Dada 49

 I asked him what had happened. He told me he`d been in a fight with some guy who`d been asking for trouble.

‘You have to understand, Rana “he said. I’m not a bad sort but I do have a quick temper. So this guy says to me: If you`re really a man, you’ll get off this bus, so I say: Come on now, don’t get so worked up. Then he calls me a coward. So I get off and I tell him: That`s enough now. Cut it out or you`ll have this.” He held up the fist.

Then the guy says: you and who else? So I punched him. He fell down. I was about to help him up but he started kicking me while he was still on the ground. So I hit him with my knee and punched him a few times. His face was all bloody. Then I asked him if he`d had enough. He said: “Yes”:

All the time he was talking, Iskra was rubbing the bandage on his hand. I was sitting on the bed.

“You can see that I wasn’t looking for trouble; he said. He`s the one who started it: That was true and I said so. Then he told me that he actually wanted my advice on the whole business, that I was a man who understood life, how I could help him and afterwards he`d be my friend. I didn’t reply. He asked me again if I`d like to be his friend. I told him I didn’t mind. He seemed pleased. 

He took out the kidneys out of a newspaper and started cooking them in a frying pan. He put out the glasses, plates, cutlery and two bottles of wine all in silence. Then we sat down at the table. While we were eating, he started telling me his life story. At first he hesitated a little. “I used to know this woman... I guess you could say she was my mistress..: the man he`d had the fight with was the woman`s brother. He told me that he`d been keeping her. I didn`t say anything and right away he added that he knew what people said about him in the neighbourhood but he worked in a warehouse and had a clear conscience.