Snippet #24

            “Marek! Give me my sandwich back!” Sophie’s voice went up an octave.

            “Not until you ask for it in Czech!” Marek taunted.

Jonáš and I looked at each other across the dining table.

He cocked his head to the side, “Do you ever feel like you’re the parent to your own best friends?”

I had to laugh. “Really? YOU feel like a parent? I’m the parent. You’re the cool older brother.”

Sophie and Marek’s sandwich argument continued, with no acknowledgment of anyone else’s existence; the sandwich was all that mattered. Sophie started screaming louder, “If you don’t give me back my sandwich, I’ll cut off your right hand so you’ll have to awkwardly masturbate with your left hand and it won’t be nearly as satisfying!”

“YOU DEMON!” Marek threw the sandwich at Sophie. A look of pure horror crossed his face. He cradled his right hand with his left and held it close. 

Snippet #23

            “Guys, you’ll never guess what some old man said to me on the metro today!” Sophie burst into the room. Judging by how flustered she looked, she most likely ran here as fast as she could to share this trivial piece of information with anyone who would listen.

            “Did he say you could sit in his lap if the car got too crowded?” Jonáš asked, “That’s happened to me before. And it was super weird because he totally had crutches to help him walk. Like, I’m not going to sit on man’s lap when he needs support for his legs. I’d feel like a dipshit person.”

            Sophie looked perplexed as she deciphered Jonáš’s offhand comment.  “No. He said that I had a neck ‘built for pearls’. What does that even mean?”

Snippet #22

“You may be better, but I’m still dying.”

Snippet #21

“If you don’t like wearing it, why do you?” I could tell that this was one of Sophie’s serious questions.

“I wear it because I got in the habit of it. It’s a compromise. My grandmother wears the paranja. I didn’t want to. It makes my family feel more comfortable; it makes life easier for those around me. I wear it because, in Tashkent anyway, I don’t get unwanted attention. I wear it because I feel safe. It’s like home, only wrapped around my head.”

Snippet #20

“There’s different types of strength, Miri. You have the strength to survive. To endure. I have the strength that looks good until tested; it shines and burns out. It’s flashy. I’m the supernova; you’re the candle in the window that never wavers. Both have their place, neither better than the other. But don’t you dare think that you’re weak just because you’re not like me.”

We sat in silence for awhile.

“Actually, if you ask me, I think you’re stronger than me. Supernovas don’t last that long. They’re under pressure and burn bright, but then disappear; candles can last days, months, years. I’m barely strong in moments when I need to be. That’s the flash. But you, despite everything you’ve had to deal with, you still get up every morning and live your life. If that’s not strength, I don’t know what is.”

______________________________________________________

I don't know, this sounds a bit 'off' to me. Does it seem all right?

Snippet #19

“Life is fucking terrible at blowjobs, so just try as hard as you can to not let it suck.”

Czech Movies

      So I went to the movies last night with my roommate Rachel. Now Rachel is the kind of girl who is too loud and says very tourist-y things. She's super nice though. So we're going to see Moonrise Kingdom - really odd movie, but good - at this really sketch movie theatre. It was super nice on the inside though, so it was less scary. But I was the one who had to figure out how the hell to get us there and back, and the movie started at 11. At night. In a part of the city I don't know. So I was basically mentally unable to react to things normally.
     Anyway, so in the movie theatre we're waiting (there was another movie before ours). Finally the other movie ends, and every one comes out. AND ONE OF THE GUYS IN THE MOVIE THEATRE BRINGS OUT HIS IRISH WOLFHOUND. OUT OF THE THEATRE. GUYS, THE DOG SAW THE MOVIE TOO. Is it just me, or is that super bizarre? So I'm standing there in shock, and Rachel is basically screaming and drawing all sorts of attention to her as she's laughing and pointing at the dog.
     It was a good movie though.