Unfortunate Son - Prague (April 2004)

Not all is fun and games in the world. Along with capitalism comes abundant homelessness for those who can't or won't live up to the standards of a competitive society. There is a particular young girl roaming the streets of Prague, who I've encountered on several occasions. She'll approach people in subway stations and share a brief story with them in Czech. When she tried this with me, I couldn't understand what she said, and asked if she spoke English. She quickly switched languages and said, "My bag is on tram. Have you some money for ticket?" I didn't have any money with me , and told her so. Several weeks later, she approached me again in a different subway station and started speaking Czech. I told her I still didn't understand what she was saying, and could she speak English? Lo and behold, "My bag is on tram. Have you some money?" My goodness, her bag had been on the tram for 2 months! The poor girl, stranded in the subway for all that time. I still didn't give her any money.

One of my students told me he also saw her quite often, and he would preemptively approach her before she began her story and ask if her bag was still on the tram. It got to the point where she actually recognized him and would walk the other way if she saw him.