Trafika Europe 7 - Ukrainian Prayer

Maria Matios

a few beech switches on the ass than to let them swim around below the dam: they say, the place is cursed – and that’s why it’s unsafe. Mykhailo sits on the crest of the dam, lowering down his legs that were worn out from walking, and looks at the other side. Cursed – or not cursed, the fact is true that the place is frightening. On more than one occasion children fell vertically headfirst, having gotten lost in contemplation of the noisy water; and livestock walked into the netherworld off the dam; and the border guards – graniceri – shot quite a few smugglers, Schwarzivnyks , as they call them locally; and they caught more than one drowning victim there. So the villagers strove to watch after the livestock in the meadow, enclosing the

spot from the dam with a pen. And for bathing they went nearly to the end of the village, to the smooth, calmer water downstream closer to Zaremba’s mill. When the Poles ruled on the other side of the river, there were times that they lookedat the smuggler-profiteers with a nod and a wink. Sometimes in the middle of the day they could find their way with their goods to the Romanian side. Whether the boatmen were in cahoots with the border guards, or sometimes unjustifiably took risks for the sake of profits, or the laws over there were a little bit loosey-goosey… But maybe because of the fact that Cheremoshne was nestled in the devil’s bosom, the laws developed more loosey- goosey than anywhere else. However, on rare occasions

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