Trafika Europe 5 - Slovenian Interlude

But the machinations of his carefully prepared correction- plan graphically demonstrated that comrade Podlogar did not know his daughter at all, despite his conviction over the years that she was his favourite. This infamous snoop, who the local hooligans used to justifiably dread, never took seriously the hereditary stubbornness that he had passed on to Dusha, though stories of it had been circulating for long enough. Podlogar’s plan had been to force Dusha’s Ljubljana landlord with a report since, like so many landlords, he had never registered the fact that he was subletting his apartment. So Dusha was kicked out, and Dushan might’ve thought that she would have slumped down on a street corner, before humbly sulking home to daddy. But instead, she went straight to the train station and waited, for the last time, for the green train. Carrying two small suitcases, her stubbornness dictated the rest of the story – she was determined never to return to her father’s village, not even for a Sunday lunch. She rode off towards the lights of Pula, believing that this very evening, her lieutenant would be waiting for her with a rose in his thorn-scratched hand, on Platform 2, and for the last time. But as luck would have it, Lieutenant Nedelko, on the very evening that should have been the most special of his young life, failed to remember that it was Thursday. Thursday evenings saw a special ritual at the Karl Rojc Barracks. Around seven, Colonel Neven Barac, fresh from the shower and anointed with smuggled Italian cologne, set out for dinner at the Fisherman’s Shed Restaurant with his mistress, Zhana. The

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