from The Invention of Everyday Life 


The concerto on the record player stops. Marina is now

dreaming of a trip she took to Milan with an

orchestra — the long walk out of the city into the

villages and fields. She is dreaming of that place. She is

looking for her arm. There are stones, fallen leaves on

the ground. It is not there, she cannot find it. She is

gone for weeks. The orchestra returns home without

her. She never leaves Prague again except to

come to this new place where her sister lives.
To leave her beloved city … Could she not survive

without her sister? Or is it her sister who could not live

without her? Each day Anna walks the few blocks to

Marina’s studio bringing her lunch: hard-boiled eggs,

bread, onions, cheese. She has begun to photograph

these in different lights. And glasses of water.