In my dream I am standing in a lake, water is dark and shallow, maybe a little thick. I am standing patiently waiting for things to happen when the first ghost shows up. He’s wearing a colorful paper mask that is referring to Chinese mask traditions but the rest of his body is painted in geometrical patterns with white paint. His head looks like it’s from Chinese theatre and his body looks like Paul Klee’s work inspired by lost tribes body painting. He looks like nothing else I’ve ever seen but I’m waiting for him to come to me without any emotions. No fear, no excitement, deep internal calm. He is giving me a cup of coffee. Espresso is absolutely delicious, it’s sweet, sour, bitter and salty, it has an interesting and round taste. Surprisingly even for me, I don’t get excited about it. I feel thankful for this experience, nothing more than that. The second ghost has a different mask and is wearing clothes similar to those that the pope wears, but they are dark with traditional patterns, very similar to Aboriginal patterns. He gives me an old ashtray, which looks like it was just caught from the bottom of the sea. It’s covered with mud. He gives it to me and I eat it. It’s mostly unpleasant, as the ashtray smells exactly as ashtrays do, but it’s crunchy, what surprises me a lot. I find this experience interesting as well.
When I wake up I decide to give up smoking.
Ula Jankowska, in some cities known as Miss Bookseller, is interested in books and people. Never leaves home without at least three books in her bag. Used to work as a bookseller for around 14 years now, in Warsaw, Wroclaw and Cracow. Now she is starting her own bookshop project in Prague. If you ask her to name three favourite writers, she will still name more and between these names will show up Italo Calvino, Jorge Louis Borges, Bohumil Hrabal, Ota Pavel, Tove Jansson.