An hour later, Zdravko and Rusim re-emerged on ul. Shesti Septemvri. People were walking by in the sunshine. It was the kind of day you waited a whole year for. Where the light smelled of hunger, and the hunger smelt of newly printed notes.
\n\u201cYou want something to eat?\u201d Zdravko asked. But Rusim was already walking across the street.<\/p>\n
They sat down at a table at Paulo\u2019s halfway along the wall. The wall was white gypsum plaster and the table marble and round with ornate iron legs. A waiter brought water and a menu and a wine list.
\n\u201cBring us two sangrias. Sorry. Change that. Just one,\u201d said Rusim. \u201cAnd what else?\u201d He turned to Zdravko.
\n\u201cDecaf.\u201d
\n\u201cDecaf?\u201d
\n\u201cDecaf.\u201d
\nRusim looked at the waiter. The waiter was looking at the water. \u201cDecaf,\u201d Rusim repeated. The waiter walked away. Rusim turned back to Zdravko and began pouring two glasses of water.
\n\u201cHow are your kids?\u201d Zdravko asked.
\n\u201cRunning round. Running round.\u201d
\n\u201cShit. Hungarians have the weirdest fucking names,\u201d said Zdravko. \u201cI mean how do they make up their names? It\u2019s like: my name\u2019s John but I\u2019m gonna spell it backwards. Then I\u2019m gonna stick in an extra G which is pronounced like a D.\u201d
\nRusim shrugged. \u201cGomenko hasn\u2019t changed.\u201d
\n\u201cYou\u2019ve been away too long. He\u2019s now got a picture of himself on his screen saver. Flathead\u2019s the asshole he always was,\u201d Zdravko said.
\nRusim sipped on his water. \u201cWe\u2019ve both been away. And so, mister non drinker. How long\u2019s that been going on?\u201d
\n\u201cTwo years about.\u201d
\n\u201cAnd how is it?\u201d
\n\u201cI feel pretty good. A lot better than what I did two years ago,\u201d said Zdravko.
\n\u201cWhat happened then?\u201d
\n\u201cI was depressed. I was a fictional character in someone else\u2019s cesspit novel. Plus I was lying to my wife about my drinking, you know? And I couldn\u2019t sleep. I needed help so I went and got some. One day my counsellor said to me \u2018you know you\u2019re gonna have to stop drinking?\u2019 I thought: fuck, you know, why didn\u2019t I think of that? Anyway, so I stopped drinking. I took three months off and went on sleeping pills and whatever else they gave me. After a while, I went back to work.\u201d
\nRusim was silent.
\n\u201cThey\u2019ve roped you back in? I thought you were done for good,\u201d said Zdravko.
\n\u201cLower Malina. Lower Malina,\u201d Rusim looked up. \u201cIt\u2019s like a song.\u201d
\n\u201cYeah. I\u2019ve got a splitting headache.\u201d
\nFor some reason, Rusim laughed, and for some reason that made Zdravko think of whales.
\n\u201cI once met a guy who\u2019d made a proper scientific study of assholes,\u201d Rusim said in relation to nothing. \u201cLucky for this guy, his whole town was full of them. He had them all categorised, folderised, like a university thesis. Every asshole got to get his photograph taken. Some small town by the sea, whatever it was. He showed it to me. Very impressive. This guy Dimcho’s theory was that the isolation of the place, the abundance of stones, the clean rivers, the favourable climate, and an insufficient gene pool had combined to produce an entire town of fuckwits. It was either that, he said, or some asshole from outer space had come down and mated with the locals.\u201d
\nZdravko smiled. \u201cTen years is a long fucking time, Rusim. It\u2019s good to see you.\u201d
\nThe decaf and sangria arrived. They waited for the waiter to leave.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s good to see you too,\u201d said Rusim. “Nazdrave,” he said, clinking the foot of his glass against the decaf sitting on the table. \u201cSo where are we?\u201d
\n\u201cWe were talking about jail breaks. And a rich guy who steals horses,\u201d said Zdravko raising his cup midair.
\nRusim took a too big mouthful of sangria.
\n\u201cAnd an alkie drinking decaf,\u201d added Zdravko admiring his decaf. Rusim too looked at the cup. It was a normal looking white coffee cup if you happened to be a decaf guy.
\n\u201cWhat we\u2019ve got is not a lot,\u201d said Rusim.
\n\u201cWhat we\u2019ve got is a yellow wind,\u201d said Zdravko.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An hour later, Zdravko and Rusim re-emerged on ul. Shesti Septemvri. People were walking by in the sunshine. It was the kind of day you waited a whole year for. Where the light smelled of hunger, and the hunger smelt … Continue reading