01-I-1970.
Around 16:00 D.K. came with another girl, to arrange for a repeat tonight, at her neighbor's. We moved the rest of the drink, food and records, and went to gather the company. We managed to gather most of them, plus the two guys (hosts) and a couple more of other folks from ruža.
The place where she lived, I just checked, still exists. It's a square of low adobe houses around a yard, quite shabby and low-ceilinged. I think the floors were of tamped soil, covered with krpare (rugs woven from strips of old cloth), yet these two guys managed to create an atmosphere. In that half an hour while we discussed the evening, and another hour the next day when I came again to pick the records and whatever needed to be returned, I got into this atmosphere of rocker's living room, heard "Don't try to stop the river" by Aphrodite's child and a couple of other unknown things. There will be more such music soon, this was the beginning.
I wrote down the long, long joke about two choices (ends with "and if the devil eats me, then I have only one choice"), and another one where everything is white, ends with a white ghost form a white bottle who comes out and says - „only ~~~ washes it so white“ . That's the ad about the detergent, the advertising for which drove us insane last year.
Next three days I was just lazy. Played the singles and solved the mystery in "Ilustrovana Politika" - if not too many people solved it, then I have a chance of winning a Prinz NSU. Some aphorist at the time wrote "she was waiting for a prince on a white horse, but went for a horse in a white prince".
Fifty years later, it still looks the same. There wasn't that much gray color, though, it was socialism then.
The aftermath of the threat note - we knew the handwriting, and my dad met the writer's mom and told her. They gathered and beat up Zvojko - got a bruise, shaky tooth, scratch on the head. They were waiting for me after school, but I got advance warning and went two blocks around. I know the terrain same as they do, maybe better. I managed to get out the other exit from the school yard (which is a feat in itself, it's generally locked and only the teachers have the key, as it's just a lawn's width from a major thoroughfare, and four years ago one boy died in an accident, so they locked it), then went all the way to ruža, then to D.K.'s place (her neighbor wasn't at home, so I couldn't retrieve the tray and tablecloth), then through the no-man's land by the clay pit, and emerged in my street at the railway crossing. Took me half an hour instead of ten minutes, but it paid off. The next day they didn't bother to organize again.
On 10th, Zvojko came to pick me to go to school for a literary meeting (!). Turns out one of my texts was published in a youth newspaper, which was distributed to eighthgraders by school (well, subscribers only, but that was about 5-6 people per class), so I should read it aloud. That ended by 16:45, then the gang stayed to watch basketball (Jugoslavia was becoming very important in that world) and to see whether there will be a dance afterwards. This was on shaky legs, as the classmaster of VIII1 gave approval without consulting Ivka - wish I saw her face when she heard. The classmaster of VIII3 approved for her class, counting on two others to stay as chaperones, and left. One more left too. But we insisted. I brought the record player (and the power splitter!), three folks brought records, and then it was just a matter of finding a chaperone. Some were busy, some were here since 8:00, and eventually someone earned the glory by trying with the music teacher, and that worked.
So the dance began at 18:05. The mess hall (for the daycare, that's where we had the space) wasn't heated at the time, but we managed to warm up by dancing. A whole hour. Give what you give, just give. Most of the usual gang was there, though. Some of the alumni came by (mostly the gang from the recent doček), but weren't shooed away like Patak got last time - they didn't even try to get in, just talked with the teacher, all in good spirits. Among them, D.K.'s current boyfriend (Sarča), and on the inside she told me to dance with her in case Bora tries to dance, because I kind of wouldn't cause jealousy that would lead to a fight later.
Ummm... so her dancing with me wouldn't make him jealous? Nice to be trusted, and not so nice to be considered harmless.
Mentions: 05-X-2023., Borivoj Raboški (Bora), doček, Gradivoj Sarčević (Sarča), Ivanka Tomašić /Čardić/ (Ivka), Patak, ruža, VIII1, VIII3, Zvonko Darišić (Zvojko), in serbian
30-IX-2020 - 1-X-2025