Kulkas

Kulkas

How the Other Half Lives

It was the first time Felix had felt safe in visiting Czechoslovakia since he and his family had fled so many years ago. An international engineering conference was being held in Prague in the 1960’s. The country was under Communist control. Although Felix had done a lot of traveling as he advanced in his profession, he had never felt comfortable about going back to his home country while it was under Russian rule. He simply did not know if he could be detained there.

Attending an international conference as part of an American delegation seemed like a golden opportunity for him to safely return to visit the land of his birth. He made the arrangements and off we went.

Our plan was to go a few days early, rent a car and tour some of the country. Rather than going all the way into Prague for our last night before the conference started, we thought it would be nice to find a special place to stay, perhaps in the forested area outside the city. We checked our guide book and were delighted to find a lodge located right in the forest. Of course Felix spoke Czech, so he had no problem phoning and making reservations for us. We were all set for an lovely evening.

We found the accomodations to be quite as welcoming as described by the guide book. My guess is that it had originally been a hunting lodge belonging to some wealthy people. It was elegantly appointed, with a large gathering room on the main floor and a wide, curving staircase leading to the bedrooms upstairs.

We had a light supper downstairs, and retired to our room. Very comfortable it was, providing us with a restful night before the onslaught of the business of the convention.

The next morning I had gotten dressed and wandered to the stairs, ready to see what sort of breakfast was offered. To my surprise, there were several young ladies descending the stairs. They stopped, looking at me as I went past them. I felt I was being sized up.

I’m guessing that this lovely lodge was actually being used to provide a certain sort of recreation for gentlemen in the higher levels of the government. Felix and I had speculated about what life under communisim would be like. Somehow this was not the part we had pictured. Life does hold its surprises.