What do you know, you donno … it was so fast all of a sudden … I’d wait somewhere, by the side of the road, so they couldn’t see me … an suddenly we’d be gone, far away, get it? I didn’t know anything around there … he showed me churches, graveyards, I never knew before about castles an all that. We also went to a lake together, he wanted some fisherman to take our picture, to remember it by, but I told him: No! It’s stupid, you can’t take a picture of that, no way. An the castle was huge, I was real young. I never knew knights were that short before, shorter than us, they had shorter doorways, shorter beds … I was too young.
Knights, I know! They went through doors too, right! What didn’t you know about castles though, in school they taught us …
I didn’t listen to that crap a theirs.
Now I get it … he was older. I’m not jealous!
Yeah you are … an you oughta be! Cause I gave it to him. Well, it wasn’t the first time, not by far … but I wanted to, he was nice. We had to go someplace without people … the cemetery. No one bothered us there. People only go on certain dates. We picked up on that. It smelled of flowers. Just on those dates, the rest a the time they put fake ones out, idiots. Doesn’t help the dead, I think. So that’s where we did it, that was the safest place. But it didn’t do much for me. Not like with you, I swear, how come you’re not talkin … what’s wrong?
I was sniffin around her ear, checkin it out. It reminded me of a clam, a mussel, it was amazing. I listened, heard something … but it was just her stomach growling, stuck the tip of my tongue in … she began to get carried away, but it made me think of … the sea.
Černá, get up, right now, let’s go. To the sea! Why didn’t I think of that, I’ve never seen the sea … I’ll see it with you, that’s what we’re together for. Definitely! We’ll rent a boat, cruise around … hey, you can ski, I’ll steer, my bronze chest glittering with drops of water … you’ll wave to everyone … afterwards we’ll head in for campari an roulette … we’ll be incognito, mysterious foreigners! … coconuts an palm trees … we’ll scrape up the cash … you can sing along to the surf, listen, the water’s silver foam on your lips along with the words to some song, how’s that? Then I’ll bury you in the sand so just your breasts an head stick out … an then you’ll bury me!
I sat on the bed and gripped the steering wheel, Černá rode the skis like a queen, vrrrr, vrrrr, I wheeled it around, she caught hold and lay down on top of me.
An there’ll be clean air. Beaches, sand. An after you bury me … ha-hah.
She squealed, I cackled … only then … Aw no, Černá, honey, what is it … she pressed her face to the sheet, didn’t want me to see her, I guess to see her eyes … wet.
Oh no, what’d I do now? What’s wrong? What got into her? I didn’t get it. The highway. We couldn’t sleep. I watched each piece of asphalt go by, remembering every one. So … tomorrow I’ll find out where that bungalow a theirs is. An then I guess the spooks’ll turn up.
All right, Smoothy, I made up my mind to give it a shot, when we get to the next stop I’ll say … So you’re working for Vohřecký and them, all I want to know is where’s your hideout, and I can guarantee …
Herro, a voice from behind us said, and there stood Hunter.
Ça va? I said with a kind smile. How much Czech does he know by now, I wondered …
Ça va, monsieur Potok.
So as not to waste time, Smoothy traded off with me at the wheel, all of a sudden he’d turned a bit tame. Occasionally he exchanged a word or two with Hunter, but otherwise he was strikingly reserved … Hunter warmly greeted the tank driver … and it was nice … two guys, half a world away from their tribe … greeting each other here on a highway near a motel, right beneath an ad for some idiocy, and in the sky a moon as bright as all the flashbulbs ever fired since that memorable day in the depths of the eons, back at the commencement of all creation … a few words, an ear-to-ear smile, a pat or two on the back, it took a while, then I noticed … Hunter was their boss, their war chief, they obeyed him, but not his words, his every movement, the slightest hint of a gesture.
Next morning I go to get some milk, the gentlemen tucked away in the car, at the edge of the village I stop and stare … donno that. It’s in Ukrainian, I ask some fella, he scowls, walks right past me. In the shop they all gawk … damn, shoulda worn different clothes, thought we were goin to a factory and that’d be it, they ladled the milk into pails … one of the women looked like my grandma before she came down with that whatchamacallit … they’re talkin … Russian, I guess, Christ, where am I? But the goods were Bohemian, or Czechoslovak, drugstore items, food and stuff, snacks, tidbits … stamps, what stamps? I froze. Fumbled for the wallet Smoothy’d given me … any Moor’d know his way around here better than me, I’m just in it for the mental exercise, for love and death, what an idiot I am, I thought … that guy bumped into me on purpose, better give him some room … I’d like to see the tank driver in here, wonder how many seconds he’d need to take these guys out … couple locals sittin on sacks of potatoes, guzzlin vodka, one of em collars me, plunks me down next to him: I want milk! I say. Aj tuna, guy shoves a triple shot of vodka in my face, yore a man, down it, don’t down it, yore a cunt! It was obvious what the guy … might do if I proved to be the latter … I downed the glass, it was awful, but the shop came to life again, the grannies tottered over to get a peek, I sat on the sack, waggin my head, have you got a telephone? Hej! Prague, please … oho, Prague! That set off an uproar, I hid my face behind my hands, but no, it was friendly, one of the grannies tugged at my hair, like I was some kina horse … the fella stuck a wooden platter under my nose, bacon fat on it bristling with fur … Take a bite! They were stuffin their faces. I took a piece, spotted a tomato on the shelf, leaped up, took a bite, wrong, a young hot pepper, another round of great laughter ensued, what would I think of next … I dictated the number to the saleslady, the shop owner … others kept wanderin in, I promised myself to cut my hair behind the next beech tree I saw, there were whole forests of beech out here … a buggy rolled up in front of the shop, a herd of pigs went dashin by … the guy that poured me the vodka started in on an ice cream bar, offered me a bite, someone slapped me on the back: You must be Havel’s son, at least that I understood … that’s Francek, he’s Czech, someone shouted, and up walks this bum … some dog skin or somethin over his shoulders … He starts huggin and kissin me, slobberin all over. Aparatka! I grab the phone … Černá! What, six in the? Sorry, I’m, no, I donno where I am … Francek tears the phone outta my hand: Not to worry, lass, we’re all out here in Ubla! All us out here’re Ruthenes. Me and yore lad, we were, what … scratches his ear and with a guilty look hands back the receiver … a stream of cuss words pourin out of it, no one but me could understand, I cut right in: I love you madly, no, I’m not at the train station, I’ll be back … I noticed the shop had fallen quiet, everyone had their ears pricked up, some a the grannies snuck in closer … No, Černá, I think our side a the border, I think Slovakia, yeah, I’m a little loopy, you too? I slept alone too … with Smoothy, I mean, damn that vodka … What? Somebody was tellin me somethin … Yeah, Černá, listen, I’m somewhere near Uzhgorod or somethin … Ušanica, they’re tellin me’s the nearest … Ubla … no, there’s no way a place could be called that … maybe I’m in Poland … what? For trams? Traps? Yeah, honey, you look out for yourself too … they’re starin at me like I’m from Mars … in about two days, maybe there’s an airport around, I’ll call just as soon as I know where I am. An sorry bout the other night … but anyway, when I’m done here … we’ll go to the sea … Bye. Aright, later!