Café Bräunerhof, Wien •
Image source http://en.wikipedia.org •
author Andreas Praefcke
Sitting in a little, old-fashioned
café off the Mariahilfer Straße. The place is a bit shabby, the atmosphere
subdued and tranquil. I’m watching the old couple next to our table.
The husband must be seventy. His thin, grey
hair looks greasy and untidy. His wrinkled face graceless, acidulous, betraying
a life of ranting and moaning and bitching. There are the two deep and vertical
creases between his eyebrows hinting at an uptight, unhappy character. His
small-lipped mouth draws an inversed curve, its ends pointing downwards. He’s
wearing a shoddily made, sloppy shirt and a brown pullover. His hawk-like nose,
almost touching the Tabloid he’s reading, trembles and quivers as if he was
sniffing at the populist gutter news he’s studying. On the small table in front
of him, a cup of coffee, untouched, and a half-empty glass of rum.
On the other side of the table, his sixtyish
wife. She seems as dissatisfied with existence as her companion. Her face is
ashen and blank. Whenever she looks up, she stares at her surroundings with
contempt. The deepest contempt is directed at her husband; she almost seems to
sneer each time she inadvertently gazes at him. Her hair is of a washed-out,
blonde dye; the grey roots are showing. It has been dyed so often that it is as
dry as straw and sticks out from her head at odd angles. Her hands are wrinkled
and do not seem to be washed very often. She’s reading a magazine about Royals
and sipping a coffee.
I’ve been watching the two of them for half
an hour. They have not exchanged a single word, eyeing each other from time to
time with blank hatred.
Suddenly, the old man folds the Tabloid and
bangs it on the table. With a rusty, but surprisingly loud voice and without
looking at his wife, he remarks, “I geh
scheißen…” Which means, “I’ll have a shit!”
Says it, stands up and shuffles off to the
toilets…
This post is a recycled and edited version of the original post you can find here.
© Dieter Moitzi 2010-2011. All rights reserved.
Photos found on Internet. In case of copyright problems, or for any publishing propositions, please contact the author.
