Ear (Ukázka, strana 99)

Another round of drinks is ready.

Ludvík raises his glass. ‘And so we all went off and happily married,’ he says. With a sigh in place of a toast. ‘And that was the end of us!’

Everyone starts yelling.

He’s tapped into the right mood. Shown himself to have the popular touch.

He takes his glass and drinks the contents down in one, just as they do.

The organiser comes from the photo shoot and pokes his nose into their gathering.

‘The Comrade went somewhere?’ he inquires. His eyes are bulging with panic.

‘Did Willy escort the Comrade somewhere?’

‘Yes,’ one of them replies to him. ‘To the Strahov district.

He went to show the new ambassador Prague by night.’

‘But I have… the photography session all set up.’

‘You’re telling that to me?’ asks another one built like a boulder.

‘Am I supposed to get everyone to say “Cheese”?’

( 98 )

Ukázka elektronické knihy, UID: KOS514569

42

‘You’re leaving? Going somewhere?’

‘No… no.’

‘I see you’ve got a… dispatch case?’

Ludvík realises that he has his briefcase with him.

He laughs.

‘No, no… it’s just that I didn’t know… there was a ring at the door… might have been a colleague… forgot it here… his briefcase.’

‘If you need to get anywhere in a hurry,’ says Orangutan, ‘We’re at your disposal. We’ve got horses and a carriage.’

At this moment Anna appears on the scene.

Ludvík wants to prevent any misunderstanding: ‘The young men dropped off our keys,’ he says. Trying to speak in a matter-of-fact way.

‘You left them behind in the cloakroom!’ he says. ‘I thought that was the most likely place… the cloakroom.

This is a friend of mine from military service. Standa.’ He points to Stanislav. Who once again is being held up by two versions of Hercules.

‘Didn’t I tell you about him…?’

‘No, you didn’t.’

‘When you hoist the flag,’ says Stanislav, ‘everyone stands… to attention! Whoever cannot stand may lie down but they must lie to attention by keeping their arms rigid!

‘We were in Libavá together…’

‘We chased pussy!’

‘You idiot!’ They start kicking him. ‘Idiot,’ they repeat to Stanislav.

‘Stop yelling!’

Orangutan turns to Anna.

He offers her his hand.

He introduces himself. ‘Podestálka is my name!’

Someone splutters in amusement.

They all introduce themselves. ( 99 )

Ukázka elektronické knihy, UID: KOS514569

Anna has to pass the little tube containing lighter fuel which she has brought for Ludvík from her right hand to her left.

One of them even introduces himself as Robinson Boozoe!

The one who looks as if he has a bit of brain left says to Anna: ‘He’s had a bit too much.’

‘Who’s had too much? Who? Me? Shall I sing you the national anthem?’ He starts to sing: ‘Where is my homeland?’

Someone begins to throttle him.

‘If it’s not too much trouble, Brother Comrade and Madame Comrade, might we ask you for a little coffee?

For Standa here. So that we can get him into… an upright position.’

‘But of course! Come in… comrades! We have plenty of coffee…’

‘I don’t know if we’ve got enough,’ says Anna.

She has got over her earlier shock.

‘I don’t drink coffee,’ shouts Stanislav. ‘Coffee makes me puke, comrades! Do you have any tea? Did you know I was a minge drinker… binge drinker… tea-totaller?’

Again they start throttling him.

‘Hold your tongue,’ they say while Stanislav gets a kicking. ‘Shut your gob.’

‘You’re kicking my ankle!’

‘Come in, comrades.’ Ludvík leads the woodentops inside. To the garden. No one is any longer to be seen by the summerhouse.

‘It’s not as if there’s some blushing virgin among us,’ says Stanislav in a low voice. He’s picking a fight. Arguing with someone at the back of the group. ‘Or is there a blushing virgin hiding somewhere?’

‘Stop yelling! Idiot! His bit of skirt’s here.’

Anna hears this from the front of the house.

Everyone hears it. ( 100 )

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