He`d beaten her before then but he`d
never really hit her. ‘ I`d slapped her a little, but affectionately, so to speak.
She`d cry a bit but then I`d close the shutters and it would finish the way it
always did. But now it`s serious. And as far as I`m concerned, I haven’t
punished her enough:’ Then he explained that was why he needed my advice.
He stopped talking to fix the
lighting which was flickering in shadows on the wall. Just beyond the window, I
could see the far streaks of sunset as the sky turned black. I just sat and
listened to him. I`d taken a glass of wine and my forehead felt very hot.
I smoked some of Iskra's cigarettes
because I didn’t have any of my own left. The last buses passed by, carrying
away the distant sounds of the suburbs. Iskra continued talking. What bothered
him was that he still had sexual feelings for the woman. But he wanted to
punish her. First he`d thought he`d take her to a hotel and call the Vice Squad
to cause a scandal and have her officially registered as a prostitute. Then
he`d gone to see some shady friends of his but they couldn’t come up with
anything. And as Iskra pointed out to me, petty criminals were never much use
and if you did use them , you were always in their favour.
He`d told them the same story as me
and when they`d suggested “branding” her or breaking her legs.He knew it was
useless. It wasn’t subtle. He didn’t like that idea. He needed to think about
it. First, however, he wanted to ask me something. Before he did though, he
wanted to know what I thought about the whole business. I told him I didn’t
have any opinion about it, but that I found it interesting.
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