Going After Cacciato by Tim O'Brien

Author:Tim O'Brien
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780307485502
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2011-12-14T10:00:00+00:00

Twenty-six

Repose on the Road to Paris

The time in Delhi was a good time. Cacciato did not show himself, and, except for a once-a-day stop at police headquarters, they did not waste much time looking. The days were hot. The evenings were warm. Eddie Lazzutti spent the afternoons in an air-conditioned movie theater across from the hotel. Oscar and Stink sampled nua dem houses in the new city, Doc Peret found a kiosk that sold American magazines, and the lieutenant, whose health seemed to be returning, spent his time with Jolly Chand, sometimes going off for day-long trips to the country, sometimes just sitting in the Phoenix courtyard, where they talked in low voices.

Paul Berlin passed the days with Sarkin Aung Wan. In the mornings it often rained, and they would watch the rain from the lobby windows, sitting quietly, then when it stopped they would hold hands and go to the streets. Sometimes they shopped for clothing or jewelry or special facial creams. Sometimes they visited the zoo. Often they walked just to make themselves hungry, then they would eat, and then they would walk again until dinner. When he was with her, having lunch or walking or taking pictures in the old city, he did not think about the war or about Paris. He thought about the depth of the days, and the peace, and how fine it was to worry about where to stop for dinner. On their long walks Sarkin Aung Wan would sometimes talk about life in Cholon. How the district had its own special flavor, like a secret stew, and how her father’s restaurant had once attracted all the important colonels and politicians. And then she would ask about Fort Dodge. Was it a true cattle town? Was it difficult to walk in spurs? He told her, no, it was mostly a corn town, but, yes, many people in Fort Dodge broke their legs and ankles trying to walk with spurs. Next to gunshot wounds, he said, it was the hospital’s biggest business.

Most evenings they played cards in the lobby, then went to his room where they kissed. He pretended they made love.

They talked often of Paris. Sarkin Aung Wan wondered if together they might start a restaurant, or maybe a beautician’s parlor on the Right Bank, where they would give skin care to the city’s richest ladies. Her face brightened at this sort of talk, and it was then that he most liked to touch her. To put his hand on her calf and rub it to feel the smoothness of the skin and the short bristles of black hair at the spots she’d missed shaving. He liked putting the creams on her. All sorts of creams, a whole sack of them: “This one, it replenishes the facial oils,” she’d say, and then she would explain how, after replenishing the oils, it helped close the pores to keep out bacteria. Then she’d laugh and dab some on his nose, and rub it in, and

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.