helen had won two hundred pounds and so Jenny had returned home happy with her half share. Benji was laid on the sofa next to her, his head resting on her lap. The late screenings of the soaps would be on shortly. Her mobile phone had a text message and a missed call from Luke; nothing from Grant or Chris. Luke had always been a close son probably as Chris had worked away from home during Luke’s infant years. Grant was more carefree; forgetful rather than thoughtless. As for Chris it was almost as if Jenny didn’t know him anymore. It was like he had annulled marital responsibilities due to pursuing his own interests.

There had been tears of frustration over the years! What had started out as aspirations and hopes for the future, plans of a nice house and comfortable income had transpired into something far less exciting. Life for Jenny had become a familiar pattern of work, housework, and too much time spent in her own company. It was as if the vibrant happy Jenny who had met Chris all those years ago no longer existed. She was being consumed with bitterness, bit by bit, day by day. She still loved Chris though she often wondered how that was possible. Just like her, Chris was changing too. He had changed!

He seemed so judgemental of others, seeing the bad in everyone, cynical and sarcastic and even selfish. The wedding photograph on the sideboard no longer seemed to be a photograph of the two of them.

It was almost 10:30pm when Chris got back to the hotel with his take-away pizza. He had walked for something like fifteen hours and his feet were badly blistered. His trousers had rubbed between his legs and he now had a painful sweat rash. He showered then sat on the bed with the white hotel towel around his waist, every mouthful of pizza compensating for the dismay he felt towards the day. Wenceslas Square had been full of fast-food vans and homeless bums who would kneel and stretch out before you as if praying to Mecca in the hope you would throw them money for alcohol. One of them was completely caked in his own excrement! The Astronomical Clock had been a disappointment and Prague Castle just didn’t wow him, perhaps because he knew so much of it wasn’t as old as it pertained to be. Charles Bridge had been impressive but that was little consolation in what was basically a toilet of a city. Maybe it was because he was tired or because his feet hurt and his inner thighs stung, but Prague was a shit-hole.

The next day Chris caught the 11:10am train to Kutna Hora to visit the Sedlec Ossuary. Having slept well he was more optimistic of a promising impression of Prague but the train journey soon killed that notion. For the whole hour there was no scenery other than vast flat fields; no hills, no mountains, no quaint houses, nothing! The Ossuary itself was spectacular. Chris took some photos and tried in vain to engage in intellectual musings but he and Prague just weren’t connecting.

Back at the hotel he resolved to spend the rest of the day drinking. Directly across the road was the smallest, grubbiest drinking establishment he had ever encountered. Obviously only ever frequented by locals his presence was something of a novelty. Chris sat at a table with a seemingly innocent old couple. The beer was ridiculously cheap and in large measure, so Chris happily settled in for a few hours.

The old woman at the table moved next to him rubbing his crotch and gesticulating that if he bought her a drink she would suck his cock; much to the entertainment of the other patrons. Some workmen left and other locals came in. A group younger than Chris tried to chat in broken English and at one stage Chris’s comments that life in England was no better than in the Czech Republic seemed to antagonise one of the youngsters. Although his intent was innocent enough Chris soon realised that talking politics in a country he knew little of with the added disadvantage of a significant language barrier was not a great idea. All was resolved amicably though before Chris eventually left, happily drunk.

On Saturday morning Jenny felt happier with life as she sat in the garden with her coffee and cigarette as Benji barked at birds perched on the fence. She had been to the hairdressers yesterday with her Bingo winnings from the night before and Chris would be home this evening. Benji licked her bare feet and she looked down at them laughing, telling Benji to “Stop it!”

Maybe she would paint her toe-nails later, and her finger nails. For some reason she felt a warm comforting emotion that she recognised from a long time ago. A little part of the old Jenny was coming back.

Chris had checked out of his room and left his bag in the hotel luggage room. With a few hours to kill before heading for the airport he left the hotel and headed uphill in the opposite direction from the city centre. He meandered through side streets of huge residential apartment blocks passing only a few people and stray dogs. The heartbeat of Prague seemed more authentic here; restrained but almost edgy as if snipers were secreted behind darkened windows unlike the maddening tourism metropolis he had endured.

Lighting a cigarette he turned a street corner to see three huge concrete pillars in front of him. A telecom mast protruded high into the sky and several rectangular docks sat between the pillars. His pulse seemed to race as he approached and realised that his eyes were not deceiving him. Babies were crawling up the pillars. Huge alien looking babies were crawling up the fucking tower block.

Chris could feel a smile breaking across his face as his pace quickened. That part of him that he had thought had gone for ever had returned – excitement! It was the same rush of adrenaline he had felt as a teenager buying a new album or feeling the breasts of a new girlfriend. Seeing, experiencing, being part of this most amazing work of art was awakening the Chris of old. Now it suddenly made sense to him why he had not recognised Prague as the beautiful city that people raved about, with its stunning architecture and beautiful women. He had been walking around seeing things with his heart instead of his eyes.

As Chris checked out of the hotel an American woman talking to another couple was holding hands with the girl from the lift. As he left the lobby he heard “my daughter Amy…Asperger Syndrome…”

Jenny had just finished her toe-nails when she heard Chris’s car. Her body tingled with the excitement she remembered from years ago when she had been always happy and smiling, in love with an attentive and considerate man. Maybe it had just been her that had changed over the years! Perhaps Chris had never changed at all and it was the years of looking in the mirror and seeing the gradual decline of her looks that had convinced her he had; that he had changed and changed her.