Get down, quick.
I’m cold …
I saw four walking single file on the opposite bank, dressed in green, but I guess the sun blinded them, they didn’t see us … maybe … Sister’s teeth were chattering, but it wasn’t the cold, I don’t think … they had uniforms, but rumpled and tattered … rifles too, crossing the slope like an apparition, they vanished into the woods.
Those weren’t cops, I said, maybe soldiers.
Better slug me, little brother, I think I’m … but I’m awake, they were like some kina SS or somethin … that first one’s cap said GA., or SA.
Aha, so they were deserters … get dressed!
I don’t feel so cold now … an it’s strange … I got an urge. Wanna?
We harmonized our movements, fast and slow, probly wasn’t a wise idea, I thought … what’s become of us … they’d given us a fright, maybe that awakened in us … no, we’d just been without each other too long. Without ourselves.
We might hafta be outdoors another night. Were you cold?
Sister was pluckin up flowers an weavin … a wreath.
I yanked it away.
Cut it out, what’s gotten into you … aha. Yep. That’s dumb, I’ll stop.
We walked in silence.
How’re the feet?
Bad. Are we there yet?
Where?
Anywhere … you’re the one leadin the way, you’re lookin where we’re goin, tell me a story to pass the time, or no, better yet, I’ll tell you … Odysseus was a dirty old man!
Hah, too bad! That’s just the way it is. Man in his fifties, sixties! If he’s a man, an a good one … there’s nothin you can do, but a woman … soothsayers maybe, but that’s spiritual, it’s cruel, I know!
Well, I told you how I also used to act, not in Prague … but there’s somethin you forgot, Odysseus had a buddy … lemme tell you what you forgot … Agamemnon, he boozed it up with Odysseus an the rest, they all fought together, an they had slave girls in their camp, an their women were waitin at home. An you know how it was, you know very well … when Agamemnon finally got the urge for home an his faithful wife, he comes stormin into the castle, flings off his boots, an goes: Clytemnestra, come! Hey … watch the scalps … he’d filthied up the rug … I’ve composed many manly songs, I’m the rex, he said … look here, an he showed her all his knives an swords an daggers stolen from the weak … the sharp edges startled her, but she was used to it by now, after all that time she’d been with him, with the rex … an look, woman, he showed her a golden mask an various suits of precious armor with scenes of him crushing his enemies or composing songs … oh yeah, an here, woman, here’s some coral, but … he drew back his hand, were you faithful to me, need I ask … You bet I was, after all you’re the best, did you miss me? He mumbled some answer … miss her, right, with all the work he had … drags his ass home after all those years an starts yakkin away about who all he got … an how they didn’t get him cause he’s the best … an Clytemnestra goes, yes, you’re a hero, how about a little bath before the banquet? … an I should tell you, there’ll be … mortadella. But he didn’t listen, tippin back the cannikin an bellowin some song … an you know, my friend, said Černá, how it was in the bath … the one Clytemnestra loved was in there with her, an they were waitin for him with axes, know that one?
Yeah, but Odysseus …
Beg your pardon, honey, but you forgot, you were talkin crap! You didn’t tell me, an hell if I know why, the way it really was, you forgot a lot … I’ll be glad to tell you, said Černá, and suddenly her feet didn’t seem to hurt so much … Odysseus told Penelope … get out. He explained everything honestly, after all he was a man. An Penelope turned pale an trembled an drew back her outstretched hand … an you know what was in that hand, my dear? You know, you know very welclass="underline" the key to the bath. An one of Penelope’s suitors was hidin in there, like you said, a boy … more handsome an refined than Odysseus, he wasn’t covered with knife an axe scars, didn’t have rough skin … never burned himself with butts, or cut himself, or rolled around on the street in puddles, or roared at banquets when it was uncalled for, he was poised … an his body wasn’t all coarse an hard from battle, an forget about booze, this boy was an athlete, ran an threw the discus, an knew his way around women too … he knew a beautiful robe when he saw one … back home, you see, times’d changed, dear friend, an Odysseus, out knockin around the islands, didn’t know … an that boy … was Penelope’s boyfriend, that’s the way it was … his hair was thick an silken, fleece! An … Černá rolled her eyes and gave me a wink, I covered up my SUPER DISCO and maybe turned a little pale … his body was smooth, but he was very strong, don’t think he wasn’t, an clever … an Penelope was fond of him, she was wise an he … knew it! An Penelope, in spite of everything, still would’ve handed that key to Odysseus, but he knocked her down an broke her heart … an went off with his slave girl, laughin an slappin her ass an tippin back the cannikin, till he came to the dung heap … an then he tossed aside the cannikin an ran off, without even a look back at the slave girl … an meanwhile Penelope walked off, stooped not with age but from the blow, hair gray not with age but from waiting and grieving, an tears flowed down her proud, beautiful face … she opened the bath an let in the boy, then led him to the bedchamber an took a sword off the wall, Odysseus had his collection in there … bayonets of all shapes an sizes … an pointed her hand out the window … to Odysseus in the dung, lying there petting a blind old dog … an they both had tears rollin out their eyes, they recognized each other … the dog was an old bastard, Devil was his name, that was typical of Odysseus … the two a them used to hunt together, conversing for hours on end … an that dog was the only living being Odysseus truly loved, the only one he was faithful to, with him he didn’t fear for his freedom an didn’t need to think up tricks so he could be alone … the dog licked his old scar … Odysseus planted a kiss on his snout, an at that moment the dog died, Odysseus wallowed in the dung … an wailed … an Penelope’s lover ran down the stairs an pounced like a tiger, sword in his fist … that’s the way it was … nobody was happy there, for a while maybe … Černá sighed … cause all they had inside was fury, not humility … but now I’m talkin crap, what do I know … she walked and walked, and I hid behind a tree, on purpose, to see what she’d do.
I chuckled into my stubble, expecting her to scream and start looking for me. But then … I didn’t like it by myself, not one bit. I dashed back out onto the road, not a sign of her … Černá! Come out!
Okay, you got me, you’re right, that’s the way it was, just like you told it … I dashed outta the woods, lowland, grass, hills … not a sign, she’d vanished … maybe … soared off into the air … I fell on the ground, no, just like She-Dog, no … I can’t be like this … I love her, maybe that’s why … no, I’m me and I know what I’m doin … maybe that’s why … I looked at my hands, killing hands … ran in a circle, calling her name, maybe she’d gone back into the woods and was wandering around there looking for me … I thought of the village behind us, the skeletons, not a good place … and then on the hill I saw a silhouette … she really must’ve flown, but maybe she’s talking to herself … thinking I’m somewhere behind her, or I ran off just for a sec … it has to be her, I scrabbled up the hill … she stood there immobile, guess she was pissed … I ran up to her and froze, it was a scarecrow made of straw, instead of a face it had a gourd with a carved mouth, hole for a nose, holes for eyes … a dummy on a pole cross, straw pokin out of an old jacket fulla holes … my legs buckled … Hey, what’re you doin up there? Cripes, wait for me! Černá shouted from the bottom of the hill. I was at her side before she could say goddamn.