Trafika Europe 11 - Swiss Delights

Dana Grigorcea

rode Noah’s whole clan, pulled by eight, ten, or even twenty horses whose foals trotted round freely”. The manure was brought to the city’s outskirts, piling up into mounds. Once dry, they were set on fire. I wonder if I should smoke the cigarette down to the filter, the last extravagance of my historic addiction. Lightning flashes like a strobe. Blindingly white seagulls dart past the magnificent neoclassical buildings lining Victory Road and down toward the Dambovita River. Someone who’s probably been shouting this entire time now yells out a woman’s name even louder, Stanca or Bianca. I wonder whether Flavian is already there, and has had to wait for me. I stub out my cigarette and try to go back into the bank. The door is shut tight. I peek through the windows—has everyone already left and locked me out? It seems so. Regardless, I knock on the window pane, savoring the humiliation my all-consuming addiction has brought on, because that’s what will shield me—the young, oh- so-successful bank clerk—from a relapse. The side door that only security officers are allowed to use opens, and a young guard lets me in so I can get my purse. I have no convincing explanation for why that took me a full twenty-five minutes. The policeman ventures a guess that it didn’t register because a new guy at work left earlier than my professional conscience would allow

284