TE17 Mysterious Montenegro

Alta Ifland

was in grade school the last time he’d read a poem, and had never dared imagine that anyone would be interested in the workings of his head, never mind publish them, suddenly envisioned the possibility of a public declaration that would show Maria “who he was” and possibly melt away her resistance. So, heart thumping with anticipation, he enclosed his handwritten poem in a stamped envelopeonwhich hewrote the newspaper’s address and prepared himself for an anxious period of waiting. He gave them five days, after which every time the mail arrived without the much-expected answer, he drowned his disappointment into another bottle of vodka. He knew that if Maria saw his name printed in such a respectable publication, she’d realize whom she was dealing with, and would come crawling back to him. Well, come to think of it, maybe she won’t be crawling, but at least she’ll be wobbling back. Maybe she won’t come back, but at least she’ll answer his letters. He waited. And waited. Two weeks passed and there was no word from the paper. At the beginning of the third week, he “grabbed his heart with his teeth”—as Maria used to say when she translated literally from Romanian into English—that is, screwed up his courage, and called the newspaper’s office. They transferred himfromoneperson toanother, and hekept repeating his request, which for some reason caused a prolonged silence at the other end of the line, until finally someone said, “Hold on,” and then he heard in the background, “Hey, folks, this is the guy who’s been dumped by his woman,” and a chorus of giggles and laughter ensued. After hewaited for about five minutes, he heard the dial tone, and hung up. The disillusionment caused by this episode was the last drop 184