Fragments From Budapest

Our own Morgan Meis in The Smart Set:

It is nearly impossible to get screws in Budapest. I'm speaking of the metal fasteners. They don't seem to have them at any of the hardware stores or, if they do, they are so expensive as to be unattainable. Screws are a dream here, an unfulfilled fantasy. I have never wanted to buy screws so badly before. No one has.

Finally we found the screw man. You have to come into his office and you have to have a sit-down about screws. You have to talk to him about the kinds of screws you want and why you want them. Suddenly, this seemed right to me.

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And always the streets are strangely empty. On the weekends, especially, you can hear the lone steps of infrequent passersby ricocheting up through the buildings of stone and brick and in through your open window. Late at night a couple stumbles out of a cellar bar somewhere and scampers giggling down the street. They are whispering to one another, but the whispers are carried in the night air and amplified so that their private nothings become public performance. "You little devil you, you little devil. I'll eat you up alive." On Sundays everyone goes to a long family brunch that they hate.

More here.  And for more on Morgan's recent art project in Budapest, go here.