Trafika Europe 13 - Russian Ballet

Two Stories

appetites where not wholly sated with fruits and grilled meats. And then, the Widow – the precise embodiment of the imagination of Arthur Grey – would come out to greet them, straightening out with her calloused little hands her soiled apron and patiently awaiting the moment they would, finally, take their leave. Some of them were ostensibly intrigued by the question “Where is the point of no return to be found on the path to nowhere?” Others, inflamed with a dose of romantic imagination, intelligently inquired about the modes of travel to Liss or Zurbagan…. And it didn’t, obviously, even remotely occur to anyone to concern themselves with the mundane, penny- pinching needs of an old woman. This did however occur to Gena Schneiderman who, pitching in together with his band of soused revelers regularly, and without being asked, supplemented the old woman’s meager nourishment. In the same manner, without being asked, they once dragged to her abode a genuine medieval anchor and left it there with the note: “Will definitely come in handy in household chores!” The Widow was afraid she would lose her house. But no one, luckily, stole or burned this shed down, even though the local authorities were openly antagonistic towards her. She was eternally damned for having managed to survive the German occupation of Crimea and, according to the official version, with this devious aim in mind, cooperated with the invaders. Saving

41