Zbornik Mednarodnega literarnega srečanja Vilenica 2004 - Ljudmila

Szilárd Podmaniczky
down the bank; the water was icy-cold. Come on now, come on, I urged
the woman under my breath. The top of the car vanished completely under
the water, the eddies swirled slowly outwards, and the lake again grew
calm, with only the ripples surging towards the far bank to break its surface.
One minute elapsed, then two. I could not bring myself to go in after
her. On the contrary, I edged away step by step. On getting back to the
road and setting off again in the dark, I thrust my hands in my pockets
and had a feeling that somehow nothing had happened. And the further I
went, the more I kept repeating that to myself: nothing, nothing at all. I
don’t even know who they are.
It was still night when I reached the next village, or maybe it was a
town. Two taxis were parked in the centre. I got into the first; a young lad
was listening to the radio. They say the cold spell will let up tomorrow, he
said. Good thing too, I responded, I’ve got a splitting head from this cold
front. Where to, he asked. It’ll be a fair drive, and then I named the town, pressing
fifty thousand into his palm. Fair enough, he said, and I felt relieved.
He said nothing until we had left the village. Only then did he ask:
Husband coming home? And he guffawed. You got it, I said, on top of
which I did two people in and saved someone’s life. The lad’s expression
did not so much as flicker: that sort of thing happens round here, it’s a
prosperous area, and fortunes easily change hands. But if you give me
another hundred grand, I never saw you. I’ve only got fifty, I said, and
pulled it out. Alright, he replied, then I’ll say I only saw half of you - from
the back, let’s say. And he started to laugh his head off: a decent little
caper at last. There was I thinking I would have to wait another week, he
said. Though that one’s a dead cert. Right? Get smashed out of my skull
with my mates. That’s when my birthday will be. Happy birthday to you, I
said, and turned the radio up.
Translated by Tim Wilkinson
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