I warmly invite you all; everyone who knows me knows how I take care of my guests and try to offer them a gathering that is interesting, full of great surprises and worthwhile experiences.

Grażyna Hanaf

An excerpt from the novel “Joachim,” published in 2013

Mira pulled Joachim out of his reverie.
– The next exit is Bolesławiec – she announced cheerfully. Joachim had not noticed any sign. Good Lord, they hadn’t even marked this hole on the motorway, he thought.
– I live with friends – Mira continued. – With Diana and Teodor. I also have a two-year-old daughter, Klementynka. But you probably know that… Joachim merely nodded. He knew that she lived alone with her daughter, that conversations about her husband were not advisable, and that she rented out some rooms because she could not make a living from translation alone. He knew all this, and he did not
like it.

They covered the final kilometres on a brand-new stretch of motorway. The excellent
road conflicted somewhat with Joachim’s ideas about the “end of the world” and the “back of beyond.” They took a roundabout. The first place they passed was called Łąka. Joachim thought it was a pretty name, but he did not intend to share this observation with anyone. Mira was silent too. She spoke only as they entered the city.
– Bolesławiec is a city of ceramics – she said. – Did you know that? Right after we turn, on the right, there will be Ceramika Artystyczna; you’ll see what the dishes made here look like on the billboard. They have those distinctive dark-blue stamps. You must have seen them at some point. Merciful heavens, Joachim thought, unable to believe what he was hearing, this Mira is some kind of local patriot!!! Nevertheless, he looked at the large poster. At a blue bowl decorated with peacock eyes, filled with green apples. It wasn’t so bad.
– Once, an acquaintance of mine took a beautiful photograph for this ceramics company of hands shaping a raw clay vessel. It was much better than this… Have you ever thrown anything on a potter’s wheel? – she surprised Joachim with the question. He was just about to answer that he had never had the opportunity to throw anything on a potter’s wheel when an image straight out of “Alice in Wonderland” appeared before his eyes. They were approaching a roundabout in the middle of which stood a gigantic
ceramic table setting. A jug and cups were waiting for the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, the Dormouse and the smiling Cheshire Cat.
– What is that? – he asked Mira.
– A decoration in the city of ceramics.
The woman looked at Joachim with interest. She smiled at his reaction. A child’s astonishment mixed with delight at the sight of an amusement park.
– Do you like it? – she asked.
– Gay men are aesthetes – he explained coolly, not intending to show enthusiasm that day, or at any point during those holidays.
– If that’s the case, another surprise awaits you – said Mira. Despite his seventeen years, Joachim was still a child. So the word “surprise” aroused healthy curiosity in him, and he began looking around attentively. They drove past the roundabout with the cups and passed a petrol station. They were travelling along a wide road that now curved gently to the left. When they came out from behind the bend, Joachim was speechless. In front of him stood a monumental viaduct made of light sandstone. Massive, composed of stone spans several dozen metres long. As beautiful as Roman aqueducts. The viaduct was a railway bridge spanning the river.
And a train was passing over it. Mira stopped in a small car park. Without a word, she got out of the car. Joachim got out too and stood beside her. On the other side of the street was a skate park with two ramps. Several boys were rollerblading on them. A green boulevard and a river stretched beyond the car park. Mira pointed to the train carriages.
– You can tell your fortune from them – she said to Joachim.
– How? – he asked.
– Normally. When I was a little girl, I would count off the passing carriages: loves, likes, respects, doesn’t want, doesn’t care, jokes, in word, in thought, in heart, at the wedding altar… Whatever fell on the last carriage was my fortune. Of course, beforehand I would think about some nice boy whom the fortune was supposed to concern.
– I don’t have a boyfriend – Joachim grumbled, but he continued staring at the carriages.
– You can tell your fortune about something else. For example, whether these will be a great holiday or not.
Joachim concentrated on the carriages, whispering something under his breath. When the train disappeared from view, he got into the car without a word.
– And what did you get? – Mira asked.
– Nothing – he replied, and his expression suggested that he would say no more about it.