Trafika Europe 12 - French Bon-Bons

Breathing into Marble

hide something; when he came home the house would tighten like a warm fist, while in the daytime it would relax as if without his control things began to loosen. Once, when Liudas was having a wash in the kitchen, Ilya noticed that between the man’s legs swung a bag of skin just like the one that dangled between his own legs – only unbelievably bigger. Perhaps that meant the large creature was in some ways the same as him and that it might be possible to win his acceptance. Twice a week, after his lessons at the Kurpiskiai secondary school, Liudas would get into his Opel and drive to the orphanage. He would get back after dark and though he was very talkative, his features seemed to weaken, to bleed involuntarily from his face, like ripples from a stone dropped in the water. Isabel did not remember when she started secretly examining Liudas’ hands as if looking for blood or dirt beneath his nails. He would drop his briefcase onto the brown leather armchair, leave soapy scuds in the bowl of warm water he washed in and sit at the table gluing models while Isabel cooked the dinner. Isabel didn’t ask anything, but Liudas talked enthusiastically about his new pupils at the orphanage, as if he felt it was his duty to share his impressions of the day. The detail, however, would slide away without illuminating the dark hole of the hours they had spent apart. When was it that Liudas first carried home that new

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