Do you know what happened to the drawing?
I do, in fact. Washed away like so much metaphorical history. Here's a tenant's story:
...They took him to the still unfinished building. He liked it and went inside, asked for a ladder and took a black pencil from his pocket. He drew a mermaid . On the wall. Everyone was very happy and thanked him. And then they went away, and the mermaid stayed.
They assigned the flat to a railway worker. He looked around, and said that firstly it was inadequate and secondly he had small children, and she had bare breasts. So he didn't take it, and they called me. I didn't have any children or any points - the only thing I could have scored on was my activity in the food cooperative, but I wasn't even a member of it, so when they said there was a flat, I rushed over there.
They told me to sit down. You see - the director said - this isn't an ordinary apartment, it's one with a mermaid. Fine, I said. And you see, this apartment must be kept clean, because visitors might come by. I'll keep it clean, I promised; got the keys, opened the door...
My dear madam, what can I say?
It was a Picasso.
photo by Anatol Węcławski, Akt, c. 1930
