In.Ter.Ruptions

A bright drama

A party is held in a small Estonian town. During the plague. It’s Mother’s day. They nominated their mom for the local council’s mom of the year award. Their mother is a hard-working woman. A perfectionist. And so are they.

The table was set, the clanging of the knives and forks, the clinking of the plates, potato salad stains on the table cloth, reminders of the past and plans for the future – it was a lovely family event. But somewhere under all these songs, sounds, flavours and smells, stains and shards hides a sense of anxiety. And it’s not about the plague. It’s an enormous pressure from the past. From the time which the younger ones don’t remember and who knows, the older ones might not either. They cry their inherited tears, old tears from a time which they haven’t lived through.

During the joint cemetery visit on that day, with flowers and candles, I see writings on old headstones saying “Life ends but work never does” and “Life is short, work is forever” and “Life is always cut short, work will never be ready”. And I can’t think of anything else but… where the dog is buried.