22 -- Jozef and Maja

Jozef and Maja walked along, following Karel and Sylwia. Maja glanced at him, eyes sparkling. “I think there’ll be a wedding in the family soon.”

“You may just be right,” Jozef answered. “I don’t know much about courting, considering, but it sure looks like that’s what your sister and Karel are doing.”

Maja grew earnest. “Actually, it’s always been tradition in our family that the daughters marry in order, the oldest one first.” She sighed.

Jozef didn’t know what to answer. He wasn’t a priest anymore, but he might as well have been when it came to such things. He decided the fatherly approach was best. “Don’t you have anyone special to you?”

Now she laughed out loud. “You’re not a priest anymore, Panje Wawrzyiniak, and I don’t have to tell you what’s in my heart.”

“That’s true,” he conceded.

“I wouldn’t, even if you still were.” She fell silent.

They had reached the town. Housewives with their shopping bags walked the sidewalks, and young children chased each other on the empty street. Oblivious to everything around them, Karel and Sylwia walked on.

But Maja stopped in front of a house wall, plastered with a red and yellow colored poster. “Oh, look! The circus is coming to town!”

Jozef’s heart stopped before resuming its furious beating. He would not go. He would not, could not subject himself to seeing her again, and as a free man to boost.

Unaware of the turmoil in his heart, Maja asked, “Would you accompany us to the circus this weekend, Panje Wawrzyiniak?”