BOTTOMS UP
Vladek was no mountaineer, even though he lived alone in the cottage past Ostra Hora (There are two towns of this name in the Czech Republic — this is probably the one near the Polish border, in Moravia, in the Ostrava region.) that his grandfather built. His grandfather was a holy man; he left behind a coloured lithograph of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus on the wall in the kitchen, unintelligible prayer books in a box in the sideboard, carpenter’s tools, and a long heart-shaped shovel, the best sort for digging potatoes in the little sloping field in front of the cottage.
Granddad walked the seven kilometres into the village each Sunday to Mass, in a black suit with a hat on his head. That suit can still be found in the cabinet. Vladek wouldn’t be able to squeeze himself int
