sent to the capital for laboratory examination.”
“I guess they’re given back to their owners when they check out.”
The small man nodded again, more slowly. “If their owners are still alive, yes. If they can be found. In many cases…” He shrugged. “They are not returned. Possibly I can help. You wished a house not far from the house in which this woman resides. I understand that. But you are living in that very house at present, provided I have understood you both correctly.”
“I am. But I figure the charges against me will be dropped pretty soon. When they are, I’m going to move out of their house and into the house I’ve rented. I ought to have it fixed up by then.”
“Your nation does not maintain a consulate here in Puraustays.”
It was my turn to nod. “That’s what everybody tells me.”
“There is, however, an embassy in the capital.”
I nodded. “I’ll go there when I can travel again. You seem to know a lot about this stuff. When I’ve talked to somebody at the embassy, will I be sent back to America straight off?”
The small man shook his head. “It will be months, certainly. Years, possibly. Do you have influential friends in your own country?”
“A few,” I told him.
“In that case, months, perhaps. Or a year or two.”
I nodded again. “Okay, if that’s the way it is, I’ll tour your lovely country with my cousin as my interpreter, and collect materials for a new book. Take a bunch of pictures, if I can get my camera bag back.”
“Ah! The police seized your luggage as well?”
“I don’t think so. It got left behind on the train when I was taken off.”
“I see. It may be that I can have it returned to you. I will try. You find the Willows attractive?”
“Yes,” I said, “certainly. I’ll have the trees cut and replaced with fruit trees and a nice lawn. When that’s been done and the roof fixed, with a few other things, the house should be really nice.”
“The state will not increase your rent?”
“Well, I hope not. To tell you the truth, I hadn’t thought about it.”
The small man sniffed. “You need fear no increase. I will see to it, sir.”
“Thanks! I’ll owe you for that.”
“If you are alive, sir. The house is most attractive? You are drawn to it while you sleep? It may be that I have employed the wrong word. This German we speak is not my native tongue.”
“It isn’t mine either,” I said.
“Does the house you have rented from us draw you in the way that a magnet draws iron filings?”
“Not so far.”
“Your cousin is attractive. You agree, I hope? See her as she eats the strawberry. Does she not attract you?”
“Sure she does.”
“But the house that you have rented from us, is it hideous?”
I thought quite a bit about that one. Finally I said, “It’s like a woman a hundred years old. Just seeing her, you know she used to be beautiful. You’d fix her up if you could.”
The small man chuckled. “Houses can be repaired.”
“That’s my point. Probably the house will attract me when it’s been fixed up, but by that time I might be as free as anybody. My passport wasn’t forged, and I’ve never committed a crime.”
“You are in my country,” the small man said slowly, “while I have never been in yours. Do you confuse ghosts with demons there? Or conflate either with fairies?”
That question made me a little dizzy. I ate a couple of strawberries while I thought about it. “No,” I told him, “I don’t believe we do. Ghosts are the souls of the dead, still hanging around. Demons are fallen angels, but fairies are nature spirits—or that’s what they said in a class I took one time.”
He nodded. “You have heard of Vlad the Impaler? A stake of some size was driven into the earth. Its top was sharpened to a point, and the condemned man was forced down on it and left there. In that manner he killed thousands. Some endured this agony for days before the merciful death freed
“I guess they’re given back to their owners when they check out.”
The small man nodded again, more slowly. “If their owners are still alive, yes. If they can be found. In many cases…” He shrugged. “They are not returned. Possibly I can help. You wished a house not far from the house in which this woman resides. I understand that. But you are living in that very house at present, provided I have understood you both correctly.”
“I am. But I figure the charges against me will be dropped pretty soon. When they are, I’m going to move out of their house and into the house I’ve rented. I ought to have it fixed up by then.”
“Your nation does not maintain a consulate here in Puraustays.”
It was my turn to nod. “That’s what everybody tells me.”
“There is, however, an embassy in the capital.”
I nodded. “I’ll go there when I can travel again. You seem to know a lot about this stuff. When I’ve talked to somebody at the embassy, will I be sent back to America straight off?”
The small man shook his head. “It will be months, certainly. Years, possibly. Do you have influential friends in your own country?”
“A few,” I told him.
“In that case, months, perhaps. Or a year or two.”
I nodded again. “Okay, if that’s the way it is, I’ll tour your lovely country with my cousin as my interpreter, and collect materials for a new book. Take a bunch of pictures, if I can get my camera bag back.”
“Ah! The police seized your luggage as well?”
“I don’t think so. It got left behind on the train when I was taken off.”
“I see. It may be that I can have it returned to you. I will try. You find the Willows attractive?”
“Yes,” I said, “certainly. I’ll have the trees cut and replaced with fruit trees and a nice lawn. When that’s been done and the roof fixed, with a few other things, the house should be really nice.”
“The state will not increase your rent?”
“Well, I hope not. To tell you the truth, I hadn’t thought about it.”
The small man sniffed. “You need fear no increase. I will see to it, sir.”
“Thanks! I’ll owe you for that.”
“If you are alive, sir. The house is most attractive? You are drawn to it while you sleep? It may be that I have employed the wrong word. This German we speak is not my native tongue.”
“It isn’t mine either,” I said.
“Does the house you have rented from us draw you in the way that a magnet draws iron filings?”
“Not so far.”
“Your cousin is attractive. You agree, I hope? See her as she eats the strawberry. Does she not attract you?”
“Sure she does.”
“But the house that you have rented from us, is it hideous?”
I thought quite a bit about that one. Finally I said, “It’s like a woman a hundred years old. Just seeing her, you know she used to be beautiful. You’d fix her up if you could.”
The small man chuckled. “Houses can be repaired.”
“That’s my point. Probably the house will attract me when it’s been fixed up, but by that time I might be as free as anybody. My passport wasn’t forged, and I’ve never committed a crime.”
“You are in my country,” the small man said slowly, “while I have never been in yours. Do you confuse ghosts with demons there? Or conflate either with fairies?”
That question made me a little dizzy. I ate a couple of strawberries while I thought about it. “No,” I told him, “I don’t believe we do. Ghosts are the souls of the dead, still hanging around. Demons are fallen angels, but fairies are nature spirits—or that’s what they said in a class I took one time.”
He nodded. “You have heard of Vlad the Impaler? A stake of some size was driven into the earth. Its top was sharpened to a point, and the condemned man was forced down on it and left there. In that manner he killed thousands. Some endured this agony for days before the merciful death freed
Similar Books
