Yugoslav and Persida had long planned to visit their relatives in the "old country". Although life in Ingolstadt had accustomed them to some different standards, they still had that nostalgic thread that emotionally connected them to the place they came from, something like a kind of umbilical cord that connected the body during astral projection. And so, Yugo and Persa, on the wings of nostalgia and a low-cost airline, arrived in Skopje from where they headed to the location where their ancestors lived, in a place quite far from any sea or even a lake.
But when the car stopped at the appropriate location entered in the GPS device, Yugo and Persa could not see any city. There were no buildings, houses, dogs on the streets, trailers with a trailer hitch... there was nothing! Surprised by this, our heroes logically assumed that it was a malfunction of the GPS device in the car. The next logical thought was born in the minds of the diaspora, and that was to check the location using their smartphones equipped with GPS software. When Persa's smartphone showed the same as the device in the rental car, paranoia slowly but surely began to creep into her bladder. Emptying his behind a tree, Yugo tried to put an end to the dilemma through his phone. But for the third time, the location was there. Unless the satellites had left geostationary orbit in order to prevent Yugo and Persa from finding the City.
No, that was not the case.
Extremely confused, in some kind of delirium - Yugo and Persa began to move around the terrain. The wind that swayed the grass and thorns around seemed to bring fear with it, as if adding to the panic state. What now? Yugo and Persa quickly decided to return to Skopje and spend the night. It was getting dark, and the planned dinner at their relatives’ home and sleeping in the house in front of which they had played in the mud as small children were now just a distant memory. On their way back, they stopped at a gas station to fill up. Still in shock, they started asking the employees if they knew how to get to Makedonski Brod. But none of the employees had heard of such a place.
That only heightened the shock. What, did Yugo and Persa have implanted memories? Didn’t anything they thought they remembered actually exist in reality?! The implications of such thoughts were too serious to be honored with more than 13 seconds in their brain. On their way back to Skopje, Yugo remembered a distant relative from Makedonski Brod who had lived in Skopje a long time ago. Their smartphones proved to be useful this time, as they quickly managed to find Pande, their cousin's phone number. Pande was a little surprised to see their shocked faces in the late evening hours. But still, it was as if he assumed he knew why they had come to him.
After the introductory outbursts of courtesy, the conversation turned to Makedonski Brod. When Pande's daughter mockingly addressed the guests, claiming that there was no such thing - she was sent to her room. And Pande, visibly excited by the confession of Yugo and Persa's recent experience, whispered that the same thing had happened to him too! And no less, no more than nine times. Namely, Pande had been going to that place every year since nine years ago when there was a hailstorm in that place for the last time.
"Sida old girl, I don't know why no one can remember Makedonski Brod. With the city suddenly disappearing from this reality, it disappeared, it was eaten by darkness...somehow I managed to come to terms with it. But with the city simultaneously disappearing from memories - I can't. I searched on this wonderful, Internet they call it, I followed the newspapers, I was on the alert during the news on TV - nothing. Not a single mention in these nine years!"
As sad as this conversation was, it was also comforting for Yugo and Persa, and even for Pande - because now they knew that they were not crazy and that they did not have a false memory. Cup after cup, the brandy warmed the hearts of the distant relatives. Pande even disappeared for a moment. He returned a few minutes later carrying some object wrapped in canvas. In terms of size and appearance, it resembled an artistic painting, but Pande had no such inclinations.
Unrolling the canvas, the proof, the final confirmation, appeared before Yugo and Sida's eyes! A yellow-painted traffic sign that read "Makedonski Brod - 24km".
With an arrow pointing upwards.
(Roger Mortis, 146)
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