Continued

First Sentence

First Sentence Four years ago at Ustka four of us were walking on the sand and I began to write my second story (the first had been about an invented and painful death, very short and a failure). I said the first sentence to Maciek: "Three years we waited, before our applications for permission to leave the beach were examined." He said it was a good start. I don't remember what came later or if there was any later, probably not. I suppose I said it simply because I thought it impressive, regardless of what our favorite type of humor was (back then a joke would devour anything). What I'd like to know is if it was real fiction, and if Maciek really believed I wasup to writing it, and if it was indeed impressive. For why hasn't he ever asked: "What about your story?" And: "Have you got a second sentence yet?" That might have encouraged me to work, because I never liked to leave 93 people twisting in the wind. And, please, consider conditions there were excellent — everything at hand: the beach, the wind, paper for the application, and thousands of people, like me, idly waiting for someone's final decision. 94 ...