I think I yawned a little.
Guess it hurt Vasil’s feelings … he said the prophet’s rebyonky weren’t all just dumb and destitute like him, there were also scientists. Atomic scientists.
Yeah yeah, I said.
Patok! Vasil shouted. I’d never been able to teach him not to do that. Plus when it came to the Great Mother, he tended to get emotional.
Eto seriozno. Ana tozhe rabotala v etoy industrii … The way he told it, she was one of the engineers that survived Chernobyl, and she was there the whole time. She knew what people could take so the radiation wouldn’t harm them. But they had to change. He said she spoke every tongue on earth and she was there for the whole world.
Every tongue? Ochen intyeresno, Vasil. So why’d you run away?
He gave me a look.
Aha, I said to myself. And casual-like, randomly … moved off the bed. So maybe he didn’t. What’s he pullin on me. Probly been workin for the sect this whole time. Nailhead. All this stuff that’s been goin on … Vasil!
Ty hochesh s nye gavarit? She in Prague. She … want see you.
Me? Why me?
And Vasil told the story … claimed he really had run away from them, that he’d wanted to make his way in the new world, the West, on his own, but they’d found him … by his saliva, from the labels he’d stuck on the bottles of Doctor Hradil’s Miracle Elixir.
Said he was back in contact with the People of the Faith and the Great Mother wanted him. And he … thought he had no choice. He said the Great Mother wanted me because of the Elixir. I patted my Madonna. Vasil watched. Smiled. He knew something.
The Elixir’s gone!
Vasil gave a shrug.
She know vhat is Elixir … superadidas!
Great, Vasil, we’ll see. Tonight though I got an appointment. Rabota. I’d be thrilled to meet the lady later on, panimayesh? Zaftra!
Vasil smiled kindly again and nodded his head. I pulled on my shoes and went to get my jacket. Emptied out my safe, that pillowcase was getting pretty deflated. Vasil stared. And didn’t blush and didn’t avert his gaze. Then I stood lookin around the flat, a relatively long time … gave Vasil a friendly pat on the back, see ya later!
Da. See me.
I took the stairs slower than usual, knowing it was the last time. Goin to Gasworks. I jumped for joy a couple of times, it’s solved where I’m gonna be then. Until I find my love … Great Mother, gimme a break. Drop dead, fanatics.
Galactic was almost empty. I sipped gingerly at the special house tea … I noticed: ever since I’d been lookin for Sister I’d cut back on the Fiery. Gotta be prepared.
Galactic didn’t have a stage. There were other things here. But I wasn’t interested. It wasn’t in Prague 5, like Černá’s, wasn’t so out of the way. I appreciated the view of the street. Entertaining sometimes.
Every now and then there were demonstrations out there. Today as well, but I wasn’t too wound up. I was almost lookin forward to seein Rudolf. Touched the tiny scar on my left shoulder. I don’t care if he’s a sextuple agent, I’ll take that Laotian over the Great Mother any day. Why is it the Russkies’re always so tragic. That cattle car on the icun … aha, that must be it … long as no one’s packin the Russkies in em, they go and pack someone else on. Most of the time there’s room for both … that’s how vast a land it is. Little nations like us … we’ve got an advantage. There’s not so many of us to wipe out, even though on the other hand … I got tangled up in the philosophy.
So instead I flipped through my mind, goin over my morning visits. Those musta been false leads. But if Černá thinks she seriously injured … too bad I wasn’t there! … that sailor that harassed her, she might’ve left the country. What would she do … out there … with her tunes.
That time at the pharmacy … she hadn’t looked too healthy. The pharmacy. The green neon. I’m an idiot! That’s where I hafta start. She must live around there. After all, it’s not like she’d go to the other end of the planet in the middle of the night. If I don’t find her at the pharmacy, I’ll go back to the first address. Mariaková, that Ruthenian musta made a mistake. There’s tons a girls with scars …
I was about to take off, but then calmed my agitated muscles and nerves, ordered my heart to be still. First I gotta clear things up with Rudy. After all … I’m gonna need some work. I’d been checkin out prices in town, the streets were friendly enough, oh sure, but the cost of living had soared.
All that tea picked me up a little. Still I wasn’t gettin any bright ideas … didn’t feel much like makin up jokes. But I wasn’t in the mood for anything serious either. My clothes didn’t seem as clean as they’d been that morning. But I was lookin forward to Gasworks. To my new life in general. Finally Rudolf showed up. He took a seat and blurted out without any intro:
So the girl’s name is Eva Slámová and she was born in Ponořany. Her father did time. Heavy stuff. Now he probably works for them. You oughta have a word with Vohřecký.
What girl? He means She-Dog, knucklehead, doesn’t know shit … or is he talkin about Černá …
Who’s that I’m sposta talk to?
Vohřecký, Side Pocket. He’s ess-tee-bee, but he works for us too now. Rudolf explained.
And that means he works for who? I fired back.
Don’t bother rackin your brains, said Rudolf. Adding: Listen, Jícha’s dead.
What?
They found him in a building on Eastern Ave. I was waiting over at his place, and when they gave me the news I went through his desk. Found a piece of paper with your name on top. Want to know what it said?
I wanna know who killed him. And I can’t help it, but my legs’re shakin, how bout a shot? You think someone was tryin to rob him?
Nope, Rudolf shook his head. We got infiltrated. They had someone on the inside. You know who, Potok. Sámová. He leaned forward and looked at the paper. Or Slámová, it’s a little bit smudged.
I donno who you’re talkin about, and I don’t care. That’s for you and that agency a yours, Dostoyevsky, you amateurs. The spooks killed him, it’s obvious!
Not at all, said Rudolf, not quite. You’re going to meet with Vohřecký. He wants to talk to you.
Why would I meet with a spook? Whadda you want from me? What’re you guys up to?
Not many people know about Dostoyevsky. You’re one of the few.
Well, pardon me, but I hope you’re not tryin to pin this on me.
No, you and your pals were just tellin each other goodbye when it happened.
You put transmitters in there?
No one ever took them out.
I tried not to look at him. He left me alone. He knew I needed time. I sat with my head hung down … drowning my spoon in the green tea … the world, the whole map, every horizon suddenly reduced to a few sharp lines with me bogged down at the spot where they intersected. One thing no one could take from me though was that pressure … the desire to be with her, to taste her skin. Slámová, maybe that really is her name. Big deal. Maybe she even … does work for them. That’s awful. That’s ridiculous. And even if she did.
I peered out the window. An armored personnel carrier cruised down the street, slowly and majestically. Tore up a few cobblestones and rumbled off. The sun high outside gleamed like a trinket, cool and metallic. Over on the square, a demonstration had begun. It was on the bar TV too. With the sound turned off. The speaker waved his fists, opening and closing his mouth. If somebody had picked him off, I wouldn’t’ve heard a thing. The figure on the screen would’ve collapsed, incomprehensibly, a stain appearing on his shirt out of nowhere, without warning. Maybe I’d think it was just some stupid movie. Maybe I’d expect the hero of today’s episode, Tidy White, to appear, and the shirt in the ad to wash and press itself. Doesn’t matter who’s in it. Just as long as it’s clean. I don’t even care who it’s for. I want Sister.