TE21 Serbian Moments

Nikola Tutek

The Widower

into the flame of the candle.

his hand over the tablecloth towards the empty chair.

“You know, Egan, on one of those secret photos I took was Kate as well.” Egan’s smile became broader, and this did not surprise Gerda anymore.

“Kate, we were a perfect match,” he said. IV. Annie Goes Away

It was one Friday in August, Egan got saddened by the news that the fourth widow on his list, Eola Sarafian, unexpectedly died. This meant his lengthy quest was finished. All he could do now was to ask the neighbors when the funeral was. They told him Sunday. They also said it would be a sunny day. Jessie was there, she waved to Egan, he waved back. Smiles dispatched between a multitude of masked faces and over the headsof people.Theseethereal smiles. Eganwasexperimenting with these. Melch and his mother, Mrs. Tramatonsky. Melch raised his hand to salute. Egan nodded his head. And then Aggy, under a tall, dark cypress tree. She looked like a fifteen- year-old girl who just got herself a pair of new shoes. Egan smiled. He never thought he’d smile so much at a funeral. Why not. It was all over. Egan noticed there was a new priest. His squeaking voice. The shining coffin (it really was a sunny day). Words caught by the branches of thorny trees. Not letting go. People leaving, just as silently as they came. Egan found himself standing alone and staring at the fresh grave. Among other things, he wondered how long it would take for grass and flowers to take over the dirt. It was like suddenly thrown out of its bed, the dirt. It had

“In the end, we were open for new things.”

Gerda was confident with Egan. She lowered the straps of her dress. The bodice detached from her body. Egan found her breasts irresistibly alluring but he did not leave his chair. Gerda got up and turned her back towards Egan as she pulled her dress down, uncovering her heavenly body postured on long and slender legs. Egan examined the flawless curves of her buttocks and how the candlelight played on her skin. The deflection on her skin unfolding the line of the spine. Gerda reached to her nape and released the hair. Long dark hair covered the whiteness of her skin. Gerda turned around with her face towards Egan. He looked down fromher face, her neck and breasts, over her navel, all the way down to what was left of her denied and rejected identity. Egan got up, went around the table and hugged Gerda. She put her head on his chest. Egan then turned her body around and pushed her back down gently over the armchair. That night Egan did not feel like coffee. He just sat at the table in his kitchen. The weak, shivery yellow light. Egan stretched

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