TE15 Lithuanian Honey Cake

Jaroslavas Melnikas

no door to the bedroom. I turned to go to the kitchen, to shut myself away until I could get my head around the situation. If I was able to live in the same room with my children and my parents, then I could manage with total strangers as well. Oh, I didn’t fully know myself yet. My wife behaved as if I had slept with Konkin in the same bed all my life. What was next? Because if there was any logic to it (and a logic could be discerned there) it wouldn’t be long until it revealed itself fully. What else had fate to demand of me, and what else would I have to put up with? The future seemed to hold nothing but horror. I had to think it through, as I was not convinced that the next step might not be fatal. I couldn’t just leave it to fate. I couldn’t, I had no right. However, there was no kitchen. Nor was there a corridor. There was only a pantry-like space which opened from the living room. I came back in and switched on the light. The room was packed full of people. They slept on two levels, with two to three in a bed. It wasn’t a room at all, really, just some kind of barracks. A cooker stood by the window and there was a small dirty table over owing with dishes. There was no cupboard or television. ‘What the hell?’ Voices rose from everywhere. ‘Who switched on the light? Diomin, hit him on the chops.

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