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47

After that came a flock of relatives and a phlegmatic priest.

The greatest friends swayed, catching the wind, and sang a

quiet song to Francis and John. The greatest friends

attracted birds and, stroking their wings, wished them a

new and different life. The shroud of branches did not

make a photographic impression on the sand that filled the

hole and became a patch in the brighter land. And the fat

cupolas of churches with their crosses said farewell: be safe

and sound!

One couldn’t complain of silence at the funeral banquet.

Sensible

pans

and

panni. Pan

Jurski, who repeated the same

words over and over all evening, turning to the brothers:

“Don’t be upset, eventually we’ll all be part of such wood

furniture and will be looking good . . . Francis, head up and

smile!”

Panni

Maskovska smelt of sprats and garlic. When she

kissed the brothers, she usually slimed their cheeks,

arousing disgust in the boys. The greatest relic – a ring of

brilliants – father had left to his youthful love

panni

Gzhibovska, now a fat withered beauty, her clothes smelt of

naphthalene.

Later Francis and John went out looking for friends. The

boys didn’t sense yet that the friends had waved goodbye,

that they were still wafted by the wind, which dashed

papers into gutters. Shops, advertising, houses of stone,