I’m driving along the road from Druskininkai to Liškiava. Thoughts wander further down the road, a kind of sadness comes over me. I watch in the distance and see a guy stopping cars with a bag of Maxima.
Suddenly the thought “stop”, then another one follows – “no, maybe he’s drunk, he’ll do something else”…
But I stop and stop. I throw my handbag to the back of my head, and somehow squeeze my phone in my hand. I think for a moment: “what will happen?”
I unlock the door, he comes in and says: where are you going to be so good and where are you going?
– From Kaunas, I’m heading straight towards Liškiava.
– Oh, I’m a Kaunas man too, and I’m straight too
“Well, I think it will be interesting”…
Then he asks, “So what are you doing here?
I say the project is new, I’m working on houses, building, creating…
– Oh, I’m a builder, I’ve been building wooden houses all my life…
And he started naming:
– I would build a house for the Doctor in the Grove…
Then a few more names followed that were well heard.
How did you get to Druskininkai?
He says – I’m tired of the city, so I thought I’d go away for a while, so here I’ve been living here for 20 years…
Then it was on to work and politics.
– You know… – he says to me – politicians are cowards, they have to please everybody, it’s too bad… I think that only those who have no trade, who don’t know how to do anything else, go into politics… I’ve been building wooden houses all my life, and I’ve been doing that all my life and I’ve been doing it all my life. I make a very tasty samana! I hear it will be legal from July!
– I ask him: seriously? – Yeah, like it’s a law. I add berries and herbs, it’s delicious 
(he smiles at me, I can see he’s salivating at the thought)
– Oh,” he says, “that’s why you need to stop. I stop. I ask: – where do you live?
– Well, I’ll turn a bit, I’ll walk a bit.
I look at that field/meadow and think… well, it’s not much of a place..
– Maybe I’ll give you a lift home.
– Oh how fun, except that my wife might not be angry that I’m being driven around by blondes ( smiling again, good joke)
Then he goes on to talk about blondes: – you know, I studied with Grybauskaite, and I like her. If I had known that the President would be so good, I would have asked her to marry me!
– Aha, I like it a lot too. Such a tough, workaholic…
He goes on to tell me: “I’m a workaholic too, I’ve worked all my life…
– But is this happiness, to work?”, I ask him.
– You know, I like my job very much, I’m 73 years old, look at me, I have a lot of strength! Happiness is doing what you love. I think I’ll work until I die… And I’m not going to die yet, I have at least 20 years left…. (And smiles as he looks into the distance)
Finally we reached home, he says:
-I’ll remember you, what’s your name?
-Amber.
– OK, I will remember – Gera Gintarė from Kaunas, who gave me a lift.
P.S. For those who like moss, here are the contacts
P.S. 2. I still suspect that he is lucky enough to have a taste of moss…
