TE20 Migrant Mosaics

Goran Vojnović

‘Where’s this come from?’

‘A few days before he died, Vesna told him that whilst he was away in Egypt, Jana wanted to get a divorce.’

‘And you think he’d kill himself because of that? At his age?’

‘He never forgave himself for going to Egypt when he did. He always suspected that his departure had caused Jana irreparable harm, and Vesna confirmed those suspicions. She stoked his biggest fears. Before, hecould still tell himself thatmaybe it hadn’t been so bad. But after that, he saw himself as being to blame for her illness. Death was a fairly logical choice, if you think about it; he had no source of comfort left.’ I spoke with composure, as if I were speaking about characters from a book that I’d read, and Anya, too, listened to me as if she were listening to a work of fiction. Sad, but fictional. What I was saying was too disturbing for her to believe.

‘But why did Vesna tell him?’

‘I don’t know. But she did. She wanted payback.’

‘Payback? For what?’

‘For Safet.’

What did Aleksandar have to do with Safet?’

‘Aleksandar did nothing to protect him from what happened.’ 58