THE BOOK

THE BOOK
2009

Executive Editor: Biljana Pipovic

About THE BOOK: Doc. dr Jasmina Djordjevic, Faculty of Law
and Business Studies, Novi Sad
Authors: Present and former Secondary School of General
Education “Stevan Jakovljevic” students
Cover photo: Ivana Stojiljkovic
Picture credits: Pages 19, 40 & 46: Milica Nesic; Page 53: Sanja
Stamenkovic
CIP .............
Printing:
Printing run of 500 copies
 PREFACE

I have the pleasure to present you THE BOOK.

BOOK
Even though it was not written by me, I am really
proud to say it is a part of me as much as it is the part
of my students since it represents many years of pleasure
and fun that I have had while teaching.
This is THE BOOK dedicated to love, life, friendship...
It is meant to show that even though each generation imag-
ines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went
before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it, some
things never change. No matter when or where you are fif-
teen or eighteen, you share the same dreams, hopes, fears...
This book is a big, nostalgic thank you to all who
were my students, to all who make up the puzzle of my mem-
ory, the puzzle of my dreams.
I hope it will touch your hearts in the same way
it has touched mine. Because these are the words of wise
men. These are the words of great men. The men who have
touched my soul and left a trail...
1. About THE BOOK

Biljana Pipovic
2009
Have you ever felt this world
Has been pressing on you
Have you ever searched for truth
And in your heart found love
Which you have, but never know
That life is too short for you
For the deeds, and needs you have
All they want is to own the truth,
Own your will and rule your brain
But no one can rule your heart
Don’t you ever be afraid
If you can’t win this fight alone
Your heart will show you the way
Then your life will be all yours
You’ll be free to fly away
No one will tell you what to do
2. Poems...

Never again will you be afraid.

Igor Ilickovic
2001/02
LOVE

In thickened fog
You come in blindly
And you fly, fly
Looking for the sunlight
And when the winds of remorse
Break your wings
Through the curse
You summon thunders
And with an ice-cold heart
Look for the exit
From the tunnel of fallacy.

Jovana Tomic
2001/02

3. Poems...
LOVE IS...

Love is a book in one word,

The ocean in one tear,
The sky in one look,
The wind in one sigh,
The thunder in one touch.
So,
If there is brightness on Earth,
It is in your eyes.
If there is happiness
It is meeting with you.
If there is pain,
It is life without you.

Ivana Kitanovic
2001/02.

4. Poems...
 DRIVING

I am driving, I am driving
Around the world, and I know
I am driving, I am driving
To be with you, to reach you...

Wait for me, wait for me

‘Cause I love you, yes, I do...

I am walking, I am walking
And I am thinking about you
I want you and I miss you
I miss you by my side

Come to me, come to me

Be my only, only wish
Be my only, only mine,
mine forever
By my side...

Sanja Mitic
2003/04 5. Poems...
 TRYING

I am driving, I am driving
My new car, across the fields
I am singing, I am singing
Nothing is the way it seems

I am trying, I am trying
To forget all my pain
I am crying, forever crying
Everything goes in vain

Can you sing with me? Can you sing?

Together we can put the pain away
Can you sing with me? Can you sing?
Together we can go the other way

Aleksandra Velickovic
2003/04.

6. Poems....
GAMBLING

I am gambling, I am gambling
With the devil all my life
I am gambling, I hear wailing
‘Cause the devil is my wife

Now I am dying, I am dying

Like a dog in the yard
She is frying my poor body
And nobody is my guard

Can you kill me? Can you kill me?

Once to end this bad trip
Forever dying, I am crying
I want, so much, to fall asleep.

Dusan Cvetkovic
2003/04

7. Poems...
 THEY (who destroy)

They're killing children

They're killing God
They're killing future
They're killing us

No one can stop them

We're all going to die
They own the world
Everything else is a lie

It's not a hard deduction

They own the destruction

We can't fight them

'Cause they have their fake war
When everyone's dying
And Death is winning battles
Time and time again

Dusan Cvetkovic
2004/05
8. Poems...
***

A dog is an animal
A dog is a bloodthirsty
Creature
Dogs are lethal in their
Ignorance
The weak are their victims
The weak can't get stronger
So, dogs, try to be more
Human
Hope for the mind and
Heart, too
Don't kill human in you
Don't act as dogs do!

Dusan Cvetkovic
2004/05

9. Poems...
ALWAYS WITH ME
My life, my dream
That's what you are,
And I can never forget you
‘Cause you were always there
by my side

For you I'll give my last breath

And my last glass of wine
You - my destiny
You were always there
by my side

But this life is too short

Too short to get to know you
You - my destiny
You were always there
by my side

When I was sad

When I cried
You - my destiny
You were always there
by my side

Like the fireplace

In the frosty winter night
You - my destiny
You were always there
10. Poems...

by my side
Slavica Milekic
2004/05
Fear
What would you do
If I were wrong
And love was just a flame
Would you give up everything
That you thought I was?

What if our hearts ran black

Our fears began to grow
Would you tell me that
We were not enough
And leave me all alone?

Julija Popovic
February, '05

11. Poems...
 ***
It must have been the rain
Nothing hurts so bad...
I'm going to find it now.
I don't care about the pain.

The Sun is way high up

for me to see its signs
But my eyes can try to see
What its dust leaves behind.

It must have been the rain

Nothing makes me so sad
I left you with a ray of hope
But you came back...
Trying to make it stop.

It was raining again.

A rain drop can say a lot....

Julija Popovic
January, '06
12. Poems...
blinded by the silence

where you are - is a place to be

people hiding behind their faces
no one can ever see ...
the darkness of their smiles,
the shadows in their pretty eyes
they are all very happy
with that sorrow
that, actually, never dies...

in the silence
it's all coming together
in the silence
you face it all by yourself
in the silence
you'll remember...forever
those little things you've never said.

where I am - is a place to see

people hiding behind
their feelings
no one is able to find me....
behind this curtain of love...hate
am I free?
can you see me? feel me?
how can I find love if I'm too afraid to
see..
if I can't recognize its face?
am I dreaming?
in the silence
all the fires are cold
in the silence
thoughts are louder and louder...
in the silence...
...save me!catch me before I fall!
please save me...be my founder.
13. Poems...

again, I'm blinded by the silence...

Julija Popovic
December, ‘03.
Memory
Living this life
Facing these days
Finding this path
Cursing this fate
Trying to find
Thoughts in this darkness
Never is now
I'm falling apart.
Dancing with danger
Crawling for more
I'm finding this anger
Deep in my core.
Living your fears
Trying to help
Nothing is done
I came back too late.

Julija Popovic
January, '06

14. Poems...
SINCE YOU LEFT
I’m sitting alone by the river
The night is cold and empty
SInce you left
I’ve been living in a lie
You are always on my mind

I can’t stop thinking about you

I keep forgetting I am alive
SInce you left
I’ve been trying to get on with my life
But it’s hard, oh, so hard

When I look into the river

Your face is what I see
Everything reminds me of you
I want to be cool
But it’s hard, oh, so hard

Since you left

I’ve been doing what I don’t want to
It’s just wasting time
‘Cause you are always on my mind
And I wonna live

I only wonna live

Without you, without you
How? I’m going to find out...
15. Poems...

Darko Nikolic
2006/07
I thought love was just a mirage of the mind
An illusion, a fake, impossible to find
But the day I met you I began to see
that love is real, and exists in me.

You are the smile on my face

You are the sparkle in my eye
You are the happiness in my heart
You are the contentment of my sigh

You are the life in my veins

The half of my whole
The light in my darkness
The soul of my soul

You are the sun in my sky

You are the spirit of my song
You are the love of my life
You are the where I belong

Dragana Spasic
16. Poems...

2008/09
 Faith

Ain't it funny how we never learn to fall

We just hide the feelings behind our pride
We sometimes feel so small
And we keep the pain deep inside.

Find your light in a scary night

Find someone you can trust
Set your gloves up for a fight
Or else we are just dust.

You must keep the faith

Let love get into your heart
Don’t let it turn to hate
Let someone be its part.

Dragana Spasic
2008/09

17. Poems...
THE WAY YOU MAKE ME FEEL
A lot of things in life go wrong
But I smile when we are together
No matter how bad things are
You always make them better.

I’ve tried so hard to hide

Who I am inside
But you’ve seen the real me
The girl you want me to be.
You make me feel special
You make me feel new
You make me feel loved
With everything you do.

I love the way you kiss me

The way you hold me tight
I love the way you touch me
I could be with you all night.

I just want you to know,

That even though we sometimes fight
I will always love you
No matter what, day or night.

Dragana Spasic
18. Poems...

2008/09
19.
Can’t buy me ... love

The greatest dream of all ordinary people who live

on this planet is peace and harmony in their lives. They
do not need so much to be happy.
However, there are also people who want to destroy
that ideal. Those are the people who want to rule this
world. Powerful and rich, they are trying to capture the
happiness of others so they can be happy. But they are
wrong. They cannot be happy because they only need to feed
their greed.
True happiness is not in material wealth. It is in
feelings; it is in the beauty of the human soul. The true
happiness is love. And there is no money in the world that
can buy love. Love is untouchable for greed. Love is not a
thing, it is abstract and therefore priceless.
Only people with a pure heart can feel it. No one can
possess love. Evil cannot harm it, because without love there
would not be human beings. People would become stupid
machines that can talk and work, and nothing more...
People with soul are able to love. Whether they are
rich or poor, it does not really matter if they are happy.
So, we must be more emotional, less material beings
because only in that way our humanity will survive.
20. Essays...

Dusan Cvetkovic
2002/03
An eye for an eye...

To be or not to be... are the words of all mankind. In our

lives we always have some decisions to make. What we are
going to do with our lives depends on us. But at least once
in our life, we are going to ask ourselves exactly what
Hamlet asked himself. Do we want to fight for justice, do
we want to look into the future with our eyes full of hope,
to fight against the sea of troubles? Or, do we want to
stay back, in the dark, without dreams, without feelings,
without fight?
Wait a minute! Is that life? Of course not! So what
should we do? Sometimes it is really hard to stay honest,
because the road that leads to justice is very bumpy.
Sometimes we have to do some horrible things. Sometimes
somebody gets killed or kills, as Hamlet did.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth... Is that real-
ly justice? When you have to kill someone, how can you keep
on living? Who are we? Who gives us the right to do some-
thing like that? Are we gods? No, we are not! And if we
kill someone in the name of justice, who are we? Are we
better than the killer?
I can tell you, Hamlet is a lucky man. He died imme-
diatelly after he had killed his uncle. If he had stayed
alive, he would have been only a ghost, not a man with a
heart and soul.
So now we are aware of the problem. What should we
do? How can a murderer be punished? I cannot answer that.
21. Essays...

Here I’ll stop.

Kristina Karuovic
2003/04
LIFE...
Here, in this world, some days are made to make you cry...
Yet, there are days which can bring you only joy and
strong wings so you can fly over the big dark side of life
which means only trouble. Sometimes you just cannot stand
all the problems and heartaches life gives you, but you
know if you keep on moving you will see the bright and
sunny side which is then even more beautiful and brighter.
You will survive and your tears, your rainy days are going
to be something distant.
Each man has his own destiny. And everyone knows that
there are always good things coming... Behind the dark cur-
tain, there is always the sun which makes our life inter-
esting and worth living for.
We must appreciate all the things life brings us, bad or
good, because they make our days exciting..
Kristina Karuovic
2003/04

22. Essays...
HERE COMES SUMMER
I ask myself almost every day what I have done to deserve
this beautiful life. When I wake up in the morning and when
I hear the birds singing and see the Sun shining, I feel
very lucky to be alive, to be here.
But there are some days... The weather has something to do
with it... When I look out and everything is somehow quiet,
dark and gloomy, I feel sad and lonely. I do not want to
do anything. I just want to sit there, in my room. I want
to be alone, only with the sound of my favourite song on
the radio. When it is raining, my mood is even worse...
Oh, but when the weather is nice, that is the whole new
story. I am happy - no reason at all. I sing all day. I do
not fight with my older sister. I go for a walk with my
younger brother. I even help my mother.
Hurry up summer!

Jovana Stamenkovic
2003/04

23. Essays...
THERE IS ALWAYS HOPE
Life can be nice and sweet. But everything that is nice
is not long lasting. Everything comes to its end. Some days
of our life are bad and ugly like winter silence when
everything is dying under the white covering.
Still, when you think that rainy days are never going to
end, when there is no hope, you are going to see the end
of a tunnel like a shiny star which is going to bring
happiness into your life. You just have to follow it.
Life is unpredictable... We never know what it brings. We
only know that something is going to happen either good
or bad. Thus, if you want to succeed, you must be patient
and use everything that life gives in the best possible way.
There is always hope!

Damir Kocic
2003/04

24. Essays...
LIFE... SO MUCH FUN
Life is not a one-way street.
One day we walk along a golden road, and another we could
find ourselves on a steep, mountain path. It could be a slip-
pery road covered with ice, but after some walking and
falling the ice must melt down. We can enter a dark for-
est and walk surrounded by creepy trees and shiny eyes
twinkling in the dark.
But then again, we could walk through the fields
surounded by pretty flowers. We can hear birds singing, we
can see the sun again.
No matter what path we follow in life we must never stop.
And if we get lost some time, and it is possible after all
that walking, we must keep our heads. We must not lose our
heads. Only then can we easily find our way.
Walking without falling, without climbing would be so dull.
Without any excitement, our lives would be senseless.

Nenad Golubovic
2003/04

25. Essays...
I hate when it rains...
Then I think that the sky cries because of all the acci-
dents that are happening all over the world. Rain reminds
me of a life path where we must go and meet many disap-
pointments, feel a lot of pain and sometimes, but only some-
times feel happiness which appears like a ray of sunshine.
Only because of that single ray, we must keep on walking,
we must fight.
Life can be like a stormy sky, but after rain, there is a
rainbow.
I want to believe in that.

Jelena Stankovic
2003/04

26. Essays...
HELLO SUNSHINE!

It is morning. The sun is shining... So much to see, but so

little to say. It is hard to describe. You can see me smil-
ing. Can't you see my heart? It is smiling, too. It is happy
and it wants to share its happiness. It wants to beat for
two.
The sky is cloudy. It is so dark. There is no smile on my
face. I can feel the problem. A cold wind is blowing through
my heart. I am so afraid.
The rain has started. I feel tears on my face. I want some-
body to protect me, to help me. Is there a real friend to
share this sadness?
No matter, deep down I know I'll be happy again. Here comes
the sun again.

Tanja Jovanovic
2003/04

277. Essays...
Love And Beauty Above All
We live in times when many people often lose
themselves, their identity... Nowadays only the shadows of
lost people are passing by.
We dream about unlimited happiness; a world with-
out hatred. But, we know that something like that does not
exist. We know that man's life is full of pain and suffer-
ing.
The most important thing in life is fight, but
not the fight, the struggle for survival. Here we talk about
the fight for power, for material values. Kingdoms are
being lost, lives are being lost for money. People die and
suffer. The tears of blood flow from the eyes of mothers.
Evil people hide tragedies in the bouquets of roses.
Why are there less and less people who are good-
hearted, who wear a smile instead of guns? Where have all
those good people disappeared? Who is going to save us from
ourselves?
I hope that one day people will understand what
love and beauty
really mean!

Dragana Stojanovic
2003/04
28. Essays...
LOVE

And there is love - the word that has been keeping our
lives all these years. The nicest in the world. The most puz-
zling and mysterious. And, of course, the most painful one.
It is always so near, hiding and waiting to be found.
Dancing in the air, following every step of ours, making
us go mad... An inexplicable feeling with no definition, a
game without any rules.
An emotion which pushes us into stirred waters. And we are
not even aware. I'm really not able to think... Butterflies,
butterflies, butterflies... in this world I know only them
and you, my darling.
You are the one who makes me nervous, and happy; who makes
me feel superior, perfect.
So noble and beautiful love is.

Emilija Mitov
2003/04

29. Essays...
The Perfect One
Have you ever asked yourself what is wrong with
this world?
It is a cruel place and nobody likes to be alone. Everybody
should have someone to look after him, to take care of him.
I would like to find that special one. That is my only
chance to escape from this hell..
She should be pretty, smart, intelligent. She should love
kids. She must love me, understand me, sometimes forgive if
I do something bad. She would have to get to know me, the
real me deep inside; to hear my thoughts, to see my dreams,
and make them true if it's possible; to give me wings when
I want to fly.
She will tell me that I am her special, really wanted. She
will tell me that I am the one because I need somebody to
tell me that it is going to last forever. And when I see
the spark in her eye, I'll know that she loves me.
She will have to give me some faith, hold me tight when
nights are cold. When I have burnt all my bridges, and
there is nowhere left for me to turn to, she will be there
for me, no matter what.
She will never walk out on me; she will let me have one
more chance... And I'll never regret choosing this woman to
be my everlasting love.

Nemanja Bosic
30. Essays...

2004/05
A MAN COULD BE AS EFFECTIVE AS GOD

Everyone in this world has an obligation to try to make

this planet a better place for living and also to protect nature
as much as possible.
Human beings, as the most productive and the most devel-
oped form of life on Earth, are the only hope for this world.
Unfortunately, many people today forget how much this planet
has already given us and how much we owe it. It seems as if the
only thing we have learnt up to now is how to destroy its beau-
ties and we have not done anything to correct our mistakes.
Because of that, today we feel the consequences of our careless-
ness, such as: wars, poverty, hunger...
However, I still think that in this world there are quite
a few people who are aware of our situation and who are try-
ing to protect our planet as much as possible. Those people are
also aware that destruction is not our main quality. We can be
as effective as God! We can give a new life in many ways. We
can take care of our own race, or take care of animals, and
plants.
The only thing we need in order to revive our planet is
will power and a lot of love. People who love nature and who
are aware of their role in this world can do much more than
they even imagine. We can stop wars in the world, raise money
to erase poverty and hunger; we can help children in need, sup-
port different societies and agencies in their fight against
crime and exploitation. We can also do a lot for animals and
plants by protecting species which are about to become extinct,
by planting new trees and creating National parks.
All in all, we can do so much for this world to make it
look like God did it himself.
31. Essays...

After all, if WE do not help this world of ours, then who

will?!
Sanja Trajkovic 2005/06
 Be yourself no matter what they say!

In life, you can have a lot of problems and obstacles which

can prevent you from becoming a successful person.
When everything seems broken into pieces and absolute-
ly impossible, when all people around you have problems,
never, but never, think that you are guilty of that.
Be yourself! Don't panic - you need to be reasonable.
Don't let people accuse you and recognise their mistakes in
you.
Don't be satisfied with the minimum. Always trust your-
self and think you are the best. Although, something can be
difficult, try to do it. Think: 'I am the best! I can do that!'
Don't say: 'It is too difficult for me. I cannot do that!'
You can! Yes, of course, you can!!! The only thing you need
is self-confidence.
If people around you do things which are not good
(and in this world there are a lot of bad things, drugs
being one of the worst examples), don't break down. If you
want to do something wrong, think before you do that; think
about the consequences and you will understand whether
that is good or bad. Don't let other people make you do bad
things.
Remain the same - you must be you. Perhaps one day you
will be a famous person, a rich person - don't change your
habits. Sometimes money and fame change people. Wherever
you are, and whatever people you are with - whether they
32. Essays...

are rich or poor, famous or ordinary, normal people - above

all, they are humans, people just like you!
People you call friends might not always be your
friends. They can hurt you, maybe more than your enemies.
Never say 'I will help you!' better say 'I will try to help
you.' for there are moments when your friends need help
and you cannot do anything for them. They will be disap-
pointed in you, so to avoid that better say 'I will try to
help you, if I can.'
Sixty seconds seem longer than one minute. Make your
life full; live every day as the last one. Everyday do things
you like.
I have written many sentences... However, the point is
- if you stick to these ideas in life, you will become a
Man. Wherever you are, whatever you do - stay the same! Be
yourself!!! Be yourself no matter what they say!

Bojana Davinic
2005/06

33. Essays...
D RIVE AWAY YOU, LOVE STEALER!!!

The necessity to control appears as soon as we fall in

love. It is often said that there is a thin line between love
and hatred, but it would be better to say that love and the
need to control someone are in such a relationship. If you
have ever tried to control someone then you know that you
did that because you felt insecure and weak.
Excessive control can take your relationship to a blind
alley where your best intentions become a road to hell. You
will not get love you long for, if you have a tendency to
control!
Women are mostly the ones that are possessive. They
should know that men would never give up their own free-
dom and possibility to control their destiny just to be with
a woman.
One of the most painful feelings that we can ever expe-
rience is jealousy. Sometimes it becomes obsessive and that
can inevitably bring us to a total loss of control! How we
are going to react depends on how much we trust ourselves
and how much we believe we are wanted and loved. To be
jealous means to be insecure! Jealousy does not only hit the
object of our doubts but also prevents us from proper eval-
uation.
Fear that we could lose our beloved can be horrifying!
34. Essays...

People, who are jealous, are mostly fighting against an

imaginary enemy that can steal their love. Jealousy is sim-
ilar to paranoia. When doubt and anger appear between
partners, love and trust can no longer survive!
People who control their beloved ones always believe,
secretly, that they don't completely deserve the love they
are given.
So far there is something you should remember: you
must take risks, stop controlling and learn to put up with
uncertainty and you will find true love or at least keep
your beloved and which is more important, you might find
new, internal power.

Katarina Jovcic
2008/09

35. Essays...
THE LAW ON DISCRIMINATION

Even during the earliest period of human existence, those

who were physically stronger, more capable, more intelli-
gent, tended to put themselves above all others, to hold the
power in their hands, which couldn't have been very sig-
nificant for that period. Still, they wanted to rule. That
is how differences between people became so numerous that
society became divided into groups we usually call classes.
Although there have always been people promoting
equality, still very little has been achieved so far. The
right to equality is one of the basic rights established in
some of the first declarations and constitutions. But even
centuries later, when the human race has reached a very
high level of development and modern technology has com-
pletely changed our lives, some attitudes seem to be
unchangeable. People still allienate themselves and avoid
each other because of different race, religion, nationality
and which is very sad - because of sex. Women are still
discriminated even though they have proved their abilities
so many times.
Another problem is that the country and its author-
ities do not treat people as equals. Reality shows that pub-
lic bodies are so corrupted that only wealth can help you
solve the problem. The reality is that we live in a socie-
ty of inequality. People whose duty is to protect human
rights see people as rich or poor, white or black,
36. Essays...

Christians or Muslims, male or female. And no one feels that

it is a violation of law. No one considers it right to pun-
ish those who hurt others discriminating them every day.
Just imagine this: we are told we live in a democratic soci-
ety. What we are actually showed is that democracy is when
we have to pay or know powerful people if we want to get
rights we are entitled to. I have been taught democracy is
something else. Not paying to be heard or accepted in places
you normally belong to.
What can we do? I would like you to imagine your-
selves being discriminated for one moment. It doesn't mat-
ter who by, what for? How would you feel? - Frustrated,
angry, humiliated, embarrassed. Believe me, we all could eas-
ily get into that kind of situation at least once in our
lives. That is why we have to try to be aware of the
diveristy among people and promote tolerance among them,
because, diveristy is important and it makes the world
interesting!
Milica Veselinovic
2008/09

37. Essays...
People wake up!!!
One of the world's biggest problems and in my opinion the
most important one is to save the Earth from destruction.
There is a lot about it in the news and in TV programs,
but it seems to me, there aren't many people thinking about
it and taking it seriously.
As you probably know, nature is being destroyed more
and more every second, every day, and because of that, the
end of our planet and human race is getting closer. Have
you ever thought about it? Will you stop for a moment and
think about this? People wake up!
First of all, I would like to point out that the sad-
dest thing about this is that nature is being destroyed by
ourselves. We are destroying our planet and killing our-
selves unconsciously under cover of technological develop-
ment. As Chris Rea said: 'This is not a technological break
down, this is a road to hell!' People wake up!
Do you realize the consequences of modern and easy life?
Do you understand that with solving some small 'problems'
and making life easier, we are just creating bigger prob-
lems. It is like a boomerang effect - cars, different
machines, factories, radiation, nuclear energy and many
other things are polluting the air, the soil, the water and
food. Have you noticed that the symbol of healthy food -
green apple has vanished from packages!? We are destroying
our planet with every breath and we can't live without it.
38. Essays...

People wake up! Do you think it's late to do something?

I would like to turn to solving this problem, but as I
have already noticed there is only talking and talking
about this enormous threat to the human race. Energy
recourses are being spent and in the near future there will
be wars for food and water. But still nobody does anything.
Can you believe this?
Finally, I’d like to say to all of you and to the
whole world: 'People wake up!' We must wake up or we will
die in our sleep!
Thank you for reading this and I hope I have not been
writing in vain...

Jelena Stamenkovic
2008/09

399. Esssayss...
40.
A BIRTHDAY PRESENT
Last year a young couple decided to get married. After the
wedding, the woman had to go on a business trip abroad. At
the same time it was her husband's birthday. She sent him
a very big box with a small, but precious present - a preg-
nancy test. It was positive!

Ana Davinic
2008/09

A LONG RELATIONSHIP

Jim and Susan had had a long relationship. They had always
been together. One day they decided to go somewhere on hol-
iday, but separately. Jim didn't want to tell Susan where
he was going. She didn't say, either. So he went to Venice.
And there she was!
What a connection!

Jelena Kostic
2008/09
ni saagaas...
41. Min
KILLER

The killer woke up. He put his boots on. He took a mask
from the ancient gallery. He took a knife. He was so angry.
He wanted blood. But too many dead people were behind him.
He was weak and he committed suicide. He set off to meet
his destiny.

Nikola Krstic
2008/09

HERO ZERO
One day a brave hero Zero heard someone screaming. He saw
his girlfriend who was in trouble. An enormous, furious
wolf was after her, so Zero took his sward and shield and
started chasing him. Zero was too fast, too furious and...
he fell down, hit his head and died.

Dragana Jovanovic
Milica Krstic
Aleksandar Petrovic
42. Mini sagas...

2008/09
ON HOLIDAY
An elephant and a mouse went on holiday. The mouse was
sunbathing. The elephant was swimming. Suddenly, the mouse
started yelling: Come on! Get out of the water.. hurry! The
scared elephant ran out of the water. The mouse said:
Nothing. Just checking if you have taken my bathing cos-
tume.

Milica Cvetanovic
Jelena Stamenkovic
2008/09

A Selfish Pet Owner

Tom bought a sandwich and had enough money to buy some

food for Billy. He decided to buy an ice-cream instead and
went back home. He left the sandwich and went upstairs.
When he returned, Billy was eating it.
If Tom hadn't been so selfish, he wouldn't have been
hungry.

Milica Veselinovic
43. Mini sagas...

2008/09
Earthquake
It was Saturday night, a perfect night for dancing. Susan
went to the disco and started dancing. Suddenly, she felt
that the ground was shaking. She panicked, but not for very
long. "That's why this place is called Earthquake," she
laughed to herself.
The next minute they were all dead.

Danica Stankovic
2008/09

Scared groom

They were the happiest couple in the world. But one morn-
ing when she woke up she found a note: 'Darling I love you,
but I'm not good enough for you'.
She thought what she had done wrong, then she remembered.
Last night she had said 'marriage'. Today he ran away.

Jelena Petrovic
2008/09
gas...
44. Miinii sag
Unlucky sparrow
A little sparrow fell out from the nest and broke its wing.
A man wanted to help. He saw the broken wing and felt sick.
A child wanted to take it home. His mother refused. A girl
said 'Poor sparrow'. Her boyfriend kissed her and trampled
it with a 47-shoe..

Dragana Spasic
2008/09

Buying a ticket
A woman called: 'Hello, I want to go from Chicago to
Hippopotamus, New York!'
'Hippopotamus? I've looked up every airport code but I
can't find it.'
The customer retorted: 'Don't be silly! Check your map!'
'You don't mean Buffalo, do you?'
'That's it! I knew it was a big animal!'

Dragana Spasic
2008/09
45. Mini saagas...
46.
What happened to the supernatural?
It is ordinary things that make me afraid... trees, knives,
rivers in the darkness of the night, the cry of a baby,
red-haired children...
I was out in the open field. The land I was walking
through lay broiling in the Sun. As I walked farther and
farther, it glittered like glass and it seemed to stretch
out endlessly. I didn’t know where I was. At one moment
things started to move so fast that I could see only shad-
ows. Everything was shaking and moving around.
Now I was in the woods. The path I was walking along
was too narrow. I got scratched by the thorns which were
on the bushes along the path. I had the strange feeling to
keep moving although I didn’t know where I was and why I
was there. I was going along the path and in front of me
I saw a fallen tree trunk which was blocking my way. I
couldn’t pass there, but I still had that strange desire to
keep going. Then I heard a voice: ‘Don’t let other things
make you give up!’ I can’t describe how the feelings got
mixed up in me and made me confused and frightened. I
turned around and saw a bear looking at me. I was panick
stricken, but he just turned around and disappeared. Again,
everything started moving and shaking.
Before I even realised what was happening I was stand-
ing in the middle of something... something which looked like
a desert. Hot winds blew freely over everything, carrying
47. Storiees...

sand to choke up ears and nostrils, bringing me a scen as

soft as melting butter. I didn’t know where on Earth I was.
In my pocket I found a fork. I started to think that I had
already gone mad, or that I had arrived in Hell, or...
I didn’t know what I was thinking about. No aim... just the
same feeling... to go on. The thoughts in my head were like
a shapeless pile. I was trying to push them out, but that
was only confusing me more and more. I don’t know how long
I had been walking before I reached a wall. The wall seemed
to be stretching out endlessly. I heard a strange noise
behind it. And it seemed as if something was getting clos-
er and closer to me and it seemed that it would hit me,
and blow me away...
Then I opened my eyes and saw that I was in my room,
in my bed. My body was shaking, my breathing was heavy...
sweat was all over me. I wondered: ‘What is real? Our
dreams... our reality?’ The line between is so thin.
So keep your eyes wide open, and look into your heart.

Vladimir Djonic
2001/02

48. Stories...
Hard to Understand
It was Wednesday, quarter past five, maybe half past
five. I came out of the building, and since I was in a hurry,
I looked for a cab. A yellow cab stopped. I threw my ruck-
sack into the car and told the driver where to take me. It
was so hot in the car that I took off my jacket. After a
while we stopped. I paid the driver, and on my way out
grabbed all the stuff that was on the back seat. The cab
drove off. I was putting on my jacket, then the rucksack
when I noticed a purse faling out of my jacket.
I was surprised. THe purse wasn’t mine, but I had it.
I looked for the cab, but it was already gone. I didn’t know
what was in the purse, just as I didn’t know what to do
with it. After a while, I decided to open it. I was hoping
to find something, an ID maybe, or anything that might be
helpful. When I looked in, I found myself not confused, but
really taken aback. There was money - lots of it - ten
thousand pounds, even more. I looked again and there was
an ID. The purse belonged to a Mr Collins.
Now I had doubts. I didn’t know whether this money
was ‘dirty’, or maybe the money for a new car, or maybe
the tax should be paid with it, or even a hospital bill. I
didn’t know... Eventually, I decided. The money would have to
be returned to the owner. As soon as I had finished my
shopping, I took another cab and gave the driver the
address from the ID.
49. Stories...

When I returned the money, Mr Collins was very happy

and grateful. Just as I suspected, it was tax money. It
turned out that Mr Collins owned a cinema, so he, in order
to show his gratitude, gave me tickets for the premiere of
The Independence Day which was supposed to be in his cin-
ema the following week.
When I came home, my mother was furious. Her dinner
was ruined because I didn’t get all the groceries on time.
When I told her what had happened to me, she didn’t believe
me, so I showed her the tickets, but then she yelled at me
because I didn’t ask her to go to the cinema.
Grown-ups are hopelss! No matter what we do, they’ll
always be better, smarter, their way is always going to be
better than ours. But that comes with growing older. It’s
not their fault. What can be done? Being old and having
obligations is such a terrible thing. It’s bothering them
that they can’t be young again, so they interfere and make
our life difficult, as if it weren’t difficult enough. Even
though it’s hard to understand them, we are also growing
older, so we should probably turn a blind eye and forgive
them.

Nemanja Conic
2002/03

50. Stories...
There’s Always Weather
Time has stopped today. The weather will always be the
same. No more atmosphere and the Sun is in the West.
Electric birds are flying, singing songs about Maltus.
The weather is always the same. Do they know what the rain
is? It’s probably something from the old books from the
period before Ford. Do they know for the sides of the
world? I saw the East and with a new pair of electric eyes
yesterday.
I am only sixteen, but I look older than the old man.
The Sun is black. What can be done? I can’t change it -
I’ve learnt from horses; I grew up with horses.
I shall cry tonight and my tears will pour like rain.
I’ll give you back your feelings, and your dirty system will
be distroyed.

Radoslav Zdravkovic
2002/03

51. Stories...
Punished by a Ghost

I’ve had troubles this year... I’ve quarreled with my

friends, I’ve always been tired, I’ve lost my will. I got dis-
appointed in love.
These bad things, as a matter of fact, had their good
side. I became more competent... The fear of dying disapeared.
I was not afraid to be crushed by a car any more; to be
shot by a drunken criminal; to be poisoned by contaminat-
ed food. However, there was one thing I couldn’t do any-
thing about - I was really scared to be haunted by the
ghost that was sleeping under my bed.
One morning I got up with a headache. I felt some
strange insecurity. And at the moment of confusion, the evil
ghost attacked. I couldn’t move my body. It shot six times
through my head, then dyed my hair. It washed my brain
with hydrogen and put some weird sounds into it.
I shouted, but no one heard. The ghost put me in
chains. It laughed at me. I tried to move again but I fell
on the floor. I saw myself falling through a great depth.
Suddenly, a brilliant, white light appeared in front of me.
I heard the tolling of the iron bell. I saw something I
couldn’t explain. It claimed my soul.
So, I saw myself in an asylum for lunatics. The voice
spoke to me: ‘You’ve wasted all your time. Every next year
52. Stories...

will be shorter for you. You were different and you could-
n’t choose your own ground. How much time did you spend
without ever having fun? Now, you’ll live a hard life with
emptiness in your head.’ As it stopped speaking, the room
filled with darkness.
The last thing I saw was a man with the gun passing
by. I tried to find a tree to lie down and sleep under it.
But everywhere I looked, I saw the endless desert of
destroyed ideas. I shouted: ‘What do you want from me?’
I was alone. To the West, the Sun was eclipsing the
Moon.

Radoslav Zdravkovic
2002/03

53. Stories...
***
I’m sitting and thinking about you...about a thousand miles
between us... If only I didn’t love you any more! But as long
as I’m thinking about you and wanting not to love you, I
need you... I miss you.
A thousand miles are a temptation for any true love - time
and a thousand miles between us.
You haven’t been near me for many years, but I still want
you and your face, every day.
I think that after you I’ll never love again ... I’ve been
in love, yes, but I’ve never loved as I loved you. I’ll live
on remembering you, your eyes, your smile... I’ll live to meet
you once again in my life. I’ll live in the past with your
eyes...
My angel, the old Greeks had a theory that stars are the
only perfection in this Universe.
Today, if anyone says that, I’m sure he hasn’t seen you.
Forever waiting for you,
Sanja

Sanja Zlatkovic
2002/03 54. Stories...
***
Listen to me now...
You realise this is the last connection between us?
No more walks... no more talks...
There’s nothing left... I don’t know who is to blame, who’s
guilty, you or me, both or neither of us. Forgive me for
the things I did, the things that hurt you.
Neither distance nor time will help me forget you.
Tomorrow I’ll mention your name with a smile as if noth-
ing has happened.
But tomorrow is far away.
The wound in me reminds me of you ‘cause you meant a life
to me. But, you’ll never know that.
Once when the wound has been healed, nobody will ask me
how much it hurt.

Tamara Stevic
2002/03

55. Stories...
At the Theatre
Leila and Peter had always wanted to be actors, but they
were living in a small town and had never had an oppor-
tunity to try themselves on the stage.
One day a big theatre group came to their town to
perform a show. Everyone was very excited. Leila and Peter
wanted to experience something more.
They sneaked out through the back door and wandered
through the halls. Suddenly they saw a big, dark room.
At first, it looked normal, but when they entered they saw
two human bodies on the floor. They approached them slow-
ly.
At that moment a man with a huge knife rushed into
the room and started cutting the bodies into pieces. There
was blood everywhere... There were arms and legs all around.
Leila and Peter almost died of fear.
All at once, the lights turned on and they heard some-
one shouting: ‘What are you doing in here? This is a
rehearsal! Nobody is allowed to see the show before
tonight’s opening!’

Marko Stamenkovic
2003/04
56. Stories...
One of those days

It was a bad day. It was a really bad day.

I woke up very late; my sister had forgotten to wake
me up. When I looked at myself in the mirror and I saw my
hair was terrible. I knew I had to wash it, but I realised
that there was no time. Then I realised I had no clean
clothes to wear. I had to wear my dirty jeans and my HIM-
shirt which I was wearing every day last week.
I was running around trying to find a pair of socks
when the phone rang. It was my parents, and since I had-
n’t heard from them for two weeks, I had to talk to them
for half an hour. Eventually, I washed my hair even though
there was no time to dry it completely cause I had to study.
I did not have time to eat either. In the meantime it start-
ed to rain. What a disaster! I had no shoes, only a pair of
sneakers, so I had to wear them. Time was passing and I
almost missed the bus - I had to run to catch it.
Things got worse when I got to school. The boy I liked
wasn’t at school that day, so I was in a bad mood. My biol-
ogy teacher wanted to test me, and since I was in a bad
mood, I got a bad mark. Then I got another one from my
Latin teacher. Everything was bad, but the worst was still
to come!
The rain didn’t let up the whole day. I was all wet.
57. Stories...

However, when I got home nobody was there. There was noth-
ing to eat. Perhaps I could mention that I hadn’t eaten at
school ‘cause I had forgotten to take lunch money with me.
The room was freezing. I was very cold so I tried to find
something to cheer me up.
Music could cheer me up! But I remembered how every-
one from my class thought wrongly about me because of the
music I listened to and the clothes I wore. They said I was
just a shadow, that I didn’t have my personality... The boy
I liked said that, too. Suddenly, I was no longer in the
mood to listen to music.
Tell me, who wouldn’t?

Sanja Stankovic
2003/04

58. Stories...
I miss you...
It was a year ago when my granny died. It was an
ordinary evening. The whole day I was thinking about her,
our conversations, her advice... I was sad and I decided to
go to the house where she had lived.
When I came into her room I felt a little bit strange.
It was at the same time cold and warm. Suddenly, in the
opposite corner of the room I saw her. My old granny was
smiling. I didn’t know what to do. I was panick stricken.
It was incredible! I couldn’t believe my eyes... She was dead.
I closed my eyes... and screamed. My mother heard me and
came quickly. I was shaking.
When I finally opened my eyes, she was gone. When I
calmed down I wasn’t quite sure what had happened to me.
My mother said that was normal because she’d died only two
days before and that I still couldn’t believe that she had
gone for good.
And me? I think I really saw her.
I miss her so much...

Danijela Andjelkovic
2003/04 59. Stories...
Unbelievable
It was Saturday. Someone rang my door bell. I opened
the door. It was my friend David. At first, I didn’t recog-
nise him. He was very pale and his hands were shaking...
‘I don’t understand.’ David kept reapeating for near-
ly half an hour as if he was having a bad dream. After a
cup of coffee, and a pack of cigarettes, he started to talk.
‘It was yesterday. I went out alone because all my
friends were busy. I wasn’t in a good mood because, as you
know, I’d lost my job, but I couldn’t stay at home either. I
would feel worse. I went to Sun, you know the club we had
been at on my birthday. Anyway, it was strangely quiet for
a Friday night. I sat by the bar and ordered a drink. After
a couple of minutes, just after it stroke midnight, the door
opened and SHE came in. She had a long, white dress, beau-
tiful black hair, and those eyes...
My dream had come true. My angel was in front of
me, asking me if the seat next to me was taken. At first,
I was just staring at her... She smiled and asked what my
name was. From that moment on we didn’t stop talking. We
were dancing, laughing, having fun... Time was flying. We
stayed there until the club closed. I offered to walk her
home and she accepted. On the way home she was cold, so I
gave her my coat. I was so happy that I didn’t feel how
freezing it was. When we were in front of her house, she
kissed me good bye. She even invited me to go to her house
60. Storeis...

today - it would have been her birthday. I told her to

expect me. I turned around, but then I realized: I didn’t
know her name! I wanted to ask her but she was already
gone.
 I couldn’t sleep the whole night. I couldn’t wait to
see her again. She was everything I had ever wanted. Today,
I went to her house. An old woman in black opened the door
for me. I asked her for the young lady. The woman start-
ed to cry and said she had been living alone since her
daughter had died a year before. She showed me her photo
- it was HER, my angel... I couldn’t believe it! What is more,
it’s her birthday today!
I was at her grave. Do you know what I found there?
My coat! She was next to me; we were talking, she kissed
me... and now? I don’t understand... I don’t understand... I
can’t understand...’

Bojana Stojanovic
2003/04

61. Stories...
Where are they?
Do you believe in their existence? I do!
They are somewhere. Maybe, they are looking at you
right now.
They know everything about you, even more than you
do. They know your most secret desires, all your fears. They
know what happens in your dreams. They know what you
think. They can read your mind. And they don’t talk.
Inaudible, hovering, at night, while you sleep, little
humanoid creatures with big, creepy eyes, with no pupils,
with long, thin arms, little gray aliens, enter your room,
and take you to their spaceship. They torture you there.
They put implants into your body.
Fear and pain are so strong that you want to believe
that all is just a dream. You even lie to yourself, but deep
down, you know the truth. They’ve taken you... You’ve expe-
rienced the most terrifying feeling that someone can feel...
People, realize, they are here! Wake up!
Oh, you’re not so stupid, right?! You are not an idiot,
are you? Don’t you realize how lucky you are? Of all the
galaxies, of all the continents, of all the countries, of all
those little places, you started your insignificant, miser-
able life right here. Why?
Therefore, why wouldn’t another form of life exist
somewhere else? Maybe a little bit different... certainly dif-
62. Stories...

ferent... but life.

They are here! Take care of yourselves! Maybe yu are
the chosen ones... sentenced to an eternal torture. Maybe,
they come for you every night, take you, do experiments on
you... Don’t tell me that you have never had a scratch, which
you can’t explain?!
They are here for sure, all around us. We only need
to open our eyes, fight our fear, and realise that every-
thing that happens to us is more than a dream.

Sanja Zivkovic
2003/04

63. Stories...
SHIPWRECKED
Three sailors were shipwrecked on a desert island after
their ship had sunk in a storm. There was enough food on
the island for them to survive but there was no way to
escape.
The three sailors desperately missed their families and
friends. They would have given anything in the world to be
rescued, but no ship ever passed near enough for them to
send a signal.
One morning, fifteen years after they had been ship-
wrecked, they found a bottle on the beach, with a cork in
it.
"Let's open it," said one of the sailors, "there might be
a message in it."
They took the cork out and a genie appeared in a big
cloud of smoke.
"Thank goodness for that," said the genie to the aston-
ished sailors. "I've been imprisoned in that bottle for two
hundred years. How can I ever thank you? I know! You can
wish for whatever you want in this world, and it will imme-
diately come true."
After he had said that, the genie disappeared in anoth-
er cloud of smoke. The three sailors looked at each other.
"I'll go first," said one sailor. "Watch me!" Then he
shouted: "I wish I were back in my hometown with my wife
64. Stories...

and children!"
No sooner had he spoken that than there was a flash
of lightening and he disappeared. The other two sailors
looked at each other in amazement.
"Now it's my turn. Watch this!" said the second sailor.
He shouted at the top of his voice, "I wish I were back in
the pub in my little village with my girlfriend!"
There was another flash of lightening and the sec-
ond sailor disappeared. The third sailor looked around him
sadly. It felt strange to be without his companions after
so many years. He sat down on a rock and thought to him-
self. "It's so lonely here on my own. I wish those two were
here with me now..."
There was another flash of lightening...

Emilija Mitov
2003/04

65. Stories...
A DAY IN MY LIFE
It was a sunny day... a clear blue sky, with no clouds.
Everything seemed to be all right. I was in a good mood.
I went for a walk along the beach. While I was walking, I
saw something black in the sand.
Oh! What a surprise! A wallet...
I took it and found an ID. I was shocked. I saw a photo of
my first love, Jenny.
Jenny had kissed me a long time ago. It was the first per-
son who had kissed me.
I saw her address. What a coincidence! Her flat was only
two streets from mine. I was in high spirits. Her surname
was still the same. I guessed she didn't have a husband.
I rang at her door. A handsome, young man opened the door.
"Can I help you? What are you looking for, sir?"
"I'm looking for Jenny."
"Jack, it's you?" he asked.
"How on Earth does he know my name?" I was wondering.
"Maybe she is married after all."
But all my dilemmas were solved right away.
"Jack, it's me, Jenny. I've changed a little. I'm John now.
Come in, please."
Everything went blank...
I woke up on the top of an old building, with a half-empty
bottle of whiskey. How did I get here? After all, it was
not so important. I was glad because it was just a dream.
I went home quite happy.
66. Stories...

But in my pocket...there was something in my pocket.

The black wallet.
Branko Tasic
2003/04
 GUARDIAN ANGEL
One day, I was sitting alone at home, when I heard a
knock at my door.
I opened it and saw a sweet, little girl wearing old,
torn clothes. She seemed week and looked so pale... She looked
as if she were hungry and cold. She seemed harmless, so I
called her in.
While I was preparing her something to eat, she told
me that her name was Angela. It was her birthday that day.
I was surprised and felt sorry for her. I wanted to give
her something, but I didn't know what. Finally, I remembered
my beautiful little red dress which I still kept in my clos-
et. Angela was so happy that she kissed me. She had to go
soon, and I let her go... After she had left, I felt some-
thing strange. I was so happy, and yet so calm. I couldn't
explain that new feeling. I kept thinking about Angela, and
I knew I had to find her and find out more about her.
So, I went out. While I was passing by the primary
school, I saw a group of people. When I came closer I heard
them talking... "Too bad, she was so young... so beautiful... a
real angel." I couldn't believe when I realised that they
were talking about Angela, my Angela. She had had an acci-
dent the night before, the day before her birthday. Today
would have been her birthday.
I felt a sharp pain through my heart. I couldn't stop
thinking about the child. I went straight to church. I met
a priest and talked to him. He smiled and told me that I
67. Stories...

shouldn't be scared. Things like that happen sometimes. A

legend says that when a child dies it becomes an angel...
Now, I am sure that Angela is an angel... my angel
Miljana Stamenkovic 2003/04
The Twilight Zone
It was some time before I realised that I had been turned
into a cat. The first thing I noticed was that I was sit-
ting on the floor instead of a chair. My clothes were in
a heap by the chair as if I had just stepped out of them.
On the small table the glass was still half-full of the
black, bitter liquid I had drunk. I tried to stand up on
two feet and succeeded only in standing on four. Then I
begun to walk with a curious spring motion. Suddenly the
door opened and Julia came in. I tried to say 'Julia' and
I heard myself let out a discordant 'miaow'.
“Oh, my God! I'm a cat! No, no...this can't be happening.
Me, a cat!? HA! Maybe, it's just a dream?! When I wake up,
everything will be just the same. I'll be normal again. What
a relief!
But then again, what if it's not a dream? What if I'll
be a cat for the rest of my life? I don't have my arms, I
can't pinch myself, I know! I'll just scratch myself and I'll
wake up.
Ouch!!! I need a mirror. But I'm so small.” I went to the
glass door and saw my own reflection.... “What am I going
to do now?”
'Where is that girl? Kristina!' I heard Julia's voice
calling my name.
“Oh, if only you knew...I'm so tiny and helpless. And
hungry! Why is this happening to me? What did I do wrong?
68. Stories...

I feel as if I were in a twilight zone. Maybe I really am.

That makes sense.” 'Come, kitty!' Julia called me. She took
me in her arms and started fondling me. “What a feeling!
But I don't wanna be a cat any more.
 Think, Kristina, think! What is the last thing you did?
My life is a living hell! Oh, God I'm going crazy. Help!
Somebody help me! Julia, don't you recognize me? I want my
old life back.
I'm so tired and sleepy... I'll just take a nap, and when
I wake up, I'll decide what to do.” I found my place on the
floor, and soon fell asleep. Suddenly, I heard my mother:
'Kristina, wake up! What are you doing on the floor?'
'I am normal! Tell me, I am not a cat! I am not a cat,
right?’
'Normal again? A cat? What are you talking about? Come
on... Julia's waiting for you.'
That wasn't a dream, I was thinking for myself. It was
a nightmare. “My left arm... it's itchy. Wow... it's a scratch.
I can't believe it.”
'There you are! I've been waiting and waiting. I've
played with your cat in the meantime.'
'A cat? What cat? We don't have a cat.'
'A little, black and white cat. It's so sweet.'
God help us!

Kristina Lazarevic
2004/05 69. Stories...
 Too Much TV
It was some time before I realised that I had been turned
into a cat. The first thing I noticed was that I was sitting on
the floor instead of a chair. My clothes were in a heap by the
chair as if I had just stepped out of them. On the small table
the glass was still half-full of the black, bitter liquid I had
drunk. I tried to stand up on two feet and succeeded only in
standing on four. Then I began to walk with a curious spring
motion. Suddenly the door opened and Julia came in. I tried to
say 'Julia' and I heard myself let out a discordant 'miaow'.
‘Miaow! 'Too much TV,' I was thinking. Miaow! Miaow!
Hmm, that was supposed to sound like 'Hello, Julia!' Damn!
It's hot in here. This polyester shi...aaah!? Fur?! What the...?
No, no, no... Come on! This must be a dream, a bad one. Wake
up! I know this kind of scare-me-to-death-I-can't-go-to-
work-without-double-coffee dreams.
I slapped myself once pretty hard. Oh, what now!?
A flea! A flea! A little, such a little flea was jumping all
around. It seemed lost. 'Food around the corner...food
around...' Great!
The flea ran into a spider's web...It didn't wait. As it was
eating the bug I opened my eyes and saw another spider
right above my head.
A Moon over the Burbon Street was on the radio...I
felt strange. I got up and turned my TV on. There was noth-
ing to be seen, but I kept staring.
My hands were shaking while I was pouring coffee for me
and my wife Julia.
70. Stories...

'Good morning, darling!'she said.

'Good morning,' I answered.
Jelena Stankovic 2004/05
Not a Bad Thing
It was some time before I realised that I had been turned into
a cat. The first thing I noticed was that I was sitting on the
floor instead of a chair. My clothes were in a heap by the chair
as if I had just stepped out of them. On the small table the glass
was still half-full of the black, bitter liquid I had drunk. I
tried to stand up on two feet and succeeded only in standing on
four. Then I begun to walk with a curious spring motion.
Suddenly the door opened and Julia came in. I tried to say 'Julia'
and I heard myself let out a discordant 'miaow'.
I was petrified. 'What's this?' I asked myself. I did-
n't know what to do. Julia saw me. I knew what she thought
of cats. Last time she saw one, she threw it into the toi-
let.
The torture started. While I was running away, she
was throwing all the things she found at me. 'Julia, you
are really crazy! You're going to kill me.' But everything
was in vain. The only thing that could be heard, apart from
my poor 'Miaow!' was Julia's: 'Stop and fight, you awful
creature! Stop you little monster!' Thank God, her mother
entered the room.
I took the chance, and escaped. 'What a feeling!' I
thought. 'So, I'm a cat, a pretty terrified one, thought; but
a cat.' The more I thought about it, the more I liked it.
Cats have nine lives. I decided to try that.
I was looking for the best way to try this belief. I
71. Stories...

saw a really big building. 'That's it!' I decided to jump

from the highest floor. I got to the roof. There was anoth-
er, black cat. She was staring at me. One more look, and I
jumped.
The last thing I heard were the words: 'Foolish cat!
She'll definitely die!'
I was really the fastest-flying cat ever seen. Then
nothing, only pain and silence.
I opened my eyes. The same room...the same me.
What's that black cat doing at my window?

Aleksandra Velickovic
2004/05

72. Stories...
PAHALANIA

It was some time before I realised that I had been turned

into a cat. The first thing I noticed was that I was sitting on
the floor instead of a chair. My clothes were in a heap by the
chair as if I had just stepped out of them. On the small table
the glass was still half-full of the black, bitter liquid I had
drunk. I tried to stand up on two feet and succeeded only in
standing on four. Then I begun to walk with a curious spring
motion. Suddenly the door opened and Julia came in. I tried to
say 'Julia' and I heard myself let out a discordant 'miaow'.
I was confused...didn't know what to do.'This is only a dream.
Soon, I'll wake up...I just have to wait for a while.'But, nothing
happened. I was waiting and waiting, but nothing changed. I
started jumping around hoping to be woken up, but nothing.
Now, I was scared. I looked at Julia. She finally noticed me.
'Oh, what a wonderful cat! Look at it! Who brought you here? It
must have been David, my younger brother. Where is he, anyway?
How could he leave you all alone? Don't worry. I'll look after
you.'
Now, I was really scared. I knew how she looked after cats.
Our last cat had run away from our house right because of
her. She feeds cats to death, washes them twice a day, gives them
a hair cut every week... 'What do you want, little cat? It looks
like you have something to say.'
'No, I don't,' I thought. 'Everything is perfect. I am a cat,
you're alone at home...Oh, what am I going to do? I can't live a
cat's life. It's impossible! Think, David, think!' But, simply I
73. Stories...

couldn't .
'Come now,' Julia said. 'You're going to sleep and I'm going
to watch my favourite series Charmed, and then we're going to
find David. OK?' 'Yes, yes, we'll definitely find him,' I thought.
I had nothing else to do, so I watched the series. 'Not bad look-
ing witches...Who would say these girls were witches?' Witches?!
Magic?! I saw the magic book that gives power to the witches
and suddenly I remembered. The book in our attic!!! That is a
source of magic power. And then I worked it out. I was reading
that book...then I found myself being a cat. That book can bring
my life back to normal. But how shall I reach the attic?
The moment Julia opened the door, I ran out. Julia didn't
follow me to the attic. There was the book. It looked as if it
was thousand years old. Who brought it here? It must have been
that woman who had lived here before us. Nobody knew where she
had gone. She disappeared like a ghost. Maybe this book had some-
thing to do with it...
I opened the book. It was really creepy with many scary
pictures. Under one of them, this was written: 'This is Pahalania,
the book which can give you magic powers. Be careful! If you
use it with bad intentions, you'll become the animal you have
touched last!'
That's it! One of my last wishes was that my maths teacher lost
his job. So what now?
I turned the last page. There was written: 'To reverse the
magic, press the letter N. The book will disappear, but you'll
remember everything and you'll have to live with it.'
At that moment I heard my sister coming. She was looking
for me. She stepped into the attic.... I looked at her, for the last
time through the eyes of a cat... and pressed N.
She was just about to leave when I cried 'Juliaaaaa'.... She
turned around and I heard: 'I'm not deaf!!!'
74. Stories...

Marko Pavlovic
2004/05
MAGIC

It was some time before I realised that I had been turned

into a cat. The first thing I noticed was that I was sitting on
the floor instead of a chair. My clothes were in a heap by the
chair as if I had just stepped out of them. On the small table
the glass was still half-full of the black, bitter liquid I had
drunk. I tried to stand up on two feet and succeeded only in
standing on four. Then I begun to walk with a curious spring
motion. Suddenly the door opened and Julia came in. I tried to
say 'Julia' and I heard myself let out a discordant 'miaow'.
Julia was surprised when she saw me, or to be precise
when she saw a black cat ‘cause we didn't keep pets. She
kneeled down and picked me up. Luckily I was a very sweet
cat so she didn't throw me out. She put me on the bed and
started looking for me - the human me.
I very soon got used to being a cat. I even liked being
a cat. I liked all my new abilities - I was very fast, I
had good reflexes, balance, and I could jump very high. I
had strong claws and sharp teeth. I enjoyed trying out my
new body. In the meantime, Julia finished her unsuccessful
search and went to the kitchen.
However, very soon I realised that no matter how fun
it was to be a cat, I had to find a way to turn back into
my human shape. Then it came to me.
This morning an old salesman sold me an invisibili-
ty potion. You must understand that I bought it only to
75. Stories...

get rid of him. And I drank it because I was curious. And

curiosity killed the cat. He must have mixed the potions.
I had to find him. He couldn't have gone very far away. I
sneaked out, and started running down the street. I was
right!
I saw my neighbour Bill throwing things at the
'voodoo magician'. The poor old man ran away. I was after
him. Imagine how frightened he was -a big, black cat run-
ning after him. He was so scared that he dropped one of
his bags. I looked inside. I couldn't find what I was look-
ing for; I didn't know what I was looking for. I noticed a
bottle bigger than the others, but I couldn't open it. I
smashed it and licked the liquid from the asphalt. I faint-
ed.
When I came round, I was in my bed. 'What a relief,'
I thought, 'it was just a dream. Very realistic, though.'
Julia came into the room. 'What were you doing naked in
the street? Bill called me when he picked you from the road;
it wasn't strange for him as he is a filthy barbarian, but
it was so humiliating...blab...blab...blab....' She couldn't be
stopped.
I stopped listening. I had to think what to tell
her. Certainly I couldn't tell her the truth. She would-
n't believe it.

Nenad Golubovic
2004/05
76. Stories...
I AM THE ONE
I lived in the jungle. Every day I looked for food and
often I had to fight for my territory. I led an ordinary
monkey life, until one day... I only fell asleep. When I woke
up, I found myself closed in a small room.
Those stupid human beings. I knew it! They wanted some-
thing from me. But what?!
At first I had no idea what they wanted from me. Every
day they were giving me food, water and things other mon-
keys could only dream of.
But when after couple of days I stepped into my cas-
tle, called cage, I understood. These stupid human beings
finally realised that I was the only smart creature on this
planet. They definitely wanted me to be their king. I was
very excited.
Lots of people came to see me.'But why all the time?
Why are they pointing their fingers at me? Why are they
so happy when I do something, even if it is so stupid?' These
questions bothered me for a few months.
Finally I found a solution. I knew I was the king.
That was so true. 'Who can be more important? That can be
nothing but a god! No, this can't be! I am not god. Or, per-
haps, I am?! Yes, I am the king and God!'
Now, everything was clear. Those people were coming
as my servants and loyal liegemen. When I did something, no
matter how stupid it was, I eased their pain, made their
troubles go away. They were smiling. They were happy to see
77. Stories...

me. They pointed at me thus showing me respect.

Now when I realised that I was the one, those stupid
human beings could sleep peacefully.
Damnjan Jevtic 2004/05
FREAK
The year 4004 AD. A mixture of vapour and the orange-
pink colour of the Sun in the yellow sky above the town
that people used to call LA.
'Lisa,' called Sean again. 'He told me that they still
had that job in the circus. I don't want to force you, but
can we at least think about that? We both know that our
financial situation is not so bright, right?!' he told to his
wife. 'I’ve heard some rumours that Hawaii is planning to
attack America once again. You know that they almost
destroyed us in World War V.'
'Sean, are you aware of the fact that you are talk-
ing about our son?' Lisa asked. A tear dropped from her
third eye.
Sean's two antennas started moving around. 'Oh, not
again! Those pterodactyls are so boring, always looking for
food. Go away, go, go...' Then he continued: 'I know, but he
is so different. He knows that, too. Since other kids have
started treating him as a freak, he didn't go out of his
room. He must do something...'
'But it's not his fault!' lisa complained. 'To work in
a circus as a freak, to be the subject of jokes and laugh-
ter - it's so humiliating; for him, and for us, too.' She was
nervous. She looked at Sean's green face and started cry-
ing. 'Oh, Sean, hold me tight! Oh, why did God punish us like
that? Why us? Why is our son not like other normal kids?'
78. Stories...

'Be strong, Lisa. We must support him as much as we

can. After all, he is our son; no matter he is a frea...dif-
ferent!' They went to bed. Sean couldn't sleep. He went to
his son's room.
 'Jimmy, are you awake?' he asked. Jimmy was sound
asleep.
'I love you, son, no matter what. I know I don't show
it so often, but I hope you can feel it.' He touched the
child's head with his fourth arm and quietly left the room.
He didn't have the strength to look at his son; to
see his two blue eyes, to see his two legs, two arms, black
hair without antennas, pink skin...
He couldn't stand the fact that his only child looked
as those primitive monsters who had lived two thousand
years ago...

Branko Tasic
2004/05

79. Stories...
UNFORGETTABLE

This happened a few years ago on 1 May, when I went

camping with my friends.
Going on this camping trip is a tradition. We spend one
night and one day in the woods in the hills, sitting around
the campfire telling scary stories, laughing, listening to
music... Each time we go there, something interesting hap-
pens. However, this one I'll never forget.
We entered the woods around midnight. It was very dark,
but we didn't mind as we had flashlights with us. After
twenty minutes of walking, we ran out of light. One of the
flashlights fell into a puddle and the other one had a low
battery. So, there we were, in the middle of the woods, in
total darkness. Nevertheless, we still kept going. It was
freezing! I could see a full Moon shining through the
branches of the trees. The Moon was our only source of
light.
However, bad luck kept following us. Suddenly, the clouds
appeared and covered the Moon. The rain started. We could
see even less now. There was water and mud everywhere. Our
feet were wet and our clothes were covered with dirt. The
ground became slippery and while we were going up some of
us were falling down. We walked through the bushes and I
could feel branches scratching my face. I could hear
strange sounds coming from everywhere. Those were proba-
bly the sounds of birds, but in my head, I saw the creepi-
80. Stories...

est animals ever.

When we finally found a good place for our tents, we
realised that three of our friends were missing. We didn't
know what to do. We started panicking. There were hundreds
of things that could have happened to them. Then we remem-
bered - mobile phones. Thank God for them! We called them.
They were fine. While we were climbing, they were the last
in the line and at one moment, they stopped to have some
rest, but somehow they lost us. Fortunately, they weren't so
far away, so they soon joined us.
We were so tired, and at the same time so happy. There
was no rain and the strange sounds weren't bothering us
any more. Yes, we had some small scratches, our feet were
still wet, there was mud everywhere, but, all in all, it was
an unforgettable experience. And while the Sun was rising,
we were sitting around the campfire, wrapped in our blan-
kets, drinking warm coffee and laughing.
Coffee never tasted better!

Ana Markovic
2004/05

81. Stories...
UNFORTUNATELY
I went out for a walk.
Unfortunately, it began to rain.
Fortunately, I had an umbrella.
Unfortunately, it was broken.
Fortunately, I met a friend in a car.
Unfortunately, the car ran out of patrol.
Fortunately, the patrol station was near.
Unfortunately, we didn't have enough money to pay.
Fortunately, the man who worked there was
a good man and let us pay some other day.
So we continued our journey.
Unfortunately, soon we had a flat tire.
Fortunately, we had a spare one.
Unfortunately, we had no tools to change it.
Fortunately, a fisherman came along.
Unfortunately, he invited us to go with him.
Fortunately, both of us were good at fishing.
Unfortunately, it was getting dark.
Fortunately, very soon, I caught something interesting.
It was a gold fish!
Unfortunately, it wanted to make only one of my wishes
come true.
Fortunately, I knew what to ask for. I wanted to become
a prince!
In a moment everything went dark.
I heard someone calling my name:
82. Stories...

'Get up, Frantz Ferdinand! Let's go to Sarajevo!'

Marko Stamenkovic
2004/05
Green Lady

When Craig Meyers bought his restaurant, he got it for a

very good price because it had been empty for three years.
Nobody wanted to buy the place because people said that it
had a ghost.
The ghost was a lady in a long green dress who
had been a singer in the restaurant years before. People
said that one night, on her way home from the restaurant,
the singer had driven her car off the road, over some
cliffs and into the sea below. Nobody had ever seen the
singer alive again. People said they had seen her ghost, but
Craig didn’t believe in ghosts so he wasn’t worried.
Three months after Craig had bought the restau-
rant, he opened it again. He called it The Green Lady.
The restaurant had been opened for six months
when a strange thing happened. It was Saturday night.
Everybody had left and Craig was tidying the restaurant.
Suddenly he heard a woman singing in the dining room. She
was singing a traditional song called Green sleeves. Craig
went into the dining room. The voice was louder there, but
the room was empty. Craig checked the restaurant tape
recorder and the radio in the kitchen, but they were both
switched off. He couldn’t stop the strange singing, but he
didn’t feel very worried.
83. Stories...

Craig locked the restaurant, got into his car and

started to drive home. He was tired. He fell asleep and
crashed his car into a tree.
He woke up at the hospital. The police officers were
in the room with him.
‘We need to ask you some questions,’ they said.
‘Who was the woman in the car with you? We haven’t
been able to find her since the accident.’
Craig answered: ‘I didn’t have anyone with me.’
‘Yes, you did. We were driving behind you and we
both saw her. She was wearing a green dress.’

Milica Andjelkovic
2005/06

84. Stories...
Bed-tt ime story
David woke up in the morning and knew his life would never be
the same again.
A few days ago while David was working in his small milk
bar, a woman dressed in grey entered the bar saying nothing.
She picked up a glass of milk and without paying for it walked
out of the bar. David was surprised by the woman’s behaviour. He
ran out of the bar after her, but she had disappeared.
The same small woman dressed in the same grey dress entered
the bar again, just a few days later. She grabbed a glass of
milk and again left quickly without paying. David tried to fol-
low her, but she was nowhere to be seen. After a couple of days,
she appeared once again. She was dressed the same. She paid no
attention to David, snatched a glass of milk and vanished
through the door.
However, David was prepared this time so he quickly fol-
lowed the woman out of the bar. She hurried down one of the
town’s main streets and David had to run to keep up with her.
She turned off the road into the woods. This was where David
lost her, but he kept going.
And then he heard a baby crying and it seemed like it was
coming from the ground. In front of him was a gravestone mark-
ing the death of a mother and her baby who had been buried
together.
Unsure what to do, David went back and brought some shov-
els and a few people to help him. The crying became louder as
they were digging. When they reached and opened the coffin, they
found a dead woman with a crying baby in her arms. And the
three empty glasses.
85. Stories...

The poor child had been buried by mistake and the spirit
of her dead mother kept her alive until she was found.
Marko Momcilovic 2006/07
 Dear stranger,

My name is Angelo Colungo. I'm fifty-eight years old,

and I don't have any possessions. I was born in a little
town, Sun Mountain. At that time, my family was very poor,
so, Alice, a rich woman who lived in the village Mark's Lake,
brought me up.
At that time, Alice was a widow. She used to be mar-
ried to a rich shopkeeper, and they didn't have any chil-
dren. She has never married again. Horses were her passion,
so I took to them. We had six horses and one of them was
only mine. His name was Mike and I took care of him. I
always had a good time when I rode Mike across the neigh-
bouring meadows.
One day, suddenly, Alice died while she was sleeping.
She left me a great amount of wealth, so I became one of
the richest people in Mark's Lake. Nevertheless, I was very
sad because of Alice's death, and living became meaningless.
Three days after Alice's death, I took my horse and I
rode around my farm. I wanted to forget everything. I was
very disturbed.
I don't know why, but I turned off the road and I
decided to go to the forest. I had never been there before.
Suddenly I heard some voices, so I hid myself and my
horse. Three men were in front of me, but they saw neither
me nor Mike. Even now I can exactly remember all their
words:
Now, he is very rich, but, you know, he is also very
86. Stories...

stupid, - said the first man.

I think you should forget plan A- the second man inter-
rupted him.
 I'm sure, if we do that, we'll get caught. But, I...-start-
ed the third man, but the second man interrupted him.
Silence! You're a bait, only; but you aren't in our group.
I was scared because I felt I was the topic of their con-
versation and I wanted to run away, out of that forest.
But, how? They could see me.
We didn't take advantage when he walked in his pyja-
mas, that night...- started the first man. He wanted to say
something else, but, there was some noise, so they left.
I decided to leave Mark's Lake as soon as possible. My
life was in danger because, if my premonition was right,
they were planning to kill me. I wanted to sell all my pos-
session... and a few days later, a customer appeared. I sold
everything. The price was very low, but I didn't have any
choice. Then I was twenty-nine years old. I decided to go
to Sun Mountain. I planned to find my real parents.
There I rented a house. Sun Mountain was a very lit-
tle town and people knew each other. I made inquiries about
my parents, but I couldn’t find out anything. I knew nei-
ther what their names were, nor if they were still alive.
Nobody could predict that something would happen in
Sun Mountain that would start an avalanche of events...
Namely, Jane Mervilson, sixty years old, disappeared during
the night between Thursday and Friday when she came back
from a visit to her daughter’s. Next day, in the early morn-
ing, her body was found in the forest. She had hanged her-
self. There was a Halloween mask on her face. Everybody
thought it was suicide.
87. Stories...

As I was coming back from her funeral, in front of

the graveyard, I saw an old woman in a long ragged black
skirt. She was a beggar. I took pity on her and I gave her
some money. There was a man, too. He was selling masks. He
wanted to sell me one, but I wasn’t interested.
That night I had a terrible dream. I dreamt of the mask
seller. He tried to drown me in the lake. It was a terri-
ble experience for me, because everything looked so real.
Next day I didn't go out. I thought...
But... then... the body of Erica, a beggar, was found in
the centre of Sun Mountain. It was chopped and, there was
a mask. Everybody was frightened because of that terrible
event. The police were everywhere. However, they found noth-
ing. There was no evidence, except the mask. There weren't
any witnesses, either.
I felt the killer was the mask seller... I thought it
was obvious. The police found and caught him, but a few
days later, he was free to go, because the police didn't have
any evidence against him.
During the next few months nobody went out by night.
There was strange silence.
I had the same dream again. I had a bad premonition
once again because, if the killer was the mask seller, he
could kill each of us. But, he disappeared... I decided to
find him, but I couldn't without the help of the police.
Unfortunately, the police didn't want to listen to me and
they thought it was stupid.
Out of the blue, a rich stranger came to Sun Mountain.
His name was George. He had good manners. He bought a
house which was near mine and we became friends. He did-
n't want to talk about his past.
88. Stories...

I told him about those terrible murders. He agreed to

help me find the mask seller. He paid some people and they
found him. His name was Erwin. We wanted to follow him,
and if we had found something strange, we would have given
him up to the police. A year later, we had found nothing.
Erwin lived with George and he was supported by George.
He thought that we wanted to help him and he was satis-
fied.
One night, I was awake till two o'clock a.m., because I
was writing some letters. When I had finished them, I went
out into the yard. I heard some steps. I hid myself, but I
could see my neighbour and friend - George. He was going
somewhere and in his hand I saw a Halloween mask. I start-
ed to panic. I asked myself where he had gone. Everything
was strange. Why did he have that mask? I decided to fol-
low him, but when we were near the forest I came back. I
was scared to death.
That night I didn't sleep. After breakfast, I visited
George. I didn't ask him about the night, but he told me he
had slept like a baby. He planned to go to a nearby town
after lunch. I went back to my house. I was very tired, so
I went to sleep. Somebody knocked at the door and I woke
up. I opened the door and I saw Erwin. He was in a panic.
He told me that George had had an accident.
Together, we visited the place of his accident. The car was
destroyed. George was in hospital. His condition was criti-
cal, but he could still talk. A lawyer was there and he was
writing George's will. George left all his money and his
possession to Erwin. I was surprised. Later the investiga-
tion revealed that the brakes of George's car were broken.
It was the cause of the accident. George died in hospital.
89. Stories...

Living in Sun Mountain became really terrifying.

First, Jane hanged herself, then Erica was killed and, in
the end, George had an accident. What would come next?
Nobody knew whether Jane had really hanged herself, or
whether it was murder. All deaths were somehow connected.
There was always a mask. Who was the killer? Why?
I started my own investigation. It lasted twenty three
years.
Yesterday, I found the last part of the puzzle, which
has completely changed my life. This is what I have found
out up to now...
George had lived in Sun Mountain before I got to
know him and he had left Sun Mountain ten years before
my arrival. He had been poor, but he had been good at gam-
bling and became rich. He had had a few plastic operations,
so when I got to know him, his appearance was completely
different.
Erica was his wife. When he heard about her death,
he came back because he wanted revenge. George had always
loved Erica, but they got divorced and he left the town,
because he'd thought that Erica loved another man. Erwin
was their son! What is more, Erwin was my half brother. It
was a shock for me. I was surprised when I discovered that
Erica was my mother and George was my father, but Erwin
wasn't Erica's son. Also, I found out that the deaths of
George and Jane weren't accidents. They were killed.
Somebody hanged Jane and somebody broke the brakes of
George's car.
So, this morning, I went to the doctor's. I’ve found
out that I have a severe health problem. I suffer from
parasomnia, so I'm a parasomnic. I walk when I sleep and
90. Stories...

everything I do while walking, I forget till morning. This

morning I was hypnotized and, then, I saw death ...
of four people.
 Dear stranger, now, when you're reading this letter,
I'm far away in a little town somewhere in Texas. I'm the
victim... a victim of this damn life... On Saturday, I redec-
orated my house and... in the cellar of the house I found
a lot of masks.
This morning, while I was hypnotized, I saw and
understood everything. I broke the brakes of George's car.
I hanged Jane and I chopped her body.
I understood why the people, I saw in the forest, talked
about me wearing my pyjamas. That night I killed Alice.
I wasn't conscious. I forgot all about it until morning. I
didn't want to do it.
I don't know what to do. Suicide is really too mild
a punishment for me. I don't want to fall sleep...
Stranger, please, call the police. I did it - I'm the killer.
Nobody’s
Angelo Colungo

Biljana Ristic
2007/08

91. Stories...
The death of a taxi-dd river
He was just a man, working as a taxi-driver. His salary was ter-
rible, but he didn't want to change his job because he was used
to it. He had been driving the same car for forty years. He was
an honest man who would never hurt anyone. He had never hated
anybody nor had he ever argued with anybody.
One night, while he was sitting in the car, smoking his
cigarette, a young beautiful woman knocked on his window. She
wanted to go to an unknown street which wasn't familiar to him.
Still, he accepted. She gave him directions and he drove her away.
She thanked him and went into a big, old house.
The day after that, he realised that the young woman had
forgotten her purse. He could hardly remember the way, but he
somehow managed to find the house. He knocked on the door and
this time another young woman opened. He showed her the picture
from the purse and asked her if the owner lived there.
"I live here with my husband and my three children. I don't know
who that is."
The man was confused. He decided to forget all of this and
go home.
"Wait!" said the young woman. "Let me check some photos."
She brought a lot of photos. She recognized the woman in
the photo.
"That's my aunt. We had seen each other a couple of times before
she died."
"Died?!"
"Yes. She died ten years ago."
He didn't say a word.
Later that night, the police found his body not far from the
92. Stories...

house. They said it was a heart attack.

There was a red rose near his body.
Svetozar Milovanovic 2008/09
WINTER NIGHT
It was Christmas Eve. It was snowing that night. I was at
my friend's house. As I was tired, I went home at about 2
o'clock in the morning.
Half way home, I saw something. Something was moving
in the field to the left of the road. At first I thought it
was a four-legged animal, but it wasn't. It was running on
two legs. It came near me and I could hear it breathing.
I stopped. The creature jumped onto the road right in
front of me. It was a man! But what kind of man... His eyes
were red, with no white around the pupils. Wild, very long,
brown hair fell down his white skin. He was as white as
the snow around us. His mouth was red, just like his eyes,
and he had blood on his arms.
A thousand questions appeared in my head... What is he
doing here? Is he hurt? Has someone attacked him? Robbed
him? He must be freezing! He's so white! Look at him - he's
a mess.
I wanted to run away, but I couldn't. I just stared at
him, frozen. Then, he jumped back into the field and disap-
peared into the darkness and snow. I stayed there for a
few moments, and then hurried home, thinking of him all
the time.

Marko Djokic
2008/09
93. Stories...
Black Angel
When George Wane put up a life-sized bronze statue of a
grieving angel on a pedestal on the grave of his dead wife,
he had no idea what he had started.
The statue was a really scary figure, frozen in the
moment of grief, terrible pain. At night the figure was
almost unbelievably creepy. There was something about it, as
if its arms could really reach out and grab you if you
weren't careful.
It didn't take long for rumours to start spreading.
People said the statue - nicknamed Black Angel - was
haunted by the spirit of the mysterious lady who was lying
beneath its feet. They also said that the statue's eyes would
glow red at midnight and any living person who stared at
its face, would turn blind almost instantly. If you sat on
its lap at night, the statue would come to life and crush
you to death in its dark embrace. If you said the Black
Angel's name aloud in front of the mirror at midnight, the
evil angel would appear and pull you down to hell. There
were some other rumours that the spirits of the dead got
out of their graves during dark nights to gather around
the statue.
People began visiting the cemetery just to see the
statue, but usually they didn't see anything strange. One
dark night, two young men decided to check out whether
these stories were true. Clouds covered the Moon that night
94. Stories...

and the whole area around the dark statue was filled with
a sense of anger and hatred. One of them stepped forward
and read the name below the statue.
Suddenly the statue moved and looked at him with tears
in its eyes, then it grabbed him. The boy just managed to
utter a scream of horror and his body disappeared in the
embrace of the dark angel.
Next day, people found the body of the young man
lying at the foot of the statue. There was a red rose in
his hand. No one really knew what had happened that night,
and what the rose meant. The other boy, who survived, knew
the truth. But since that night, he hadn't spoken a single
word. Before he died, his last words were: You just need to
listen...
The statue still stands at the cemetery, but it does-
n't seem alive. Nobody knows the truth about its history
and what happened in the past.
Milica Nesic
2008/09

95. Stories...
A mysterious disappearance of an English teacher

One day when she became fed up with everything, she decid-
ed to go away and leave everything.
She did that.
She went to live in nature because she wanted to be sur-
rounded by greenery. She loved this colour.
For a long time nobody knew anything about her. She lived
in nature, all alone. She ate only natural products. She was
happy.
After a year in the forest, she met a gipsy circus. She
decided to join them. So, they travelled together and Orinda,
one of the Circus people, taught her one of the acts. Her
partner in the circus show was Rand.
One day she came back to Vlasotince. It was a fair day.
Everybody was in a shock! Especially her students. They
watched the show. Unfortunately, a terrible tragedy hap-
pened. One of the knives went the wrong way and she was
stabbed straight into her heart.
Her last words were: 'Generally speaking, I'm dying... but...
I'm happy.'

Aleksandra Brankovic
2008/09
96. Stories...
 A short story of a long life I
Victor Parrot was born one cold, stormy night in an
old house located in a poor part of New York City. Victor’s
mother died after she had given birth to him. His father
had left her when she told him she was pregnant. So his
grandmother took care of him. She was the only person in
his life.
Victor's life, until he turned 25, was very hard. His
grandmother worked hard just to provide for his studies,
because he was very smart. And somehow he finished univer-
sity. But when Victor turned 25, his grandmother died. He
really loved her and he was deeply affected by her death.
The first few days he was depressed. He didn't leave the
house, didn't speak to anyone...
But after some time he decided to do something with his
life. He decided to be a man to remember, to help as many
poor people as he could. He didn't know what to do or where
to go but he just wanted to escape from that part of the
city which reminded him of his grandmother, the person he
loved most. So he went to an other part of New York.
Fortunately he found the job immediately. He started work-
ing and from his first salary he started helping poor peo-
ple just like he had promised.
Soon everybody knew Victor Parrot - the man who was
giving money to those who needed it more than he did, even
though he didn't have enough for himself. They knew him as
97. Stories...

a man who was ready to do anything to save the life of a

complete stranger. Everyone knew about him and everyone
loved him.
After sometime he met his boss's daughter. She was a beau-
tiful, young woman. They became really good friends and
after a few years of friendship, when Victor was 30, they
started dating. They loved each other so much that they got
engaged after only two months of dating. Their wedding was
the most beautiful wedding ever. Victor invited a lot of
poor kids and in front of the church he and his wife gave
them a lot of presents. The funny thing was that the bride
didn't throw the bouquet, but the groom did. He threw it
to the children saying: "I'm going to buy a house to the
one who catches it". When he saw children jumping for the
bouquet he changed his mind and promised them a house big
enough for all of them. And he fulfilled his promise by
buying them an enormous house and he hired people to take
care of them. His marriage was happy and they were the
most popular couple in New York. They were well known
because of their way of living. They worked hard to help
others and even though they gave a lot of money to char-
ities they also had it for themselves.
Unfortunately his wife died in a car accident. At that
time Victor was 70. When he heard about the accident he
had a heart attack. He survived but this event left a big
trail in his life. For a long time he didn't speak to any-
one, he didn't even leave the house. None of those people,
who he had helped, heard of him for 5 long years. They were
worried and sad. Especially children because Victor had
brought smiles into their lives. Still he never stopped send-
ing them money and presents.
After 5 long years, one Saturday afternoon, Victor's
98. Stories...

servants were confused. In front of the house there was a

big crowd. There were journalists and cameramen recording
a man speaking. It was Victor Parrot. After 5 long years
living in his room and torturing himself, thinking about
his wife, he decided to return back to normal life. No one
knew why... And so Victor's life started all over again.
He decided to help as many people as he could. He
started travelling and visiting poor people and children.
He gave them presents, money; he provided for them. He was
recognized as the man who was bringing happiness to those
who had lost it because of their hard lives. After 20 years,
at the age of ninety-five he died from another heart attack
with a smile on his face saying: "Continue my work". He left
all his fortune to poor people.
Over 500 mourners came to his funeral. They brought him a
lot of wreaths. One of them read: "You brought a smile back
to my life. Thank you.”

Jelena Petrovic
2008/09

99. Stories...
 A short story of a long life II
Victor Parrot was born one cold, stormy night in a
small town in Scotland. He had a happy childhood with a
lovely family beside him, but very poor. He grew up explor-
ing the countryside around the town. He was endlessly curi-
ous about the natural world. He was obsessed with the
behavior of living creatures. He was one of the best stu-
dents in school and he got a scholarship for one of the
prestigeous colleges in England where he studied biology
and medicine. But at that time his life was very difficult,
especially since he had great financial problems.
When he finished college he went to Argentina to con-
tinue his researches. But something unexpected happened.. He
fell in love with a beautiful, young woman and they got
married the same year. Soon, after they had bought a small
house in the countryside, they got a son. Victor thought
his life was perfect. He had a well paid job, he had a lov-
ing wife and a child and for the next 20 years his life
was getting better and better. He wrote a couple of books
about rare species of animals and plants and some books on
medicine, and he started earning a lot of money for his
experiments.
But suddenly the fairytale started going wrong. His
wife and son died from malaria. He was desperate and hope-
less, but he continued his projects and he even won some
international science awards. He didn't have any close fam-
100. Stories...

ily but he had many friends. People liked him and his com-
pany. They appreciated him but above all they admired him.
He liked helping people, not just materially, but also with
good, useful advice.
 He was famous not only as a scientist, but also as
an honest, generous man who wanted to help everyone. He
gave a lot of money to different charities and he founded
the foundation for talented children. The rest of his life
he spent helping poor, helpless people and doing charity
work.
He died in his home, aged 95, with a smile on his face. Over
500 mourners came to his funeral. His last words, his last
message to the world was: 'We make a living by what we get,
but we make a life by what we give. The tragedy of life
is not that it ends soon, but that we wait too long to
begin it. In the end, it's not the years in your life that
count. It's the life in your years'.

Milica Nesic
2008/09

101. Stories...
 The son of God
A legend has it that once upon a time, something terrify-
ing happened. Even the thought of it was terrifying.
It all started centuries ago, in a small village. There
was a man who thought of himself as the son of God and
gave himself the right to and torture people until they
die! According to the legend he was buried alive deep in
the ground and the people who lived there swore they'd
never mention his name again. And so it was until one man
found himself at the wrong place at the wrong time.
It was night. He was passing by the cemetery when
he spotted something weird. According to him, the ground
started to shake and he saw some kind of light. He got
scared, but his curiosity told him to go and check that
place.
He was approaching the mysterious spot carefully, step
by step and then, finally got to the grave which was open.
He was confused... The tomb was empty!
All he found there was a book! A very weird one!

Marko Stojiljkovic

He was terrified, everything was so strange. He wanted

to leave, but his curiosity didn't let him. So he carefully
took the book and went back to the car.
The book was black; its pages torn and red letters were
102. Stories...

saying 'The history of the son of God'! He turned the first

page and there was one sentence 'Whoever finds this book
and reads it..' Unfortunately he read it aloud...
He didn't even finish reading the sentence when every-
thing changed. The ground started shaking. He saw a light
coming from the cemetery, the rain started... And suddenly,
right in front of his car, there it was... something strange,
incredible, like the worst nightmare. It was big. Fog was
all around it. He couldn't see its face. Scared to death, he
dropped the book and quickly drove off.
He didn't read the second part of the sentence... and he
should have.
The second part of the sentence was much worse. "....aloud
he will break the legend and I am going to destroy him..."
But unfortunately the man didn't know anything about his
destiny and his future troubles. He arrived home and that's
when his nightmare began. He had a wife and 2 children.
When he went to his bedroom he was terrified. His wife was
sleeping and above her head in blood it was written: 'I'm
going to start with her'. He quickly woke her up and start-
ed shouting 'Look, look-'pointing at the wall - 'He is going
to kill you'. She was scared, she looked at the wall and
there was nothing. She told him that he was just too tired
and he was seeing things.
And they both went to bed. But he couldn't sleep... his
dreams were strange. He dreamt his wife's funeral. When he
woke up next morning, his wife had already been up. He went
downstairs and saw a terrifying scene. His wife was lying
on the floor, covered in blood. And then above her some-
thing appeared... it looked like the fog the night before.
He was scared to death and he lost consciousness. When he
recovered, he heard his wife calling him. Frightened, he
103. Stories...

jumped and run away from her. She was confused and asked
him what was wrong but he didn't answer and continued
looking at her, as if crazy.
 He got over this event and went to work. But he could-
n't work properly. One hour later he received a phone call.
A strange voice told him that his 18- year-old daughter
had had a car accident and that she had died. He quick-
ly went to the place of the accident and saw his daugh-
ter's car crashed and beside it was her armlet which he
had given her for her birthday. He called his wife and told
her all in tears about the accident. But his wife's reac-
tion was: 'what are you talking about, are you mad? She's
been here with me all day, what is wrong with you?' But
he couldn't believe her words. So he decided to see the face
of the dead girl. He approached carefully and saw her face.
It was his daughter.
And then again the strange fog appeared. Now he start-
ed screaming, calling for help. He was saying: 'This is going
to kill my family!' But people around him didn't see any-
thing. They told him they knew that that was very hard
for him and that it was better for him to go home. And so
he listened to them and went home.
Everybody was at home! His daughter, too! When he saw
her, he started shaking and screaming. His wife called an
ambulance and they took him to hospital.
There he stayed for a month and he completely recov-
ered. But he didn't have a clue what would happen next. He
arrived home and his family prepared a surprise for him.
Everything seemed normal.
Next day he went to work as usual. For the first few
days he thought his nightmare was over... but...
104. Stories...

One day he woke up and it was raining... He went to

work... but while he was driving, it became foggy. He could-
n't see anything so he stopped his car even though he was
scared. As he stepped on the ground, the door of his car
closed and again he saw that terrible fog. Now it had the
shape of a man holding a book in his hands, a black one
with red letters. He couldn't see the name of the book but
he was almost sure that this was the book which he had
found the night his life completely changed.
He wanted to escape but he couldn't move. This figure
made of fog told him: 'You broke the legend and now I am
here... to continue my torturing and you are my first vic-
tim after so many years.' He closed his eyes refusing to
believe what was happening to him. When he opened his eyes,
incredible as it may sound, he was in his bed, beside his
wife. He woke her up and told her what had happened. Of
course, she didn't believe. She said that it had just been
a dream. And they started arguing. His wife became very
angry and to stop the fight, she drove off.
That night she had a car accident. He buried her and
when he went back from the funeral with his children he
saw the writing in the kitchen 'Now your children'. He
started screaming so loudly that most of his neighbours
quickly came. They asked him what was wrong. While still
shaking, he told them: 'He killed my wife and now my kids
are in danger.'
At that moment his wife arrived home. She sat beside
him and she didn't even start talking, when he, scared to
death, jumped and ran into the other room. There he saw the
fog, and around the mysterious fog the dead bodies of his
wife and children. He was crying and asking "Why, why..."
105. Stories...

She quickly called the doctors and they took him to hos-
pital.
For the next two months he couldn't stand the pres-
ence of his wife and kids. All day long, he was talking to
himself, or he was trying to kill someone who was in his
room, but there wasn't anything. Until one day when the
doctors heard him calling for help. When the first two doc-
tors entered the room the door locked. The room was full
of fog... After two hours the door opened. The fog disap-
peared and the man was lying on the ground beside the doc-
tors. When the people from security, who had been trying
to open the door for two hours, saw the room, they were
scared to death.
On the walls, with blood it was written: '...broken
legend...! Fog is my mask, torture is my name... I am the son
of God, and this is only the beginning of my revenge!'
Nobody really knew what had happened that ter-
rible night, in that room...

Jelena Petrovic
2008/09

106. Stories...
Teacher the Great
With gratitude to my Teacher Biljana Pipovic

Describing my Great Teacher in 150 words, I'll try to

pour an ocean in a glass and there reveal its beauties and
charms of sailing with a captain like she is.
Highly motivated, enthusiastic, well-experienced, inno-
vative, open-minded and never moody, she is the very per-
son who brings sunshine in our classroom and stuffy school,
and make us enjoy and feel relaxed while studying. Being a
great pedagogue and psychologist, she always understands
and deals perfectly with our (mis)behaviour, problems,
needs... Her lectures include the most different types of
enjoyable activities - pair and group work, listening to
music, watching films, making advertisements, quizzes, tests...
Besides, we, with her, who is the team leader, publish a mag-
azine in English called JUMP!. Even more, we organized a
concert, collected books for the school library, performed
a play (of course, in English), which we edited, in our and
nearby schools.
All in all, I just want everybody to know that there's
at least one teacher inspiring students, creating people,
improving the world, far away from great awards, publici-
ty and renown, but who merits her name to be written with
the capital T (eacher). She loves her students, they love her
and that is the end of the story!
'Oh, captain, my captain,' THANK YOU!
107. Stories...

Aleksandra Cekic
Pearson Longman Great Teachers Competition 2009
winner
 About THE BOOK
Teaching English may take two directions, one being
the ordinary language course resulting in more or less
accomplished users of English as a foreign language, and
the other being The Book, the results of which are stun-
ning. What we are looking at is a collection of poems,
essays and short stories, written in English by students of
the Secondary school of General Education "Stevan
Jakovljevic" in Vlasotince under the guidance of their
enthusiastic, resourceful and inspiring English teacher,
Biljana Pipovic.
Topics such as love, friendship, family relation-
ships as well as the philosophical search for truth and the
awe imposed by the supernatural, in one word, everything
that a young soul is wondering about at the age of late
teenagerism, has been covered by The Book. Should we look
for our long forgotten youth and all the problems we were
troubled with, The Book is the place to look for them. This
is where we can evoke memories of times when the greatest
worry in the world was to choose the right pair of jeans,
when the rain was poetic, when tears were shed over little
things and when the world simply seemed right regardless
of all the troubles it caused.
108. About THE BOOK

The Book will definitely take you back to all that!

What is more, it will take you back in English!

Doc. dr Jasmina Djordjevic

Faculty of Law and Business Studies, Novi Sad
 EXPLANATORY NOTES
Page 1. Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent
than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that
comes after it. - George Orwell
Page 21. An eye for an eye... - inspired by Hamlet, William
Shakespeare
Pages 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27. - essays inspired by the poem
There’s always weather, Langston Hughes
Page 322. Be yourself no matter what they say! - inspired
by the poem IF, Rudyard Kipling
Page 37. The law on discrimination - the winner of a class
debate
Pages 41, 42
2, 43, 44, 455 Mini Sagas - A mini-saga is a short
story, invented by Brian Aldiss. There are two rules you
have to follow when writing a mini-saga: the story must
NEVER be more or less than 50 words - exactly 50 with
adding the ‘a’ and all the prepositions- and the title can
be no longer than 15 words.
Pages 68, 70, 71, 73, 755. It was some time before I realized
that I had been turned into a cat. The first thing I noticed was
that I was sitting on the floor instead of the chair. My clothes
were in a heap by the chair as if I had just stepped out of
them. On the small table the glass was still half-full of the
black, bitter liquid I had drunk. I tried to stand up on two feet
109. Explanatory notes
and succeeded only in standing on four. Then I began to walk
with a curious springy motion. Suddenly, the door opened and
Robert came in. I tried to say ‘Robert’ and heard myself let out
a discordant ‘miaow’! - the beginning of a story One of My
Most Intimate Dreams by Cristina Nuta
Page 107. Teacher the Great - the text is published in its
original version without any corrections to preserve
authenticity.
Vlasotince is a small picturesque town on the banks of the
river Vlasina, surrounded by green hills and vineyards. At
its very heart, it is a beautiful rural town - home of the
annual Vine Ball, and hard-w working people who would rather
be woken by nature than man. Yet, it is a region full of edu -
cated people who have interest in learning both in and out-
side of the classroom.
Set on the hill, among trees and flowers, overlooking
the town, is the Secondary School of General Education
‘Stevan Jakovljevic’ and its focal point, for many students -
the E n g l i s h C l u b - the place to love and charish words,
written or spoken; the place to celebrate the beauty and mys-
tery of life in all its diversity and greatness.
The BOOK you have just read is the jewel in the crown
of our adventure called studying English.