Speaking In Tongues
Guided by Voices
(Idyll X)
IN A PUBLIC PLACE
by Raphael Levchin
The ugly table. Pizza. Two Polish girls.
Nobody is talking.
Twenty minutes, twenty-five minutes. Silence.
"Well", say I, "the Polish word 'zapamentay'
means 'forget it', correct?"
"No", answers the first girl, "it means
'remember'. 'Forget it' in polish sounds 'zapomne'."
"Ah, you know, 'zapomne' in Russian is 'remember'!"
"Really?", the second girl, politely.
Nobody smiles. Silence again.