Better things to do

They were strolling down the capital sidewalks. The city was unusually crowded for this time of year; Midsummer.

Walking in groups is funny; impossible to engage in conversation with all in the same time, David thought while trying to decide whether to talk to Jakov and the other Jakov about the weather or to Mihael and Denis about perils of work in the fashion industry. He felt like the third who will make a crowd in both scenarios. No wonder that old Jesuit students had a rule to always take a jaunt in groups of three or four tops. In order to achieve optimal performance of the conversation and for all to see everybody else face to face, some of the conversationalists had to walk in reverse.

“Ah, don’t tell me that it is going to rain. I planned to go for a bike ride out of the city this afternoon,” said Jakov to other Jakov.

“They say it may be raining in the afternoon. Check the forecast on your phone before going out. But, for an able-bodied guy like you, few raindrops should not hurt,” said the other Jakov deciding not to check the forecast on his Android as something obviously stuck there. He put the phone in his tight trousers’ pocket. Plastic squeaked.

“Yes, it’s gonna rain.” David bumped in showing the screen of his iPhone. Today afternoon in Zagreb. There is an 80 percent probability that it will rain the whole afternoon today.

“Bummer,” said Jakov, the biker.

“I told you so,” said the other Jakov.

“So, what’s up with you, David? Have you had a chance to write something recently?” asked Jakov the biker.

“Not much. I am preoccupied with work.”

“Ah, pity,” said Jakov. “I loved your story on the war in Bosnia. No blames, no biases. A refreshment.”

“Haha. That is how you read it. I suppose this is just how quantum possibility waves and downward causation as conscious choices are producing the collapse of actual conclusion”.

“Well, you got me lost here man,” said Jakov, the biker, laughing. “But I see that different people can come to different conclusions because they just interpret the premises differently.”

“Exactly,” said David. “But do not question the premises; question the reader.”

“You lost some weight, though,” said the other Jakov apparently bored with the conversation. “Good for you.”

“Thanks, man. I lost some 10 kilos. But I rarely get the compliments. I appreciate it.” said David.

“I have an eye for such stuff. Nevertheless, I am a fashion industry worker, and we should have an eye for a figure, eh Mihael?” The other Jakov called out to Mihael who was just explaining to Denis why clothing sizes became smaller in the last decade. Denis was a work colleague of David. Two of them are in some conference in Zagreb. David decided to call his best friend Mihael for lunch the last day of the conference, so he skipped the official snack meal at the conference venue. Denis joined him as he hadn’t a better thing to do and he had enough of the snack yesterday. Mihael had previous lunch arrangements with Jakov, the biker. David acquainted Jakov as Mihael’s friend, so four of them sat on the lunch in some new, fancy but inexpensive restaurant on Opatovina. After the lunch, which David insisted on paying, they took a walk to the public parking lot near the Zagreb’s main train station where David parked his car. Along the way, they met the other Jakov, Mihael’s friend, which David also met on a couple of occasions, and now the five of them are walking together. All of them were fairly enjoying each others’ company, and no one watching the group from a distance could actually tell that they all are not long time friends. They looked like a gang that went to college together and finally met after a while spent apart.

“By the way,” said Mihael to Jakov as he was pacing up to catch him as he and Denis were few steps behind. “Would you care to wear my pieces on the upcoming fashion show?”

A lot of people were coming from the opposite direction. Couples with and without kids, students trying to enjoy their summer break in the warm city, elderly people in groups of two or three. Their group of five was suddenly broken by this crowd and David was not able to hear Jakov’s answer. Mihael was preparing for a fashion show. He designs clothes and hats. Very successfully too.

They were approaching the crossing with one of the broad boulevards. The crowd became thicker. David and Denis definitely dropped behind the tray.

“Look, special police!” Said Denis pointing at the two police officers that were staying near the pedestrian. The policemen were clad in black uniforms of special police with full body armor and some mean looking guns that looked like _Heckler and Koch_ or something as mean dangling at their sides. They started halting the pedestrian traffic across the boulevard. A baton with red stop sign looked somewhat awkward in the hand of special policemen in full gear.

David and Denis were in the group that policemen asked to stop, while the other three were already on the other side of the street. The other Jakov was explaining something nimbly to Mihael. With every few words, he was mildly touching Mihael’s shoulder. _Regula tactus_ would forbid this kind of touching among Jesuits, thought David, still pondering about Jesuit trivia, under the influence of the book he reads. The author alleged that this rule was one of the rules that sought to prevent homosexual behavior. The author, however, made a point with no real argument for this claim. A typical case of jumping to conclusions.

“Hey, this is the gay parade,” said Denis. Two of them were balancing at the curb of the sidewalk. Denis was pointing to the left side of the boulevard. Some 30–40 meters away, a guy was carrying a big multicolor flag. He walked in reverse for some time waving the flag high. A couple of people, both men and women were walking few steps behind. All clad in bright, colorful clothing. There were sharp sound of whistles behind their back where a bigger group was advancing. More flags.

“Like those guys do not have better things to do,” said Denis. “I mean, I am not against gays or something like that, but I just don’t see the necessity to throw a parade to show your sexual preferences.” Denis was shrugging his soldiers and throwing hands. “And they say that more than a half of the guys in the parade are journalists, activists, and sociologists who are investigating how people will react when exposed to open homosexuality. Everybody are just trying to make their own point.”

“Well, that’s a start,” David said “as long as they are aware that they may jump to conclusions just as easily as anybody else including you and me.” He noticed that one of the men in the lane was wearing a red and white robe which looked much like a talar of a Jesuit student at a Collegium Germanicum in Rome. Interesting that students were not allowed to walk the streets clothed in their talars. Wearing talar publicly with no prescribed scolastica over it was a sign of a protest among Jesuit students. Protest that no man on the street but their superior would ever notice. For citizens of Rome, a student in talars was just one more cleric on the street. David wondered what kind of protest may be expressed with the talar on the gay parade. It is just statistically not the kind of dress code for this occasion.

David looked up for Mihael and the two Jakovs. They were at the other side of the street, still talking ardently. Mihael noticed that he was looking for them and waved, gesticulating that they will wait for him.

Two policemen were waving to a crowd at the curb to speed up if they want to cross.

“Let’s go,” said Denis.

“Hey Denis. Jakov, not the biker, the other one…” said David facing Denis as they were crossing the street surrounded with other people that decided not to stay and watch the parade or, at least, to watch it from the other side of the street.

“Yes,” said Denis. “Seems like a nice guy.”
“Well, he is gay. I think you should know it before you say something stupid,” said David.

“Eh, what do you know?” Asked Denis. “I wonder why he has not joined the parade?”

“Well, I suppose he has better things to do. However, I may just ask him to find out,” said David laughing.

Two of them joined the group and started to cut their way through the crowd.