Killing Auntie by Andrzej Bursa

Author:Andrzej Bursa
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781939931238
Publisher: New Vessel Press
Published: 2015-08-03T16:00:00+00:00

7

TRAVELING HAD ALWAYS HELD A CERTAIN ATTRACTION FOR ME. In my modest experience I had traveled little and every trip, even the shortest one, was for me a source of amusement and an adventure. In a different town I felt a bit like a foreigner. It was still before midday when I had all the parcels posted and so I went for a stroll around the town. Luckily, it was warm and sunny. Mailing the parcels was a big step forward. Pleased with the progress, I decided to spend the rest of my time in town on small pleasures. When I got tired walking the streets I stepped into a café. I treated myself to a big coffee and two cakes. I had my lunch in a good restaurant, choosing the menu with the sedulous care of a gourmet. After lunch I felt a little tired. My return train was in the evening. Wandering around, I came across a cinema. They were showing a movie it was impossible to get tickets for in my town, but here I bought one without trouble.

Movies make me feel vulnerable and leaving a cinema is almost always a nasty shock. The exotic glamour of the strange town was shattered, showing all its fragility. The station was merely dirty and noisy. Many times I have promised myself to go to the cinema every day, to spend much of my time – I was afraid to say: life – in lethargy. I never fulfilled my promise.

The compartment was not overcrowded. Opposite me sat a girl, reading a book. She was pretty. I was observing her with pleasure, the light auburn lock of hair on her forehead, a small nose, her dark, resolute eyebrows. She had delicate, shapely hands. With sadness I thought that soon she would leave the compartment and I’d stay behind, alone with sleeping workers, or maybe she’d get off the train with me in our town, but then we’d lose each other in the crowd. I would be left alone. Almost with gratitude I thought about my corpse, the struggle with whom somehow filled my loneliness.

The train was moving at a sleepy pace. We were passing the scattered lights of villages and small towns. The lightbulb hanging from the ceiling gave faint, murky light. How can she read? – I thought about the girl. And without any premeditated plan, I said:

“You will damage your eyes.”

The girl quickly raised her head and frowned lightly. Then she smiled and put away her book.

“Thank you,” she smiled again. “I’m used to it, they always tell me off for reading in the dark.”

“And quite rightly too,” I replied solemnly.

We started to chat. At first I was afraid that our light, casual conversation would suddenly break off after some trivial remark, that after a few stops, before we reached our town we would fall silent, running out of things to say. But as we spoke the risk of that happening faded away. We slowly relaxed into our chat and the moments of silence that fell from time to time between sentences did not separate us.

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