Boldizsár Berényi
Translated from the Hungarian by Diana Senechal
– Let’s take a look at you, wretch – the man said, staring into my eyes. The eye contact lasted no more than a few seconds, since I felt awkward and didn’t like seeing into others’ souls. – Why do you always dress like that? – He kept berating me and trying to catch my eye, but I started focusing on his facial features. I noticed that he had just shaved, since his face had scrapes on it. His sunburned skin was further darkened by dirt and dust. He exuded an odor of old alcohol, not much, just enough for me to detect; maybe the stench of the sewer drowned out the whiff of beer.
I saw him speaking but didn’t hear his voice. I was preoccupied with something else.
– Do you hear me, idiot? – he burst out in rage, striking my nape. His hand was heavy and angular. It had no trace of gentleness or weakness. Still, the blow didn’t hurt all that much.
– Now I’m gonna climb down into the sewer – he continued upon noticing that finally, and for the first time that day, I was really paying attention to him. – All you have to do is hand me the right tool from my chest when I ask for it. Get it?
I didn’t want to answer, and he probably noticed this, because he didn’t wait for a reply; he was already climbing. He creaked for a few minutes down the dingy ladder. I started getting nervous nervous when silence suddenly fell. I finally immersed myself in the details. The clouds gathering under the sky almost merged with the horizon, as if the sea of wheat had a majestic storm in store for us.
Suddenly a bird swooped over my head. At first I only saw a shadow on the ground as it flew above me, then I looked up and saw it. Its shape was somehow flawed, as if someone had created it in a dream. Its motion had me mesmerized. I had attention for nothing but the way its wings beat softly and its golden feathers trembled gently with each movement. It dwarfed everything else; the man’s voice, the sewer, the world around me were all lost, and only the bird remained.
– Hey, can you hear me? Give me a wrench! – the man’s voice yanked me back to reality. I didn’t look at him, I just rummaged blindly in the chest and pulled out a tool, which I handed over at once. I didn’t even look back; I just kept watching the bird. The tool clattered loudly in his hand as he took it, but I didn’t care.
The bird approached me slowly; its eyes nearly hypnotized me. I felt inexplicably attracted to it. My trembling hand unconsciously groped for my knife in my pocket as I approached it. I took it out slowly, almost cautiously. With each step I became more and more lost in the bird’s spell.
As I looked at this magical creature, a mad smile stole over my face. I was filled with an unusual happiness, as if feeling alive for the first time. That smile filled me to the brim as the bird came even closer, almost within arm’s reach.
I stopped before the bird, its feathers glistening in the rays of sunlight breaking through the thick black clouds. A strange calm came over me as I leaned closer. Its gaze almost met mine; it understood what I was planning. Now I didn’t mind the eye contact; in fact I enjoyed seeing the depths of the creature’s soul.
– Let’s take a look at you, wretch – I said softly, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, and stabbed it with a single motion. The gold and pink feathers fluttered for a moment, then, slowly and majestically, the bird collapsed before me.