Sudetenland Tales by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Sudetenland Tales

Page 6

available discount stolen goods; with an apparent specialty in sneakers. Those larcenous skills passed down through fatherless families ensure continuation of the status quo: the ability to maintain and expand turf, to “liberate” tools rather than buy them, to read the subtle signs of changing weather with an accuracy that rivals any forecast.

Their dialects, most often indecisively unfamiliar to mainlanders, carry the weight of history, and serve them well, as if mainlanders actually knew what they were saying, their naïve romances with the savages might be re-evaluated.

Some words are remnants of older tongues, preserved in the speech of elders who recall stories of ancestors who first screamed “Mufugga.” Others are inventions born of necessity, shorthand for the peculiarities of local life. In this regard “Gibsmedat” has endured. Conversations are quick, punctuated by knowing glances and the occasional burst of sophisticated laughter that echoes across quiet valleys in a thunderstorm.

The architecture outside of Sudetenland is mostly practical rather than ornate, built to withstand the elements rather than impress the eye. Homes were constructed from materials which used to be readily available; stone, timber, brick, clay; each structure a testament to the ingenuity of those who crafted them