Zdravko got in the passenger side of Rusim\u2019s Opel. Robert Gjoeb\u2019s address was only an hour out of town. According to the latest gossip, forensics were already there.
\nThey took a heading south towards Bojana. For a while, both men kept their silence and soaked up God\u2019s afternoon through open windows. But once in faster moving traffic, the windows got wound up.
\n\u201cSo which kind of assholes lived in that guy\u2019s town?\u201d Zdravko wanted to know.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t know. Hundreds of them.\u201d
\n\u201cHe obviously didn\u2019t have the dumb and self-righteous asshole. Or the I\u2019ve-got-a-tiny-piece-of-my-head-missing kind of asshole. Least not all in one person.\u201d
\n\u201cThis guy had plenty of assholes. He probably had those ones.\u201d
\n\u201cBut not all in one person.\u201d
\n\u201cFlathead is unique,\u201d said Rusim thoughtfully.
\n\u201cHe\u2019s a world-first asshole.\u201d
\n\u201cI remember he did have the asshole unable to apologise for anything whatsoever.\u201d
\n\u201cThat\u2019s a good one,\u201d laughed Zdravko. \u201cWhat did he look like?\u201d
\n\u201cI forget. I think he was all skin and bones.\u201d
\n\u201cThat place by the sea must have been beautiful,\u201d said Zdravko looking out the window.
\n\u201cAnd full of assholes.\u201d
\nThe Opel glid through the suburbs like they weren\u2019t exactly the right ones, or the wrong ones either.
\n\u201cJesus, I\u2019ve been having some funny dreams lately,\u201d Zdravko said.
\n\u201cLike what?\u201d
\n\u201cLike fighting. Like futuristic dreams of war.\u201d
\n\u201cMaybe that\u2019s what happens when you stop drinking,\u201d proposed Rusim.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t know. I don\u2019t think dreams mean anything.\u201d
\n\u201cBut you\u2019re dreaming of war. Why not dream of girls with big tits then?\u201d
\n\u201cWell I couldn\u2019t say all my dreams were like that. But the ones I remember are.\u201d
\n\u201cIn that case there\u2019s a double meaning. You dream of war and if you don\u2019t, you forget it.\u201d
\n\u201cRight,\u201d said Zdravko suspiciously.
\n\u201cThat\u2019s not counting the the fact that your dreams are set in the future.\u201d
\nZdravko gave up.
\n\u201cSo what are the dreams then? I mean, give me an example,\u201d continued Rusim.
\n\u201cWell\u2026\u201d Zdravko cleared his throat. \u201cLast night I had a dream that Petar Dunov was explaining to me that there are several classes of warrior. One class originated with this guy who discovered that, in battle, as soon as he gripped the hilt of his sword, the sun would shine.\u201d Zdravko turned to see Rusim\u2019s reaction, which wasn\u2019t anything. \u201cSo next thing in the dream there\u2019s four horsemen riding through town in their futuristic, stainless steel type armour, looking to hunt down and fight some evil birds.\u201d
\n\u201cFour horsemen? Do they find them, the birds? In the bad weather?\u201d
\n\u201cI don\u2019t remember the bad weather, but yeah.\u201d
\n\u201cAnd they fight them?\u201d
\n\u201cYeah.\u201d
\n\u201cDunov, huh?\u201d
\nThey were passing the Rakovski Stadium with its new trimming. On the other side of Bulevard Bulgaria was the Medecine Academy.
\nZdravko continued: \u201cThe other day I had one where there was only women in the world. Men don\u2019t get past being boys. Some of the women are bad and some are good. The bad ones wanted to fight and the good ones not. Only thing is, they have to fight. But only on certain dates.\u201d
\n\u201cWhat were the women like?\u201d
\n\u201cLike women.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bojana turned up soon enough. Rusim cruised straight on through and wheeled up into the forested mountains.
\n\u201cI bet you haven\u2019t been up here in a while,\u201d said Zdravko admiring the scenery.
\n\u201cNo.\u201d
\n“You\u2019d be just about a Plovdiv guy by now,\u201d Zdravko persisted. \u201cA real Maina.\u201d
\n\u201cNot anymore.\u201d
\n\u201cFuck. Ten years. And now you\u2019re trying to get along amongst the Shopi.
\n\u201cMy Dad\u2019s getting old.\u201d
\n\u201cOld?\u201d
\n\u201cActually, not too old. Just sick. Now, I kinda just be with him when I can.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just about where the last of Bojana\u2019s plush mountain houses ran out, the road perched aside a ridge running in the same direction, Rusim slowed right up, took the right turn indicated by the GPS, and headed down a side road. The pine and fir trees loomed closer. Shards of light danced across the windscreen and escaped back into the shade. Bend followed bend.<\/p>\n
\u201cHundred metres on your left,\u201d advised Zdravko looking at the little orange marker on the GPS.
\n\u201cI can see,\u201d said Rusim.
\nRusim eased the Opel into a driveway with no letterbox. The driveway lead up and through the forest, curving to the right. At the top it opened out onto a flattish knob of a hill with an old stone cottage looking out above the tree line. A police car and van were parked close to the cottage.
\nRusim pulled the Opel to a stop. \u201cLook at that,\u201d he said. Bathed in a golden haze, the view stretched across the endless apartment buildings and suburbs as far as the TV tower back in central Sofia.
\n\u201cRustic place for a rich guy,\u201d observed Zdravko.
\n\u201cYeah.\u201d
\n\u201cI\u2019d own a place like this if I was rich,\u201d said Zdravko.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s not a mansion.\u201d
\n\u201cJust like this. Beautiful.\u201d
\nRusim began eyeing up the cottage. One of the forensics guys appeared and walked over to the van. Zdravko kept his eyes straight ahead.
\n\u201cI suppose that guy in your dream is out of luck if the sun\u2019s already shining,\u201d said Rusim talking to the driver\u2019s window.
\n\u201cHe probably stays home and waits it out.\u201d
\n\u201cHe probably lives here.\u201d
\n\u201cProbably.\u201d
\n\u201cExcept he\u2019s on the run.\u201d
\n\u201cHe\u2019s on the run,\u201d Zdravko agreed.
\nRusim opened his door and was half way out when he said: \u201cYou coming?\u201d
\nZdravko’s head slowly wagged. \u201cLet me know what you see.\u201d Rusim got the rest of the way out of the car, wandered over to the cottage and disappeared inside. Zdravko got out and walked as far as the bush line where scattered hawthorn, raspberry, wild apple and briar were slowly recolonising the grassed area around the house.
\n\u201cThe one thing a police officer will never do?\u201d the police instructor\u2019s voice insisted, still the same self-satisfied look on his face, from a far distant past. Zdravko found an opening among the bushes and wandered through.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Zdravko got in the passenger side of Rusim\u2019s Opel. Robert Gjoeb\u2019s address was only an hour out of town. According to the latest gossip, forensics were already there. They took a heading south towards Bojana. For a while, both men … Continue reading