I like this picture. It's me with my sister Nata and our two cousins. We were very close with the one left on the picture. I mean, really close. He's a year older than me. When he was 6 his parents walked in on him smoking a cigar fully dressed in a smoking. He loved us, especially Nata. He loved us and he loved playing games together and above all he loved recreating scenes from his favorite movies. There would always be a heroic scene and I'd play his love interest. I would be in danger and he would save me and drive me away at speed on a big motorbike (kitchen chair). We practiced kissing, hours long. A little tongue, not much. I was 8. We were about the same height. He proposed. I said I had to consult Mom about this. Mom said she didn't think it was a brilliant idea because he was my cousin. If cousins marry they might have retarded children, she said. He replied that it wasn't a problem whatsoever. He'd just flush down the toilet all the retarded children we'd get. I contemplated and agreed. Next summer I cut my hair short. He was furious. Crucial decisions of this kind should be discussed with the partner first, he said. You look like a boy, damn it, he said. I want to marry a girl, he said. A girl with long hair. It's hot in the summer, I said. Why don't you marry Nata, I said. Nata was 3. She had long hair and she was even closer friends with him than I was. He contemplated and agreed. Once he brought her red carnations. A woman was run over by a car in our neighborhood. She was carrying flowers and now they were scattered all over the pavement. He collected the flowers and presented them to Nata. The flowers still had some blood on them. We thought it was very romantic. He'd come over to our place any chance he got. We'd drive a Ferrari (three-pedal piano). We'd rob banks (sugar from the kitchen). When I was about 15 his father had a terrible fight with my Mom. They never spoke since. And I never saw my cousin again. We don't know why. Maybe he was not allowed to see us anymore. Maybe he didn't want to. The fact remains, I never saw him again. Last year someone said hi to Nata on a plane to Prague. It was our cousin. He said he'd talk to her later. He never did. I was busy with old pictures last month and I found this one. I think it's a nice picture.

I really like it.