For their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, Marek booked a hot-air balloon ride at sunset for himself and his wife Clara. The pilot, Mr. Roca, took them up from a field near town at five o'clock.
Half an hour later the wind changed. "Hmm," said Mr. Roca. The balloon drifted for an hour over the hills and landed, with a bump, among the vines of a distant valley, in the middle of a harvest festival. There were long tables, lanterns and an accordion band.
The farmers ran over, cheering. They thought Marek and Clara were the surprise act. They gave Clara a basket, Marek a hat and a bunch of grapes, and pushed them toward a big wooden barrel: "Stomp!" Mr. Roca stayed with the balloon to phone his truck. "Go, go!" he said.
They stomped grapes with purple feet, ate and danced until their feet hurt. At midnight a farmer's tractor took them to Mr. Roca's truck on the road. In the trailer, looking at the stars, Marek said, "The best wrong turn of our lives."
