Dada 39

But then one of them showed up with the plumber who lives on the second floor.

He knocked on the door and everything went quiet. He banged on it harder and, after a moment, the woman started crying and Iskra opened the door. He was smoking a cigarette and looked as if he had just eaten a heavy lunch. There was stubble on his face and he looked slightly red eyed. The young woman rushed to the door and told the policeman that Iskra had beaten her. “Name”; said the policeman. “And take the cigarette out of your mouth when you’re talking to me” Iskra hesitated, glanced over at me and took another drag of his cigarette. When he did that, the policeman slapped him so hard across the face that you could hear it across the landing.His cigarette went flying.

Iskra turned pale but didn’t say anything for a moment. He then meekly asked if he could pick up his cigarette. The policeman said he could but added: “next time, you remember; only fools take us for idiots in Malaysia.” While this was going on, the young woman was crying and saying:

“He hit me. He`s a pimp’ over and over again.

Then Iskra said: “Tell me, officer, isn’t it against the laws of this country to call a man a pimp?”         But the policeman replied: “Shut your trap.”

Then Iskra turned to the girl and said: “You haven’t seen the last of me.”