The Union of Synchronised Swimmers by Cristina Sandu

Author:Cristina Sandu
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FIC019000, FIC051000, FIC029000, FIC008000, FIC044000, SPO043000
Publisher: Scribe Publications Pty Ltd
Published: 2021-05-31T16:00:00+00:00

TEAM OF SYNCHRONISED SWIMMERS FORMED BY GIRLS OF CIGARETTE FACTORY.

BETTY, SAN MARTIN

The casino smells of bedrooms in need of airing. Unsmiling girls are handing out drinks and cigarettes to the customers at the bar.

I hesitate for a second as I change the last of my money for chips. They are heavier than I had imagined. The dealer, a small black man, starts to shuffle the cards. The only players other than myself are two tourists I met at the beach: Magnus from Germany and Jeanne from France. Both have sunburnt faces. Jeanne calls over the waitress, who dashes to the bar as fast as her miniskirt lets her and soon returns with a turquoise drink.

Judging from the expressions on their faces, I’m not the opponent Magnus and Jeanne were hoping for. I try to hide my shaking by crossing my hands over my lap. I check the time: Pappa will be here in two hours.

Magnus has drawn the highest card. He immediately raises, and Jeanne and I call. When the dealer turns over the first three cards on the table, the corners of Jeanne’s mouth lift cheerfully.

Jeanne, you’re a bad player, Magnus laughs.

Jeanne’s face, draped with angularly cut hair, flushes even redder than before.

I win the first hand with three tens. Arranging my chips into neat piles, I say: I’ve been on this island for a month now.

A month … Jeanne mumbles. As soon as she gets her cards, she covers them with her palms.

I’ve been here for a week and I don’t think I could stay for another, she says. I’m leaving after tomorrow.

Magnus looks at her, amused, and sighs: You’re breaking my heart.

If I could decide now, I’d never have come here, I say.

Why did you come then? Jeanne asks.

It’s a long story … because of a dog, actually. A Doberman puppy.

I expect intrigue, but both have fixed their eyes on the dealer’s fingers, turning over the cards. Magnus looks excited and raises. I forget to breathe when the dealer reveals the fifth and final card. Magnus shows his two pairs but, instead of looking at the cards, he looks at Jeanne and smiles.

I do not tell them how difficult the first months in Bucharest were. When I moved there last spring, I thought it would be easy to start a new life. But by the time I met Lux, I was stealing fish heads from a restaurant’s garbage disposal.

I say: Last spring, I moved to a new country, and lived alone, a complete foreigner, until I met a man called Lux. I moved in with him right away. He sold phones that arrived through his mailbox in brown packages from I don’t know where. I turned out to be a good saleswoman and the business started to grow; the apartment was filled with phones.

I sip the drink Magnus has ordered for me. The third hand starts. I look at Jeanne. Her expression is still bored. She taps her lower lip with a forefinger. The long, thin nail is perfect in its French manicure.

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