Sul Campo Del Mare - Vilenica

V2-2010.PM51256/13/100, 12:13 PMBlaže Minevskiby pure coincidence. And I wouldn’t walk parallel to him but rather quietlytread a few metres back as if I’d left the cooperative a moment afterhim by pure coincidence. He wouldn’t turn back, being hard of hearingand all, and I should arrive home as a man, without having requested escortthrough the darkness. Besides, it’s not all that dark, the moon is shiningbright as day, I told myself, just as Clay jumped and punched Frazier inthe mouth. It seemed that Frazier’s vision had gotten a little cloudy andthe referee was counting to ten in order for it to brighten back up. Afterthat the fight continued as if a new day had dawned.A few rounds went by, and then suddenly Clay was saved from a knockoutby the bell; I roused again, opened my eyes and managed to get holdof the last chestnut, forgotten in the dark. The smoke was re-enteringthrough the cracks so that the room was filled up with it to the ceiling.Those present were coughing slightly; Neighbour, whom I was not to letout of my sight, was calmly sitting by the wall at the other end of theroom. All of a sudden, even though nobody had asked him anything, hejumped from his chair, stopped short and began to laugh and swing hisarms with his eyes glued to the TV-set: “Comrade Frazier, if you’re a vampire,and I know you are one, then drink his blood, suck him up, so thathe’ll forget where he’s coming from!” he yelled and calmly sat back downin midair, thinking he had sat in the chair. Or at least it seemed so to mebecause of the smoke. For a moment everything went quiet, horribly quiet,as if the commentator himself had been left speechless in bewilderment,as if he had forgotten who was who in the ring. At that moment the owlfrom the church tower facing the window gave another cry, andSlaughterer jumped from his chair, spat and turned to Neighbour withhis hand between his legs: “I swear on my dick! Clay is not afraid of vampires!”At once everyone burst into laughter, but at once they cut it offagain as if their cable had been unplugged: Frazier landed a left hook toClay’s chin so that the latter squinted at the ‘Ambasador’ and shudderedslightly as if he had had the chill; he then raised his gloves, wiped them onhis shorts, did a few jumps as if skipping rope, and then suddenly flattenedFrazier’s face from a distance; for a brief moment I thought thatcomrade Frazier had a glove between his shoulders instead of the face.After that Clay began jumping around the ring again, and Frazier chasedhim in order to pay him back. While they were dancing around the ring Itook another look at Neighbour, who was knocking on the wall steadilywith his fist in order to puzzle comrade Clay. Apparently he was the onlyone rooting for Frazier: each time Frazier hit Clay he jumped from hischair, rubbing his hands together as if washing them. The next roundwent by without a punch; comrade Clay was dancing solo around thering, and all comrade Frazier did was shaking his hands as they were numbfrom the constant high guard in front of his nose. This was followed by around in which they hugged, bounced off the ropes, and hugged somemore. As I was listening to the rumble of the stove next to me caressingmy face, my eyes closed once more; I was drowsing, listening to the stutteringcommentator and the Neighbour’s drumming on the wall, when125