Ismail Kadare - The Concert

“So it was all quite different then,” said Linda.

Silva nodded.

Steps now approached along the corridor, and the door opened to admit the boss. Though his attitude was still gloomy enough, he also looked somewhat relieved. The meeting must be over, and, thought Linda, he’d probably adopted the expression of some Party member who’d just been released and whom he’d passed in the corridor. He seemed to want to speak, but something was holding him back, Illyrian, who knew he was persona non grata, tiptoed out.

“I was right about the meeting,’’ said the boss, without looking up from the papers on his desk. “It was about China.”

“Really?” said Linda.

“It seems they’re changing their policy," Thee, turning to Silva: “I expect your husband will give us some first-hand information on the subject. When will he be back?”

Silva shrugged.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I haven’t heard from him.”

She hadn’t sat down at her desk again yet, and for some reason or other she found herself straying back to the window overlooking the square.

“Linda!” she said. putting a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Look!”

Linda turned round and pressed her forehead against the glass,

“How strange!” she exclaimed.

“What’s the matter?” asked the boss.

“A little while ago the square was fell of Chinese, and now they’ve all gone…”

“As if the earth had opened and swallowed them up!” added Linda.

“You can never tell what they’re going to do next,” said the boss. “It was the same with Nixon’s visit. They kept it secret right up to the last minute.”

“Better to break once and for all with people like that,” said Linda.

The boss looked up.

“Easier said than done. This isn’t one of your cheap romances, where if one character hurts another person’s feelings they have a row, say they wish they’d never set eyes on one another, and flounce off…”

“I don’t know what you mean,” said Linda, looking him straight in the eye.

“I mean foreign relations are not like people’s private affairs: you love me, I don’t love you any more, and so we part…This sort of thing goes much deeper, There are objective considerations and all sorts of other factors to take into account…”

“Do you think I’m such a feather-brain that I reduce everything to the level of a domestic row?” asked Linda icily.

The boss stared at her, taken aback.

“Calm down! I didn’t say that!”

“But that’s what you were insinuating!” she replied, her eyes flashing angrily.

He waved his hand vaguely, then turned to Silva as if to seek her help. But, unsure she was willing to come to his aid, he threw up his arms as if to say, “That’s all I needed!”

For a few moments he busied himself opening and shutting the drawers of his desk, as he usually did when he was nervous. Then he lit a cigarette. And promptly stubbed it out again.

“Right, that’ll do,” he said mournfully. “I didn’t mean to be disagreeable, for heaven’s sake! I suppose, at the end of the day, I’m allowed to make a bit of a joke! I am the boss, aren’t I?”

He leapt up, stuffed his packet of cigarettes into his pocket, and left the room.

“He really is a case,” said Linda. His annoyance had displaced her own. “I’m the one who ought to have been annoyed!”

Silva smiled indulgently.

“Shall we go down to the cafeteria?”

“Do you think I went a bit too far?” Linda asked as they went down the stairs.

Silva smiled at her again. Vaguely. She was thinking of something else.

The cafeteria was in the basement, and the stairs leading down to it were crowded with people coming and going. This was the time most of the clerks took a coffee break. Silva noticed Victor Hila at the far end of the counter with a glass of brandy. He looked worn down.

She went over.

“Did you get to see the vice-minister?” she asked.

He waved his hand.

“Yes, Much good it did me!”

“Do you know each other?” she asked as she introduced him to Linda.

“Delighted to meet you,” said Victor, still staring into space. “May I offer you a drink? Sorry, I’m like a bear with a sore head today…”

“What’s the matter?” asked Silva. “I noticed something was wrong when I met you first thing…”

“I didn’t take it seriously at first, but now I see I’m in trouble. I’ve been running around all morning trying to find out what’s up, but no one will tell me anything definite…Anyhow, what’ll you have?”

“Perhaps it would be better to leave that till another time,” said Silva, “You look a bit low.”

“All the more reason for you to help cheer me up! Come on, do have something! I insist!”

Linda glanced at Silva, as if to ask if Hila was quite right in the head.

“All right,” said Silva. “Coffee for us, please.”

Victor Hila emptied his glass. Then:

“I’m in trouble over a Chinaman,” he said.

“What?” exclaimed Silva.

“We were just talking about the Chinese,” said Linda, looking at Victor curiously.

“Yes,” he went on. “A Chinaman! A particularly lousy Chink!”

Linda put her hand to her mouth to stifle a laugh. Victor went and fetched their coffees from the counter and set them down in front of them.

“I was told yesterday that I’d been suspended. Do you realize what that means? I’m neither still employed, nor sacked! Just suspended! And all because of this Chinaman! I’ve spent all the morning combing the ministry trying to sort it all out, but it’s no good. I’m absolutely fed up. You’d think they’d all gone deaf.”

“But what happened with the Chinaman?” asked Silva, after taking a sip of her coffee. “Did you have a row with him?”

“Worse! I trod on his toes!”

This time Linda wasn’t the only one who couldn’t restrain her mirth.

“Are you serious?” she chuckled.

“Yes,” growled Victor. “I thought it was funny at first, too! Then I found out the Chinaman had lodged a complaint, and now the fact that I laughed is being held against me!”

Linda was still so amused she had to put her cup down on the counter to avoid spilling her coffee.

“And then what happened?” asked Silva.

“Don’t talk about it!” sighed Victor. “The Chinaman alleged I’d trodden on his toes deliberately. Of course I swore black was blue I hadn’t done it on purpose. But the whole business went up to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Chinese Embassy insisted I must be punished. When they heard nothing had been done to me, the Chinks protested again. Apparently they’ve sent the file to Peking, together with an X-ray of their citizen’s foot. We’re still waiting for the reply. So you see what a jam I’m in?”

“But it seems our relations with China are not what they used to be,” said Linda, wiping away tears of laughter. “That may work in your favour…”

“Oh, I know how it is with affairs of this sort,” said Victor. “Of course, all kinds of things may happen. Someone might set fire to the Chinese Embassy. But no one will ever forget I trod on those toes. Just my luck!”

He looked around the room.

“The worst of it is, everyone tries to give me advice. ‘Keep calm, Victor, and don’t criticize the Chinese — it’ll only make matters more difficult for you!’ The Party secretary, the director — they all say the same thing: The Chinese people are like this, the Chinese people are like that…’ ‘Right,’ I tell them, ‘I haven’t got anything against the Chinese people. I haven’t even got anything against China itself. All I want to know is, what’s going to happen to me?’“