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Faruk Šehić
beds slowly floating towards
morning.
I got out of the shopping bag
and ran down to the sandy
bankbelowmygrandmother’s
house. I saw the fish in the
water: graylings and trout.
The river bank smelled of
herbs, grasses, bullrushes
and the sewage pipes sticking
out of the green bank, and I
breathed deeply of all those
aromas. The fish moved
about, nervously and timidly
one moment, then calming
down and waiting in one spot
for a long time like sentries.
That was my world: I was a
fish adapted to life on land
– living proof of Darwin’s
evolution. I was the non-
missing link, a transitional
stage between fish and
Homo
sapiens
, although I looked
perfectly human. What a
strange passion it was that let
me go hungry if only I could
watch fish, even at dusk,
when everything goes dark
and the fish swim to and fro
like black spindles, sensing
the night, a time of agitation
for animals and people alike.
My grandmother’s house
was
stable,
safe
and
indestructible.
I waved to Mirdal who was
going back into town along
the asphalt road that leads
upstream towards the Old
Town. Mirdal was also a
magician. He taught me to
love nature and all living
things, especially lizards,
snakes, frogs and tortoises. I
wouldn’t have known what to
do with myself without him. I
went into my Grandmother’s
house as if I was sneaking in