Calgary, December 2022
Pavel was a nice little boy. He lived with his parents in an apartment in Prague, and since both parents were working, during the day Pavel stayed in a kindergarten. He liked it there and had a lot of friends, but at home he felt little lonely. He would like to have a brother or sister, but now he didn’t think about it. Christmas was coming and he remembered all the presents he got last year. Pavel couldn’t wait for another Christmas Day, when, as he was sure, baby Jesus will bring him more beautiful toys. But Pavel’s memory of the previous Christmas Day wasn’t altogether happy, there was a sad part to it. He remembered that a day before Christmas mom bought a live fish, carp, brought it home, filled the bathtub with water and put it there.
“Why do we have a fish in our bathtub?” asked Paul.
“It is a custom. We will eat it tomorrow for the Christmas Eve dinner.”
Pavel was watching the fish swimming and was wandering if it knew that tomorrow we will eat it. He felt sorry for the fish and tried to cheer it up. He touched it, tried to feed it with bits of bread, but the fish didn’t respond. It was just swimming sadly, probably knowing what will happen tomorrow. The next day Dad took the fish out of the bathtub and brought it to the cutting board at the kitchen table. The fish fought for its life, trying to escape, but it was no use. Mom was holding it down, Dad cut its head off, and Pavel started to cry. “The fish was my fried,” he kept saying.
Now Pavel was determined to prevent such a thing from happening again. When Mom brought home the fish, he gave it a name, Josef. Now it wasn’t just a fish, it was his friend Josef, and surly his parents will not kill his friend.
“The fish is my friend; its name is Josef. You cannot kill my friend Josef,” kept saying Pavel. Mom and Dad were looking at each other, not knowing what to do. They indeed couldn’t kill Pavel’s friend. Therefore, the next day Dad left the fish to swim in the bathtub, happily, as it looked to Pavel, and in the afternoon, he helped Pavel to put the fish into a bag. Then they took dad’s car and drove to a little beach at the river Vltava.
“Take your friend and bring him here,” said Dad.
Pavel took the bag, put it in the water, held it open and Josef swam away.
“Happy Christmas Josef,” call Pavel.
When they came back home, it was dark, and Mom had the Christmas Eve dinner ready. This time they didn’t eat carp, Mom made wiener schnitzels, which tastes better anyway. Then Dad went out, there was a sound of ring of the bell, Dad came back, and the room was filled with excitement. Mom opened the door to Pavel’s room and there was a beautiful tree with candles shining and with a lot of presents underneath. Pavel didn’t know which one to open first. The all looked magnificent.
“Careful, don’t knock down the tree,” warned Mom.
When Pavel opened all the presents and his excitement subsidized somewhat, Mom asked:
“Which one do you like best?”
“I like them all,” but Pavel looked as if he expected something more.
“Did you want something else?”
“I was hoping to get a little brother or sister.”
Mom looked at Dad and he said: “May be the next Christmas.”
The evening was over, Pavel was sleeping, and the parents were lying in bed.
“Pavel wants a brother or sister,” said Mom.
“May be the next Christmas,” repeated Dad.