Макс Фрай - The Stranger

“Don’t fret about that. Emotional clarity is something that comes with time. Now then, back to the matter at hand. A few years ago, a bizarre chain of events began to unfold. In this very office, two fugitives from the law showed up. One of them kept shouting maniacally that they wanted to turn themselves in to Mr. Venerable Head personally. The other didn’t say a word, just stared at the same spot the entire time. They had been sent to the City Police Department for some trifling offense and had been able to escape the guards, which doesn’t surprise me in the least. Considering the chaos that reigns in Boboota’s office, I’d say it was predictable, if not inevitable.

“One of the fugitives, someone by the name of Motti Fara, turned out to be a countryman of mine. Like me, he hadn’t been in Kettari for quite some time—since the beginning of the Code Epoch, at least. When he got into trouble, he decided that his native city wasn’t the worst place to hide from the police of the Capital. So the two of them set off for Kettari. And got lost.”

“And that seemed too unlikely to you, right?” I asked, and added knowingly, “Maybe your countryman just had something wrong with his head? That happens sometimes, you know.”

“My countryman did not strike me as an idiot,” Juffin said drily. “In my humble opinion, Mr. Fara had quite enough intelligence to make it back to his hometown. But nothing came of it. After that failure, the fugitives returned to the Capital. Instead of hiding, they went straight to the House by the Bridge, which in itself is quite improbable, and started begging for a meeting with me. My curiosity did not allow me to ignore their request—people don’t often commit such foolhardy acts.”

“Oh, yes they do,” I murmured. “Even worse ones.”

“You’re right, for the most part,” Juffin smiled. “But for us, natives of Kettari, pragmatism is in the blood. Pay attention now; the best is yet to come. Don’t let your mind wander.”

“I’m sorry, Juffin. I don’t seem to be very cheerful, today.”

“That’s an understatement, if I’ve ever heard one. You’ve been so lacking in spirits lately that it’s nauseating just to look at you!” the chief said with a sigh.

Then he got up from his chair, came up to me, and tugged at my ear. It made me feel so awkward that I began to laugh nervously. When I stopped laughing, I realized with amazement that my mood really had noticeably improved. Even my broken heart felt like it had been reassembled.

“You deserve a break,” Juffin said. I felt his heavy hand on my shoulder. “It’s my little gift to you. To be honest, everything that is happening to you, you’ll have to come to terms with yourself, without anyone else’s help. But one can stray from any rule—if not too long, or too far. All the more since I need all your attention right now, not pathetic little shreds of it. Right-o?”

I nodded silently, delighting in the absence of the familiar gnawing pain in my chest, the trusty companion of every loss I ever experienced. Juffin went back to his chair and continued his story.

“My countryman seemed to be mortally afraid. He swore that Kettari had disappeared. Or, rather, that it lay in ruins. His companion was in a twilight state of consciousness, and the stench of madness hung about him like the smell of sweat on a farmer. The poor thing should have been sent to a Refuge for the Mad, not to prison. He couldn’t even say his own name, but mumbled incoherently. However, Motti Fara seemed to be a very sensible gentleman, however. He announced that the two years in Nunda Prison that he had been sentenced to were nothing compared to the disappearance of our native city. Then this true patriot of Kettari did this,” (here, Juffin tapped the tip of his nose with the index finger of his right hand) “and asked that, as one countryman to another, I not extend his sentence for running away.

“That’s our favorite Kettarian gesture, Max. It means that two good people can always come to an understanding. I was so moved I was ready to let him off altogether. Unfortunately, Boboota’s boys already knew that the sly fellow had found his way under my wing. Now that’s something I understand: old fashioned patriotism!”

I couldn’t suppress a smile, so loaded with irony was the chief’s remark.

“To continue, Max. A few days later, another caravan arrived, loaded with carpets from Kettari. Here were a few dozen reliable witnesses from the flourishing town. I could take comfort in the knowledge that my fugitives had simply gotten lost, after all. Yet a nagging voice inside me kept insisting that it wasn’t all as straightforward as that; and if I lose sleep over a problem for more than one night, it’s a sure sign that something smells fishy. When all is well in the World, I sleep soundly. That’s just the way I’m made. You’re the same way, if I’m not mistaken.”

“Me, sir? Why my rest depends on more down-to-earth matters. If I don’t forget to go to the bathroom before I go to bed, I sleep like the dead. If I forget, I toss and turn, and I’m tormented by gloomy premonitions about the imminent demise of the Universe. My constitution is very primitively designed, didn’t you know?”

Juffin grinned and poured me some kamra.

“To add to my own suspicions, my countryman wrote me letters nearly every day. I can still see that seal of the Nunda Royal Prison of Hard Labor in my mind’s eye. I even had to create a special box for his correspondence so it wouldn’t get mixed up with the other papers. The content of the letters was not distinguished by its variety. Here, take a look at one of them. It is paper, of course. Prisoners aren’t allowed to use self-inscribing tablets. But you’re used to paper, aren’t you?”

Juffin opened a small box, extracted a little square of thick paper from it, and handed it to me. With a voyeuristic thrill, I started reading the crabbed handwriting of this missive meant for someone else:Sir Venerable Head, I’m afraid that all the same you didn’t believe me. But Kettari true enough is no more. There is just an empty place, a pile of ancient ruins. I could not have gotten lost. I know every stone for miles around. I remember the seven Vaxari trees by the city gates. They’re still there. But the gates are gone! There’s just a bunch of stones that still bear the remains of the carving of old Kvavi Ulon. And behind them, just dusty rubble.

I handed the letter back to Juffin, who turned it over in his hands a few times and then placed it in the box again.

“Then he died, this unlucky fellow. It was more than a year ago now. Here’s his last letter. It’s different from the others. Another law of nature: the farther you go, the more interesting things become. Take a look, Max.”

I took the next folded paper square from him, and stumbling over fragments of the small, unfamiliar handwriting, began to read:Sir Venerable Head, I have once again decided to take pen in hand and take up your time. I hope they are passing my letters along to you. Last night I couldn’t sleep. I kept thinking about the ruins that greeted me from behind the tops of those trees. And I remembered how Zaxo and I wandered around in those ruins for a long time. Probably that was when he lost his senses. As for me I just lost my memory. You see up until now I was sure that we had just left right away, and I couldn’t understand why Zaxo lost his mind. He isn’t from Kettari, so if someone was going to go off his head, it should have been me!

But last night I remembered that we went into the destroyed city, and I even found the ruins of my old home. But Zaxo said that I shouldn’t worry—there is the square, he said, and there are the tall houses, and there are people walking around everywhere. But I couldn’t see anything. My friend ran in that direction, and I was looking for him for a long time. And sometimes I could hear people’s voices, somewhere far away, so I couldn’t make out what they were saying. Only once I heard very clearly that they were talking about the old sheriff, Sir Mackie Ainti, and I was very surprised. He disappeared about 400 years ago, before my parents were even born, and someone said that he was on his way and that he would take care of everything.