Good piece this and I like Andrew's suggestion.
Roger
On Jan 20, 2008 4:03 AM, kasper salonen <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I just had a miniature adventure.
> I'd been drinking with my friend Johannes all evening; whiskey
> (Tullamore Dew, the best in the world) & brandy (which my buddy had
> won at work) & jaloviina (look it up).
> I left Helsinki train station at 01:42. I had about 8 stations to go
> through before arriving at my own, Rekola. a small, serene affair with
> a bridge on one side & our house -- my current home -- on the other.
> instead I slept through an additional 8 stations & ended up at a
> station whose name translates rather directly to 'Blossom-castle'. it
> wasn't anything like a castle. it was tiny & wet & frightening. the
> wind was blowing harder than I'd ever remembered it blowing, & the two
> small shelters (on opposite sides of the track) had walls that were
> grilled & so kept the wind out very inefficiently. I waited at this
> pitiful castle for an hour -- I hid under a bridge, among cobblestones
> & dirty pillars, to escape from the wind. then I crept out & got on
> the train (the time was 03:33) and traveled to the end of the line,
> which was closer than my own destination in the opposite direction.
> there I would wait for half an hour for the train to take me home. not
> drunk enough to not be pissed off, but almost.
>
> at that station, whose name translates rather directly as 'Kiln-hill',
> I met a girl (my age, 21) who's name was Jasmin. she had a family with
> 4 brothers, & her parents wanted to give her a name that stood out. it
> does, & I like it; though I didn't have the heart to tell her it felt
> like a hooker's name. mainly because she didn't remind me of a hooker
> at all; she was pretty, & young, but self-assured. she seemed to
> appreciate the humour & fatedness of the night; she used public
> transportation very seldom, but this was the second time she'd fallen
> asleep on the train & zoomed (way) past her own intended stop. she
> came to me, a little groggy, & asked me where she was -- we were. I
> told her. she was talkative but not in the annoying, precocious way
> some teenagers can be. she was delightful. I felt at ease talking to
> her. her face was small & delicate, her hair was neatly tied back with
> an orange bandana. she looked comfortable, with herself & otherwise.
> we waited at the station for a moment, swearing & cursing our
> dim-witted luck. then we boarded the train which left momentarily.
>
> on the train we chatted. it was chatter, even though she wasn't
> empty-headed (I associate chatter, chatting, with empty-headedness).
> she hadn't gone to high school but to a trade school where she'd
> studied to be a clothier. she didn't want to be a clothier, but a ...
> I forget.
>
> we drank corkfuls of my whiskey (Tullamore Dew, the best in the world)
> & chatted. we woke a sleeping man, concerned that he would miss his
> stop -- it was what she (& I) would have wished other passengers had
> done to her (& me) when we'd nodded off. she'd nodded off for TWO
> HOURS. she wondered at this.
>
> I was to leave off at Rekola (from the swedish 'Räckhals', which
> translates rather directly as 'craning neck'), one stop before
> Koivukylä, 'Birch-village'. but she asked me, off-hand, if I'd like to
> get off with her at the latter. I agreed. we stepped off, lit
> cigarettes. we alked over a bridge where Jasmin told me she was going
> in an opposite direction. she kissed me on the cheek -- I kissed her
> on her cheek also, saying, "ranskalaisittain". (translated rather
> directly as "as the french do it"). she laughed & left. I left. here I
> am.
>
> this is all true. it happened within the last 5 hours.
> it was quite fun.
> if this narrative was at all in the manner of K. Vonnegut, it's
> because I've just re-read 'Slaughter-House 5'.
>
> KS
>
--
My Stuff: http://www.badstep.net/
"She went out with her paint box, paints the chapel blue
She went out with her matches, torched the car-wash too"
The Go-Betweens
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