Trafika Europe 11 - Swiss Delights

Ilma Rakusa

monument is new and less than half-hearted. Petöfi stands, stunted, in the shadow of tall trees as the yellow façades of the mental asylum shines between their bare branches. Veils of clouds cover the city. I have to continue my journey, although I’ve only just arrived. Although I’ve only just begun to form memories of my own. Hello, they say to the memories of others. Hello, Mother. Mother ’s pharmacy was called ‘The Unicorn’. She was always fond of animals. She learned to swim with an inflated pig bladder. As a child, she would watch ants for hours and would fearlessly reach into the swarms of wasps that besieged the jam factory. Chickens, geese, and the piglet Pici were raised on the flat roof of a low adjacent building. Pici had the cheek to fall off the roof three times. The first time he was lucky. The second time he broke a leg. The third time he was so badly injured he had to be slaughtered. Animals were loved and eaten without qualms. For snack there were sandwiches of sausage, ham, goose liver, and schmaltz. Stuffed animals belonged in bed or in a little wagon that rolled through the park. Mother was playful. Mother would crawl (until she was ten) through the wrought iron fence that enclosed the

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