TE15 Lithuanian Honey Cake
By Remote Means
flowery percale purse, similar to an envelope, there was more than just money, and this threw them off their track a bit. It was the woman herself. Her ninety, or maybe a whole one hundred, year-old gray locks. The scent of potato peels. The buzzing of flies banging into the window with rainbow wings. The darkness of corners (replete with little devils). A rabbit in it ’s cage. A stool covered in lamb’s wool. Crumbs of unknown epochs. But the worst of it: that purse contained her eyes. Two clear, solid blue marbles. The marbles that jump out of their sockets during car accidents when a person is thrown (especially of their own will) out the window, or when a bomb explodes, and they lie there on the asphalt, or hang from tree branches, and it is said that these things follow you with their gaze, wherever you might go, even in your dreams, into other lives, cursing you – so it was an urgent matter to get the money out of that purse as quickly as possible! The older one, weighing the wad in his hand, swallowed his spit: “Not for nothing did we do this work, eh? Mad money here…” To surrender to the river ’s pull, to go to a safe place, covered in little shells, overgrown with tansies that bloomed little pills, where the two of them will wait until everything quiets down – so they each agreed. Who will hold the money? Obviously the green one, decided the brown (the green one hemmed and hawed but couldn’t bring himself to object), for he had the better pant pockets. I mean, look how deep
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