In the morning went to Jablan to return the camera and show him the big formats I made. There was also the Bora Sliker* and Živa from the local paper, and we ran that film about boxers again.
In the afternoon we got ready for my prom night, and while we approached komitet, there was such a magnificent downpour, a sight to see and enjoy. At the traffic lights all along the main square there were cars lined up, plus the 100m to the entrance. Mom and I somehow ran the distance, while dad moved the car back to the square, parked it at the hotel. There he waited with ŽGLJ, who said he didn't see me at the reception for the vukovci**.
- well he won't be one
- and which subjects did he have a four in?
- yours, to be specific
- but he had a five at the semester
- this was last year
Eh, one forgets...
At the komitet it was solemn and rained on. The building is at the right place - just across the square from the hotel, then 2nd house behind.
I was with some Jagoda (strawberry) from Novi - and I guess I had a reason to write that down... perhaps she's that cousin of Hazim? We kept Sredljak safely in the corner, so nobody stumbles into him, as he wore a bandage inside his shirt, around both shoulders and crossed in the back, sort of infinity symbol, to hold his healing clavicle (broken in a bike accident few weeks before) slightly stretched, not to overload the fracture. The audience was parents, mostly, plus a few others. Slavko conducted the choir.
No matter how pissed off I was with all the circus, and actually succeeded in avoiding most of the formalities, this I couldn't avoid. Okay, the show passed somehow, we marched in as she intended us to do, passed the flowers to the professors (me and one from fourth one were in charge of the philosophy professor). Just for kicks, we picked Bajče to hand the flowers to Troskok, as he was absolutely the worst in russian. Dragana kissed Marko Bozon all over. I counted on our propensity for having a good time and the ability to steal the show. And even the solemnity of the moment turned out more spontaneous than scripted.
We all wore something special. I don't remember what exactly I had for a jacket and trousers, surely not any suit, but it was something krmkasto (see house dictionary), sewn by a private tailor in Čurda. It was just not exactly white but bright enough, and it had a secret pocket in the left sleeve. Which I never used, though. The shirt was black with a decorative tape running two vertical stripes around the buttons and sideways on the cuffs. The 'decorative' is to be taken literally - it's the woven tape used for the edges where the upholstery meets the wood on chair seats. My beard was already full enough, although the mustache remained thin until the end of year. Many of others had suits, though, having either embraced or succumbed to the pressure of tradition. Oli Boj had a thick layer of powder, because she had some trouble with her cosmetician earlier in the year and developed something between facial rash and burn marks, then tried to fix that with more visits to cosmetician.
The director made the same speech as last year, just with different numbers. May it be known that IV5pp was the second best in all of the school, average above 4,3, only the third five was better - which means we were the top of the class. We sang "Gaudeamus igitur" with Slavko's choir, of course - hey, we practiced that. There was accompaniment on a Hammond, which wasn't heard much, but then D.M. later caught the player... I sort of didn't see her at all for two years, and now look at her... Plus I dunno what else, probably handing out some awards.
When we were ready to move away, someone grabbed the mike and announced the change of „pp“ in IV5pp - not „pod prismotrom“ (under surveillance) anymore, it's „poslednji put“ (last time) now. On our way out someone starts singing „Druže Tito, ljubičice bela“ and we quickly leave because nobody knows the second stanza.
The evening started with a rain, we sort of rushed from komitet to the hotel, trying not to get too soaked. We entered there through the side entrance, as the main one is at the reception, and we'd create quite a crowd there. It was crowded even this way, as the wardrobe got congested - many had raincoats and whatnot.
The opening dance was with parents - I waltzed with mom, girls danced with their fathers - well not everybody, some parents didn't come. And then we'd dance with professors; I think I danced with Sonja. To her we gave a pistol shaped lighter, the same type as what Bajče mock-threatened her with when he asked about his final mark. She told me how Radisav is under heavy influence of, among all of them, the old geography professor, the silly old girl. Who'd a thunk.
My dad noticed that absolutely nobody talked to, not to mention danced with, Troskok. She was completely ignored and probably felt like shit, if she got the message at all. My dad had a good view of her all the time, and didn't see anyone approach her. There was an oddball couple for the evening: Tejka and Bajlo.
Some idiot wanted to beat Bajče in the toilet. NMN was at the entrance, just stood and left after a while, probably another marital fight with Sofija. Radisav took the microphone at some point and sang „Obara dzibara“ (a silly song about night noise), then Baki joined him. When they switched to mexican songs, someone produced a sombrero for him. „Alas I'm not a female, I'd show you a proper belly dance“.
One thing I completely forgot, but found it in the diary: Višnja danced with me, on her request. Whatever that meant, I'll never know. Perhaps a thanks and goodbye.
The parents left after dinner plus one drink, then we stayed and just went wild until they kicked us out at around 4, still rather sober. I know we danced and sang a lot, and drank who knows what. In my case, I think it was wine, white.
When we faced the dawn lights (so perhaps we got the exit to last for a full hour, this is before daylight savings so sunrise may be around 4 or a bit later), many of us saw the city in the eastern lights for the first (and maybe last... depending on where we'd party in the following years) time. We didn't really quit - someone knew Gedža who held "Moravac" in the railway building near Kapetanija (again just 400m from the square) and knew that the guy lives there. So we woke him up, and he brought more wine. We were barely able to speak properly, our voices coarse. The last I remember was Mjedac with "if anyone drops by my place, I'm in Lasta" (the tavern there, named after the bus company which had its station right there). It was a bright sunny day outside, the rain was over.
I have absolutely no pictures from the event. I didn't want to burden myself with developing, and also didn't want to pay any of the oldschool professionals at the time, they simply wouldn't catch the atmosphere.
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* „slika“ is a picture - painting or photo or image; „slikar“ is hence a painter. „Sliker“, however, is a mockery, whenever we put a slavic root with latin suffix it mostly is. He was actually the reporter for the TV, with a 16mm Bolex camera, same as the one we once used, just with a zoom lens
** vukovac is the Vuk Karadžić prize winner, which is awarded for average mark of 5,00 throughout (check school levels, 5 is A).