TE23 Double Feature

The President Shop

Vesna Mari ć

danger might come from, and if nuclear warfare were to erupt all of a sudden, it would be im-moral of him to take care of the gold bust first, before his wife and child and brother, of course. They would be his priority, but he could also never forgive himself if something were to happen to the bust, if it were stolen— God forbid—or worse, became radioactive so that no one could touch it and dust would gath-er on it and Ruben would have to hand it over to the authorities, who would then prod it with those measuring sticks that tell you how toxic any individual thing is, and they’d keep it under observation, this beautiful statue, possibly never give it back. That wouldn’t do. Ruben wouldn’t survive such an injustice, so he did what he thought was best, and he carried the box and the statue, which must have weighed as much as a small child, he carried them downstairs, into the shelter, and deposited them in the safe box inside the shelter, to which only Ruben and Rosa knew the code. And in the morning, when the 295

small bust; the President’s head fit inside Ruben’s palm. He’d clean it with a velvet cloth, making sure ev-ery crevice was covered. At night, when the shop and the town were purring under the inky caresses of darkness, and when there was the possibil-ity of oblivion, as well as restless remembrance, Ruben would carry the golden bust, inside its case, down to the fallout shel-ter. The President had ordered that fallout shelters be planned within the structure of all new buildings and apartment blocks, and that old buildings have their storage basements fortified in case of a nuclear attack, which for a time, and if one were to trust the news, seemed imminent. The Nation had to be ready for any type of attack, especially for nuclear war, and the cit-izens, including women, had to go on monthly emergency exercises. So, Ruben reasoned, although unlikely right now, while the slow-paced town they inhabited was in the depths of its sleep, one never knew where

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