The Geographer's Library

The Geographer’ s Library
comes to any good.” He turned to the Kazakh and asked in Russian, “Does
Tezvadze still have a stall here?” The Kazakh nodded. “He still sells the same
wares as always?” Another nod. “Fine. Go buy a deck.” He handed Timur a
few bills, and as the Kazakh was leaving, he grabbed his arm. “And bring back
a dealer, too. The usual arrangement.”
As Timur left, Voskresenyov explained, “Tezvadze sells Georgian playing
cards. He claims they’re hand-painted, but if that is so, they have been
painted by a man with the steadiest hands I’ve ever seen. He sells them to
Balts, Russians, and tourists too scared to wander down below the Caucasus.
The suits are a bit different than what you are used to, but it should serve. As
for the dealer ...well, let’s see who Timur finds. Will you have a drink while
we wait?” Voskresenyov brought a ceramic bottle up from under the table.
“What’s that, then?”
“Balsam. Rigas Melnais Balzams. A local specialty. Some never acquire a
taste for it, but I have to say that since I started drinking it, I have never been
troubled by illness. Particularly effective in dispelling the sorts of complaints
common in an English climate.” He took a deep swig from the bottle and
passed it across the table.
Hewley sniffed from the bottle and recoiled. “Ugh. What is this muck?”
“Nobody knows, really. Some wormwood, hyssop, orange peel, oak bark,
blossoms of some sort. It’s a secret.”
Hewley took a deep draft, swallowed, retched, fell backward in his chair,
righted himself, and ran his fingers through his hair. Voskresenyov laughed,
and the door opened. Timur squeezed through the doorframe, followed by a
slender girl of about twelve or thirteen in a dirty brown frock, blindfolded.
He threw a deck of cards onto the table and said, in Russian, “Found her
wandering by the Bashkir tea women.”
The girl was trembling silently, and a tear ran from beneath her blindfold
onto Timur’s hand, which was laid across her collarbone, guiding her
forward.
“Here, girl, come over here.” The girl straightened, sniffled loudly, and
walked toward Voskresenyov with as much direction and self-assurance as if
she had no blindfold on. “You know how to deal cards?” She nodded. “I’ll
give you a choice. In thirty minutes you can have more money than your
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