Adam and Evelyn (21 page)

“Then she could have stayed on here.”

“What are we talking about here, exactly?”

“You quit your job too. Did that have anything to do with cutting and running?”

“In some way, sure.”

“And what way was that?”

“Mona always said that these were our baby teeth, that our real teeth hadn’t grown in yet.”

“Now that’s absurd—don’t you see how absurd that is? Baby teeth—”

“It gave me a such a sense of freedom, though. I’ve always felt this way. They could kiss my ass, because I’m out of here.”

“That’s so childish, Evi.”

“And why’s that?”

“ ‘Such a sense of freedom’!”

“If freedom is childish, then I’m childish. But it’s how I feel.”

“Giving it all some serious thought would be better.”

“I don’t need to give it any more thought, I’ve thought about it for a long time now. Why don’t you want to go across?”

“Why should I want to?”

“Then you’re not thinking! I could say whoever doesn’t want to go across has never done any real thinking.”

“Why should I have to think about it if I don’t even want to go across?”

“Why should I have to think about it if I don’t even want to stay here? Do you have any idea just how arrogant you’ve become, how narrow-minded.”

“But for me it’s not even an issue. Why should I want to leave?”

“Well, you certainly did ask Michael—”

“Bull! We were just discussing it. We had to talk about something.”

“Everybody thinks about it, you do too. There’s nobody who doesn’t think about it.”

“Which means either I come with you, or it’s over?”

“This just keeps getting worse and worse.” Evelyn rolled over on her side and looked across at Adam. “After the fortieth anniversary, they’ll really clamp down. You’ve always got a lot more upset than me. Have you forgotten how the Chinese handled things? Why can’t you see it?”

“This’ll be different. Just think of the Poles. And if the Hungarians leave the border open—”

“I’m telling you they won’t let us out after this—fat lady sings, curtain falls. You can count on it!”

“They won’t be able to get away with it.”

“They’ve always been able to get away with a lot of things.”

“And what happens from here on?” Adam said without looking at Evelyn. “We’ve asked an awful lot of them already.”

“The Angyals?”

“Did he pay them, by the way?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Pepi dropped a hint. At any rate he didn’t pay the whole bill.”

“Well, he can’t help it if we were robbed.”

“Neither can the Angyals.”

“If in fact he didn’t pay it all, then he’ll send it. They’ll get their money. Is that why your conscience is bothering you?”

“What do you mean, my conscience is bothering me?”

“You don’t have to help clean up—they don’t want you doing that, they want to admire you, maybe even as a son-in-law, but they definitely don’t want a man who helps clean up.”

“What’s wrong with a man who helps clean up?”

“Nothing, but you’re not at home here.”

“I know what I’m doing.”

“Can I ask you a question? Out of pure curiosity, and I won’t blame you—did you do it with Pepi’s mother?”

“What makes you think that?”

“Yes or no?”

“No, but why the question?”

“Sounds a little weak.”

“Evi, please. Let’s not go there!”

“I just want to figure out what your type is.”

“That’s something you heard from your precious Mike. He thinks I’m capable of just about anything anyway.”

“She’s been so moody. First she was all pissed off because I showed up with him—”

“I can understand that.”

“Then suddenly everything was just like before, and I was her second daughter, and now she’s back to grimacing just to manage a smile.”

“What do you want? What more is she supposed to do for us?”

“They’d love to keep you here.”

“Is that right?”

“As a tailor, as a son-in-law, as a lover. And you can stop laughing!”

“And what do we tell them? We’re going to vacation here forever?”

“Not forever.”

“Are we staying till tomorrow, for three more days, another week?”

“Whatever you want. Whatever our Herr Adam wants.”

“Do you have any idea what we’re talking about?” Adam slammed the book shut and slipped it onto the nightstand.

“You were going to read me the Laocoön story,” Evelyn said.

“Tomorrow,” Adam said, turned out the light, and stretched out on his back. He pulled the blanket up to his neck and took a deep breath.

Once she got used to the dark, Evelyn could make out the silhouette of his face. She cautiously raised her head to see if his eyes were still open. By the light of the streetlamp she could see the sweep of Adam’s long lashes. His right hand lay between their pillows, his left across his chest. She heard the turtle in its box.

Even when they argued, she knew her Adam only too well. She didn’t want it to be like this. She deserved something better than a
man who cheated on her. Nevertheless she bedded her face against Adam’s right hand. She stroked his forearm, threaded her hand up the sleeve of his T-shirt, thrust her palm across his shoulder, reached his throat, and touched his Adam’s apple with her fingertips—it scurried away like an animal, but in the next moment had already turned back to her.

“WHAT WERE YOU DOING
the whole time?” Adam shouted and revved the engine. The car bumped down the driveway. “I told you we needed to be on our way.”

Evelyn rolled her window down and leaned out to look back. A handkerchief fluttered in her right hand. The Angyals were veiled in a cloud of exhaust—she was wearing her new blouse again, Herr Angyal waved with a tool as if about to get back to some repairs. Pepi was already walking into the house. Adam turned left on Római út.

“What was that about?”

“I had to go one last time, and they both were making sandwiches, one after the other.”

“Who’s going to eat all that? A week’s worth of ’em.”

“There’s also apples and plums, cucumbers, wine, cider, water, and pastries. They even sent your jar of Czech mustard on its way again.”

“Why?”

“All for her lost children, she said, and for little Elfriede. Where is she? In the trunk?”

“The box just fit.”

“Well then, she won’t be in a draft,” Evelyn said. “The cheesecake is still warm. Will we all see each other here again sometime?”

“I’m glad just to be on our way.” He gave the dashboard three raps. “Heinrich, head for home.”

“I still don’t know if that’s a good idea, Adam. You can let me out at the train station. I’ve still got the connections that Katja wrote down.”

“It’s not out of my way.”

“And what if they give you trouble?”

“You think they won’t let me back in? They’ll welcome me with a hand kiss and roses.”

“You can always say someone kidnapped you. I slipped sleeping powder into your tea, and when you woke up you were in the West. Luckily you made your escape, back to the land where workers and peasants have for once and for all put an end to man’s exploitation of man, where—I’m sorry, I’m sorry, that was silly.” She gave Adam’s shoulder a pat. “I just wanted to say that it might be easier if we separate sooner.”

“I told you I’d take you there, and you thought that was a good idea.”

“And what if I have to go?”

“You just went.”

“I just mean, what if I do—or you?”

“The motor can’t be turned off—or only at the top of a hill.”

“Are you going to do it nonstop?”

“It’s an up-and-down route. I can always stop on the hilltops.”

“To be honest, I imagined our good-bye a little different.”

“How? With tears and a long embrace?”

“At least not with you keeping one foot on the accelerator.”

“All you have to do is stay in your seat. All I’m saying is, you can just as easily not get out. We’ll be home tonight. It’s your decision.”

“Don’t start in again. Besides, they’re sure to have sealed your house by now. You won’t even be able to get in.”

“You think I’m going to let that bother me?”

“Nobody’s ever going to bother you from here on.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Just what I said.”

“Don’t start in with that crap again!”

“Why crap? What’s going to happen once you’re home? You’ll write me love letters, tell me how you love only me, just me alone, and will be true to me and wait for me?”

“Is that so strange?”

“I’ll bet you anything, Adam, that by the day after tomorrow one of your creations will stop by and comfort you. Her and all the rest. They’ll tear each other limb from limb to try and comfort you.”

“You and Michael wouldn’t have been such a bad match. He always knew everything about me too. Could even tell me the future.”

“It’ll be the same as it’s always been.”

“What do you mean, ‘the same’? How can it be the same if you’re gone? Nothing will be like it was.”

“You’ll have the run of the place now. Good-bye boredom. A harem right here on earth, a new one every day.”

“But where are my eunuchs?”

“I’m serious. I’ve asked myself plenty of times why you need me at all. I was just in the way of your paradise. Not that you didn’t like me, and I don’t look all that bad either.”

“But your cooking leaves something to be desired.”

“Yours too. And you’ve had twelve years more than me to learn.”

“Wasn’t it lovely, though?”

“Sometimes yes, sometimes very lovely.”

“Look, there’s the lake.”

“Will you take care of Elfriede?”

“She’s yours.”

“Makes no difference. She’s better off with you. It’ll be nice and quiet for her hibernation. Besides I can’t arrive with a huge box like that.” Evelyn rolled her window up.

“That wouldn’t be such a bad thing right now, a little hibernation,” Adam said.

They took the road in the direction of Keszthely, Zalaegerszeg, Körmend.

“Are you hungry? You didn’t eat anything.” Evelyn reached back
for the cheesecake, set it on her lap, unwrapped it, broke off a piece, and stuck it in Adam’s mouth.

Looking for some tissues, Evelyn opened the glove compartment.

“Did she forget this?” Evelyn held up the Rubik’s Cube.

“She gave it to me, said she didn’t need it anymore.”

A new Wartburg passed them with a honk, but neither Adam nor Evelyn waved back.

At the border station near Rábafüzes the Hungarians let them through without stamping anything, the Austrians just waved them on.

“Are you happy?” Evelyn asked as they approached Fürstenfeld near Graz.

“No, why should I be.” After a brief pause he said, “Funny, you can read everything, but it doesn’t feel the same as it does with us. It’s like I’m at a carnival, except the Ferris wheel and shooting galleries are missing.”

“That’s about right. It all looks as if somebody’s added in the color somehow.”

“Potemkin villages.”

“Yes,” Evelyn said, “as if it all weren’t for real.”

“I DON’T THINK
they even expected any payment. It’s a kind of special service. It’s not our fault. Besides, they didn’t charge for the gas, either.”

“You’ve got some nerve. In the East you’d have had to pay for it too—would have to pay for it anywhere,” Evelyn said. She held the infrared lamp so that it warmed the turtle.

“I told them I don’t have any money, just a couple of schillings.”

“And the two hundred Westmarks?”

“For a very rainy day.”

Evelyn looked at him.

“Does that make me a cheat? A car like that is something special for them, they have fun fiddling around with it—plus they’re lending a helping hand to their brothers and sisters.”

“That’s nasty, Adam. Without Rudolf who knows where we’d have ended up. And wouldn’t have had something warm in our bellies either.”

“You’ve forgotten the lake, we wouldn’t have seen the lake.”

“Don’t be such a grouch.”

“I’m just saying that he also pointed out the lake to us from the car window.”

“Look at this! The Angyals even thought of these.”

Evelyn had now clamped the infrared lamp between her knees and was unwrapping the tiny salt and pepper shakers.

“Can’t you give them a hundred at least, as a kind of goodwill gesture?” She cut a few slices of cucumber.

“The repair garage?”

“And for the towing?”

“I don’t even know yet if they can fix it.”

Adam bit into the bread smeared with soft cheese, pushed a piece of cucumber into his mouth, uncorked the wine, and toasted Evelyn. “Here’s to the Angyals!” He drank and passed her the bottle. She took a drink too.

“At least we don’t have a single worry until tomorrow morning,” Adam said, took another swig, and threw himself on the bed.

“Are you finished?”

“I’ve had enough.”

“I could just go on eating and eating.”

“Who knows when you’ll get your next meal here.”

“I really put on some weight, though, despite everything.”

“What do you mean, ‘despite everything’?”

“It wasn’t exactly a relaxing vacation.”

“At any rate we’ve made it this far, it’s a lovely area. Isn’t that a bit too warm for Elfi?”

“She loves it, I can tell. This would be a really great place for a vacation.”

Adam pulled open the drawer of the nightstand. “Real wood looks a little different … somebody forgot something. A Bible, now that’s funny.”

“Think it might be intended for us?”

“Because we’re some kind of refugees?”

“Well, as a way to sort of cheer us up or something. Around here they even say ‘grüss Gott’ as a hello. That’s a lot of God-bless-yous.”

“They had no idea we were coming.”

“Could have put it in there while we were down by the lake.”

Adam turned on his nightstand light and stuffed Evelyn’s pillow behind his neck as well. “I’ve already forgotten the name.”

“Rudolf and something ending in ‘dunkel,’ ” Evelyn said.

“I meant the name of the lake. The famous one is the Chiemsee, but this one here, the smaller one?”