NEST

“About animate and inanimate nature”, he said. “The teacher was dictating”.
“And?”
“And I didn’t write everything down.”
“How much did you write?”
“Three sentences.”
“And how many were there?”
“I don’t know. A lot. Ten.”
“Were you yawning?”
“No.”
“Then what were you doing?” I wasn’t even looking at him.
“Well I wasn’t writing.”
I stopped and faced him: “Because you were lazy?”
“No.”
“Then why? Answer me, don’t just stand there!” and I pulled him harder by the hand and he scurried along with even smaller steps.
“I didn’t feel like writing.”
“Oh really? You felt like staring? You didn’t feel like doing your work in nature class?”
“No, I felt like watching”, he puffed out his little cheeks and protruded his cherry lips.
“What in the world were you staring at?”
“Well, I was looking out the window”, he said with those same lips and cheeks.
“And what in the world were you looking at?”
“Out there in the tree. I was watching a magpie build its nest.”
#b
1. The Skopje Fortress (translator’s note)
2. Elenski Skok – “Deer leap” (T.N.)
3. Buyin’em’used = a person who drives around neighborhoods, shouting старо купујем (buying used goods), buying used equipment that people don’t need for a low price (T.N.)