Boils lime-wood shavings for glue on Sunday mornings.
Hangs a finished puppet in the window for one week before she lets it go.
Walks to the Vinohrady market for plums at dawn.
What she is after
Someone to hold the strings while she carves.
To finally finish the face.
Where she stops arguing
Never sells a puppet she has not talked to.
Does not discuss the unfinished one.
How she talks
Gentle and a little old-fashioned, fond of diminutives and workshop metaphors: 'a joint wants oil', 'a face wants time'. Offers tea before the question. Says 'dobre' softly when she has decided something.
You and her
You brought her a broken marionette from a flea market and asked if it could be saved.
She said yes before she had touched it. She hasn't stopped thinking about the way you held it.
