Poems and Tales from Romania

by Simona Sumanaru; Michael Hart

However, as they say, all good things must come to an end, and this time it was for all the right reasons, though it didn't work out in quite the way anyone expected. . . .

For some, the economy, you could say, was booming. . .for the other part of the population, you could say they were losing control, and not many people like losing control, once they have it, whether, or not, they really should have it now.

Thus came the beginning of the end.

The vendors wanted control, after all, they had built the places to do much of the skating, and had a right to know if they should plan on enough business to keep things going. Thus, they wanted to know who was going to be skating, when, and so on, so they could prepare for coming days.

The parents of the skaters wanted control, because even though most of the skaters who were passing the age of 10 when all this began— were, through no fault of their own—now at the age when most would be moving away from home. Even though nearly all the skaters would always give virtually all their prize winnings to their parents all of the time, the parents, as parents are wont, wanted to plan ahead . . .just as did the vendors.

And so did the mayors and burghers of the various towns, where most of the Winter Festivals and Carnivals were held, and so did persons who ran the Winter Festivals and Carnivals. . .etc., etc., etc.

Except for the skaters. . . .

They just wanted to skate. . . .

Of course, there were SOME who desperately wanted the prizes, and a few of THOSE want ONLY the first place prizes, but most all of such skaters as these mostly want to skate, and it doesn't really matter as much to them that they win, as that they skate the way they want . . .and whether or not the judges agreed, was a different thing.

So. . .as more and more "control" was placed on these events, and a few of the original skaters got married, had kids or moved away for for other reasons. . .there were also few less of those originals— the ones everyone KNEW would draw a big crowd, either for practice, or for one of the Winter Festivals and Carnivals.