Outside Ravi’s, the sun was contemplating killing off some upstart cloud. Slowly.
Outside was only half a street. The one side was walking in shade. The other side didn’t have a footpath. Georgieva and Petrov wandered off to find their car. Zdravko and Rusim stayed put on the sidewalk looking around like they were already in the wrong place.
“This weather is really fucking up my plants,” said Rusim.
“What plants?”
“Some plants what need to be watered.”
“Like which plants?”
Rusim turned to Zdravko. “Like the ones that need watering.”
“Like grapes.”
“Grapes don’t need watering.”
“What then?”
“Herb garden. Don’t you know nothing about plants?”
“No.”
“You must be about to starve then.”
Zdravko figured they’d walk on the side of the road with sun and no footpath.
On another street, the sun disappeared behind the buildings.
“We need to let Gomenko know what’s going on,” said Rusim.
“We need to think a little bit carefully before we do that.”
“About what?”
“Our prospects,” said Zdravko.
“You mean Gomenko wants rid of us? I told you that already.”
“We got till Friday. He can’t get rid of us.”
“Like who else is gonna fight off them evil birds? What’s he got apart from two knights in aluminium?” Rusim waved his fist in the air.
“Actually, stainless steel?”
“Stainless steel. Whatever.”
They walked into an even dimmer street.
“And if we don’t find this Gjoeb I’m gonna kill Petrov,” said Rusim.
“Maybe I’ll come along, just to watch.”
“Skapanyak. Killed the only guy who knew anything.”
“I doubt Antonov knew too much.”
“But maybe something.”
“Don’t worry about Petrov. He’s so stupid he’ll get himself killed one day.”
“Fuck. We got nothing.”
“You know what they say about people like us? Get killed or get moved on. Well I aint moving on.”
“No? How bout them fish that no one’s ever eaten? What about the one true love of your life who happens to be living in Swaziland?”
“Maybe. But I’ll get there my own way. Jet lagged if possible. For the moment, we’ll find Gjoeb. I can’t wait to meet him.”
“You want to meet him?”
“Yeah. I want to know why. Why he needs someone’s perfect sixteen hand horse to go to the pet factory. Why he wants to go to prison. Why he wants to get out of prison. Why he’s not scared of people he ought to be scared of. And then, why they do nothing and let him off the hook. That’s the puzzling thing. I mean, the court documents and Georgieva’s report from the prison tell us nothing. I just want to know.”
Another street. The sun was back again.
“Where would you be now if you were Gjoeb?” asked Zdravko.
“I dunno. America or somewhere, given that horse story.”
“What do you mean?”
“You know exactly what I mean.”
“Well I’m not no powers that be.”
“Me neither.”
“But Gomenko is.”
“Gomenko is,” said Rusim resolutely.
“Anyway, if they really wanted to find him in America, you know, they probably fucking would.”
“Maybe not for a horse.”
“Maybe not. Depends.”
Zdravko’s feet came to a stop. He looked across the street. Across the street was a shop selling god knows what. A big sign clung to the front of the building. The kind of sign so crass it could’ve run for parliament. THE THING MAN.
“That’s it,” said Zdravko.
“What’s it?”
“That sign there. That’s our lead. That Thing Man.”
“You are mad.”
“That I am not.”
“You are kidding me!”
Zdravko said nothing.
“So how’re you gonna follow this lead?”
“For a start, we’ll need to know everything there is to know about the Thing Man.”
“Now I really know I’m back in Sofia.”
“You got some better idea?” said Zdravko walking off.
“No. Just say it all over again.”
“Second hand junk’s the only lead we got.”
