Postcard from Croatia

in Šibenik. Do we leave that out? Do we leave out the taxi driver telling us he fought in the war while we were in the back wondering if atrocities were committed, and what atrocities? Was he one of the soldiers who held women hostage inside hotel rooms for years? No, that was the Serbs, he says, not us. It’s beautiful here. The water is clear. We swam off Porporela at twilight, the water of the Adriatic purple and cold. We’ve been to Hvar, Dubrovnik, Split, and now we’re in the capital, which is charming. At dusk, the gas man of Zagreb goes around the old city on his Vespa, lighting the lanterns. He holds a 10-foot-long rod and expertly switches a lever at the base of each lamp, which opens the gas line. The pilot stays lit and the five mantles catch when the gas starts flowing.

r

52 Boulge

He leaves a trail of light where he has been History slips off into shadow.