Daughter: What are you writing about, mummy?
Mother: I am writing a story about a thirteen-year-old girl, who is thinking about what she wants to be. She does not want to be a priest, like her father. The story is from the socialist times, when there were communists around, and the girl does not want to be a priest, since they do not get any free time on Sunday, because they have to preach. And also, they do not get to travel abroad. Communists do not let them. They do not get the travel visa. But at the same time, she really likes stories about God, she loves to listen to people when they come at night to visit her father. Her bedroom is right next to the kitchen, so she hears them all. And she is also wondering about the job of her mother, the music teacher. But she hates practicing her flute, so she will most probably not be a music teacher either. However, she must study well, otherwise the communists will not let her study anywhere else but in the music conservatoire.
And I am also writing about the girl´s grandma, who says to her she is lucky, since she does not have to live through the Stalinist era like her mother had to, neither through the war like grandma did. And this grandma moved to Poland, or better to say, her ancestors had to flee to Poland, after the Battle upon the Write Hill, since they were Protestants and this grandma returned to Czechoslovakia, together with grandpa, only after World War II. Both worked in a factory, he was a mechanic, she was a tailor. And this grandma also did some private tailoring for wives of communist leaders. It was illegal, but they wanted it, so she made nice clothes for them, since she was living in a spa town and all the ladies wanted to look pretty there. Well, but the most interesting story about grandma is a story about her house. She had a house in Poland. She sold it and wanted to take her money to Czechoslovakia, but this was not allowed. So, she used all the money to buy nylon scarfs, neck scarfs, which she smuggled to Czech. Every summer, when she was going there on holidays, she put them into her suitcase, where there was a special double base, and they stuffed many scarfs there, and she smuggled them, together with two of her daughters. And they did it for ten years, until they managed to smuggle them all. At home, grandma sold them to spa guests, and she had earned enough money to buy a house!
Well, the girl admires her grandma, because she thinks she really managed it well, she took care of her family, she was not scared off by the communists. But her father thinks otherwise. He thinks bad rules should be changed, not twisted.
Daughter: Mummy, is this story about you?