Supervielle must have been soothed by his friend’s words, because he interrupted, saying, do you think he used the telephone for that? wait, I’m very nervous, if that were the case it’s possible that my agent has already received something, mother of God, let’s find out immediately. Then I heard him on the telephone, saying, Supervielle here, now listen to me carefully, Ethan, did you receive anything from Tiberias this afternoon? no? how strange, I have reason to believe that Lottmann is thinking of making an offer at any moment, whatever you do keep your eye on the fax machine, and for the love of God, check to see if that damned piece of junk has paper and is connected!!! Make sure you don’t miss any calls, Ethan, I wouldn’t ask it if it wasn’t VERY important, what did you say? yes, of course the war is still on, but who the hell cares about that now?? keep an eye on the machine, sit by it till that damned contract arrives! Am I making myself clear?
He hung up and said to Kosztolányi, there’s no offer yet, at least according to my agent, who of course is an idiot, why must we always be in the hands of idiots? May God forgive me, Ethan is the son of a friend, but the poor man never gets things right, I must change agents as soon as I get back to Paris, phew, there’s no offer so far, that means if he called his office from the hall it wasn’t because of that, a false alarm, don’t you think? what if he called the publishing house to say exactly the opposite, to tell his assistant, put everything in an envelope and return to sender?
Anything’s possible, said Kosztolányi, but if that was the case your agent would already know, why send back manuscripts if he can write an e-mail? you can never tell with somebody whispering on the phone, he might even have been calling his wife, Edgar, or his young mistress, I don’t know, a female writer of the new generation anxious for recognition, why not? it often happens, he might have been calling to say, listen, darling, I know I promised I’d be there at seven but I’m listening to one of the best talks I’ve ever heard in my life, please wait for me, ask room service for whatever you like, clear out the minibar, but wait for me, don’t you think it could have been something like that?
You’re right, Leonidas, anything’s possible, my contract, his wife or mistress, but I prefer to be optimistic, to believe that at the end of the conference he’ll get in touch with my agent and make an offer, I truly believe that’s what will happen, come on, let’s have a drink, we have to celebrate in style.
I fell asleep.
Marta got back just after two in the morning and went straight to the bathroom. When she came out, I noticed she was drunk. Well? I asked, how was your romantic dinner? She turned to look at me and said: there are no words, phew, let me try and tell you. . Where should I begin? He took me to Jaffa market, or rather, a place near the market that’s badly damaged but still functioning. Delicious, spicy food, and a bottle of wine from Mount Carmel that tasted divine. Then we went to an apartment to have a drink, it wasn’t his place. He said he would count the beauty spots on my body and that when he got to number twelve he would give me a kiss in that spot, and then he would say a city corresponding to the first letter of the part of the body he had kissed. A bit complicated, but he turned out to be an expert. Arm, Amsterdam, belly, Brussels, thigh, Tallinn, and so on, are you following? When he did that I had to say the country that it was the capital of, or imagine another city where I would like to get married to a Korean or get divorced from a Korean. Each time I failed, I had to take off one garment. When he’d finished explaining all this, I said, my dear Amos, the object of the game is to fuck me, isn’t it? so come on, let’s get down to it, because that’s what I want, too.
We had a fantastic fuck, I don’t think I’ve ever screamed like that before or had so many orgasms. We did it three times in a row and I thought of a great idea for an article, let’s see what you think: the life of a military doctor in a city under siege, don’t you think that’s a great subject? I said yes, and asked if she had found out anything new about Maturana. She stood up again and went back to the bathroom. She returned after a while, naked, with a damp towel in her crotch. I’m sorry, it burns a bit. . I haven’t fucked so hard for ages and Amos has a huge penis, what were you saying? Maturana, did you find out anything new?
She lay down beside me and said, yes, Amos saw the tests, apparently he had drugs in his blood, heroin, highly concentrated, in anyone else, Amos said, a quantity like that would have caused an overdose, but he was strong. Then Marta lit a cigarette and said, Amos is married, that’s why he wouldn’t stay the night with me, but he’s coming to the hotel tomorrow. Here? I asked. No, my hotel, I didn’t want to take advantage of you.
She stood up, walked to the window, and looked out at the night sky, which was again filled with storm clouds. I know it’s wrong to get involved with married men, but what can I do, he might die tomorrow and he really wanted it, I could sense that, so why not please him? I’m also going to die. He’s attractive but I’m not planning to fall in love, I’m not stupid. They promise to leave their wives and never do, especially if they have children. When we finished fucking, he lay down beside me and talked to me about her, can you believe that?
He loves and respects her, but doesn’t feel desire for her anymore. Her name is Esther. He saw her from a distance in a university cafeteria and knew she would be his companion, knew that he loved her and wanted her by his side all his life. You know, I feel sorry for people who say things like, “when I saw her I realized. . ” or “it was at that moment that I knew. . ” That’s all bullshit. Nobody knows or realizes anything, certainly not so suddenly.
She lay down on the bed again, covered herself with the bedspread and gave a big yawn. Before falling asleep she said: dear Esther, tomorrow I’ll have sex with your husband again, and I hope you’ll forgive me; he has an amazing penis. . If you have sex with him tonight, don’t suck it, I know what I’m talking about. .
The next day, Momo arrived at the hotel nice and early. He was driving a beat-up old Toyota station wagon. The bodywork was rusty, one of the rear windows had been replaced with a plastic sheet, and there were springs sticking up out of the seats. I got in and we set off. We drove along the side of the street where concrete and steel barriers had been set up to protect passers-by from snipers. Then we turned into a maze of narrow alleys. It’s the shortest route to the highway, he said, wait and see. On the corners, there were overturned cars being used as barricades and old sandbags with holes in them. Why aren’t you fighting? I asked, and Momo replied, I’m in the reserve, I’m an only child and I look after my mother, who’s sick, and my grandmother, who has a number tattooed on her forearm, know what I mean? I suppose if you take a good look at my life, it’s fairly lousy, but just like in the story of the Zen master, what’s good luck and what’s bad luck? that’s why I don’t have to be out there killing people or waiting for them to kill me, I’m a pacifist, you know? well, a realistic pacifist, because if they come to my home I’ll die fighting.