The Symmetry Teacher: A Novel by Andrei Bitov

Author:Andrei Bitov [Bitov, Andrei]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780374712099
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Published: 2014-07-08T00:00:00+00:00

2. Lili

“This is a present from the last tsunami.”

“It’s the best memento of the elements imaginable,” Urbino said ingratiatingly. “A monument to the sea. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

She stuffed his letter of introduction carelessly into the pocket of her apron.

“I know what it says. The Baroness has already told me everything about you.”

“How did she manage to get here ahead of me?” Urbino said. “I’ve been trying to reach the island for three days, and from what I understand, you have no means of communication here.”

“Are you so weary of communication?” the landlady said with a wry grin.

“That’s why I’m here.”

“Come with me into the stateroom. I’ll feed you, show you around, and tell you about everything. Marleen, go lie down!”

Urbino was startled at the sudden change in tone, from polite and conversational to peremptory. The dog wasn’t surprised, but hurt: she obeyed, reluctantly but without hesitation.

* * *

The stateroom was very cozy. Everything had been preserved in the condition in which it was originally found. At the same time, there was evidence of a woman’s touch: pots and pans and skillets, scrubbed like the railings on deck, hanging bunches of local herbs … Suddenly he saw a stuffed beast: it looked like a beaver or a hare, with webbed goose’s feet and horns like a goat.

“What the devil is that?”

“An ordinary hare with horns.”

“Are they really found in these parts?”

“Not anymore. They died out. Foundered,” the landlady said, smiling.

“Hmm. Amusing.”

“Not me, it was my sister, Marleen. She’s the punster. Devil take her.”

“They foundered. Just like your ship,” Urbino punned in his turn. “Still, it’s very cozy here.”

“Thanks to Happenen. He was the one who restored everything.”

There was a crash down below, as though something had fallen. What do I care about that fair-haired devil, Urbino thought, bristling. He said:

“I’m confused. Where is this Marleen of yours? Who is Happenen?”

“All right. Let me explain. Marleen is downstairs, where she belongs. She had to be isolated. Did the Baroness really not tell you? Marleen is under her care. We’re twins. No, not the Baroness! Identical, but different. Perhaps because we were raised differently.”

“What do you mean, differently? You both have the same mother and the same father, don’t you?” he said.

The landlady pondered. So did Urbino.

“I didn’t want to go into all of this right away. Apparently the Baroness knows how to maintain professional secrecy … Father left us, and Mother died in childbirth. We were abandoned as babies. The Gypsies took her, and I was raised in a convent. When we reached the age of eighteen, an attorney located us. Our parents had left us a small inheritance. So we were reunited.”

The landlady’s face looked dreamy, or perhaps sorrowful.

“I don’t wish to talk about it anymore. Happenen … It was a training vessel.” Here she lapsed eagerly into an explanation. “He was a midshipman, but like a captain. After the wreck, the cadets who were saved all scattered, but he couldn’t abandon the ship … He’s a

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