Yellow

It took a moment to realize he was talking to me. I had mistaken his hoarse English for Czech. As I turned to face the voice, he repeated himself and formulated his words again, “Yellow is the color of jealousy”. I stopped, looked at the yellow mug in my hand, and at the man whose tattered gray garments matched that of his face and hair. Before I could stop myself, I responded. “Not happiness?” His pupils lifted and through the beginnings of a grin, he replied, “No, not happiness. Do you speak English?” “Yes” I answered, shocked to be hearing the question while standing among ceramic bowls and mugs in Prague’s Tesco department store. I looked him in the eye as he pushed more words through his (now obvious) smile, “You let me practice my talkative English with you? “ I nodded, looked at my mug, and reiterated our earlier exchange, “Yellow is the color of jealousy? Not happiness?” “No. Not happiness. Not in the Czech Republic. Jealousy is yellow. Yellow is the color of sickness and jealously is an illness. You speak English very well. I am jealous.” We laughed and I assured him that his English was far better than my less than minimal Czech. He replied, “Czech is not useful. I know it because I live here, the rest of the world does not know it and they are fine. I learn English, because it is useful everywhere. Don’t learn Czech, only we are stubborn and speak it. Czechs are old fashioned. I have been to every European country and English is spoken, not Czech. ” I told him I hoped to learn Czech while visiting Prague. He replied, ”If you like. But thank you for letting me practice my English, I hope to speak it like you one day”. He reached over me, seized a yellow mug resting on the shelf above my head, smiled, and with a slight nod sauntered down the utensil aisle. My yellow mug, originally chosen for its sun-like qualities in this dimly lit city, now seemed less appropriate than I originally thought. I placed it back onto the shelf and started to scan for perhaps a more optimistic color. Overwhelmed by the florescent lighting, unfamiliar price tags, and the hum of unrecognizable Czech, I paused and grabbed the mug again.