TE21 Serbian Moments

Nikola Lekić

Society of Free-world Receptionist

- But why when it makes no difference in the end?

-

That’s sick.

- Well, he’s stronger. And I have to believe in something. A man needs all the help he can get. You never know which one of these nonsense stories is real, and which one isn’t. - I agree. But tell me - were there any similar situations, like that one with the priest? Did you ever get into some sort of a fight with a customer? - No, I’m not like that. If someone wants to be right, I let them be. What can I do about it? Fight? And it’s not good for work. Although, therewas this fat spoiled guywhomadeMister M. come after me. He really deserves a good beating, that’s for sure. - Slimy little bastard! A piece of shit, that’s what he is. Let’s say he was in high school at the time, all full of pimples and all, and what he would do – at that age, and it’s a serious age, mind you – he’d go around torturing any animal he could find. Dogs, cats, birdsof any kind, lizards, mice, rats, whatever; bugs, even; butterflies! – can you imagine? – what kind of a man goes aroundcatchingbutterfliesandburning theirwings! Butterflies – those soft, gentle butterflies whose only job is to slow down this crazy world a bit! Knocking down nests, breaking eggs, kicking, burning and throwing rocks – that’s what he’d do. - Why? What happened?

- It’s sick alright . And there was this professor – h e taught in all the elementary schools around the city, and later when he got older he took care of the stray dogs living in our neighborhood – and this little bastard poisoned at least ten or more of those puppies. Everyone pretended they didn’t know who did it, including the professor, and all of us knew very well that only that fat piece of shit, J., was capable of doing it. - That piece of shit… Relax?! Yeah, right! That professor was the nicest. He would take all those stray dogs home and take care of them like they were his, like they were his kids. And after the poisoning incident, he just lost it. He was nowhere to be found. You could barely see him go out. He had no one to go for a walk with. And I was waiting for a chance to meet this J. character. And so, one evening as I was walking to the newsstand to start my night shift, I saw him walking in front of me. A bit further away. And so I started walking faster and caught upwith him. I keptwalking next to himand telling him, in a normal tone of voice, very calmly, without even looking at him, something like I know you did it, I know, you poisoned the professor’s dogs, everyone knows it, the whole neighborhood knows, everybody knows, and soon they’ll be talking about it and you’ll have nowhere to go without people staring at you, pointing fingers and saying ‘there goes that murderer, the dog - Relax, man. It’s okay.

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