45 292
The Phanariot Manuscript
45
Doicescu
sighed
with
pleasure. He signaled to
the usher that he wished
to get dressed who turned
his hoarse voice toward
someone else so that the
initial cry quickly made
its way to the back of the
house, from one mouth
to the other. Through the
curtain, the usher’s profile
looked like a jagged wheel.
After changing his mind
several times, he picked
some
yellow
shalwars
which seemed refreshing,
although they were of the
new sort that get tighter
near the ankle.
Thewoman’s hands touched
his thigh while pulling up
his pants and Doicescu
felt obliged to look at her.
She was one of his regular
chambermaids whom he
had chosen for her ample
breasts.
On the divan lay five
surplices, but he didn’t
ponder them much. Instead
he pointed with his chin
towards the one with green
stripes of a fine cotton
with two soft and spacious
pockets. Then he asked for
a shawl and the word went
through the house, fromone
mouth to the other so that
all the windows trembled
under its resonance, making
the lemonade vendor from
Colţea strain his ear and
the butchers across the
street close their mouths
in bewilderment. From the
Doicescu house, the boyar’s
order could be heard
repeated by several voices:
“The Alep satin shawl”,
announced the usher with
his 70-year-old voice, so
rusty that it sounded like a