Danilo Kiš - The Attic

CARTE DE VINS OF THE

TWO DESPERADOS TAVERNA

IMPORTED WINES

Malaga à la Orpheus

Eyes of Eurydice

Desperados’ Dream

Magnolia Maraschino

Glutteus aeburnea à la Leontina

Satyr’s Ambrosia

Gelosia vecchia al Umberto

Brandy à la Mansarde

Arpeggio à la Mansarde

Žilavka Mistress of the Lute

Hosszú lépés Smart Ass

Thea-Lipovanka á la Mary Magdalene

Evening Star, bitter

Morning Star, violet

The Song of Tam-Tam

Moonlight of Delphi

Palm Frond Vugava

Primavera marina

Mezzogiorno adriatico

Cyclamen Sailor’s Duel

Le temps retrouvé

Dollente, lis blanc

Allegro, ma non troppo

Allegretto (108), red

Allegro vivace (152), white

Ritardando brillante, maestoso

Doloroso espressivo

Dolce, ma con fuoco a l’Euridice

Desperados’ Soliloquy

Boule-de-neige

Il Sueño della Vida

Balata, bitter opal

Tourmaline bicolore

Tourmaline rose (rubellite)

Saphir cagochon

Calitera menandar (Asia)

Precis heleida (Madagascar)

Precis eurodoce

Anea Orphilochus (Sumatra)

Arhonias Bellona (pierides)

Byblia ilithya

Agerona mexicana

Chrisidia madagascariensis

Eucalitia clemante

Amethyst blue (sapphire)

DOMESTIC WINES

Fruška Gora Pearls of Dawn

Dubrovnik Madrigal

Ohrid Legend

Gračanica Dawn

Slavic Legend, bitter

Morning Star over Herzegovina, bitter

The Highways of Prince Marko (dark)

Scutari Gold (gutedel)

Mother Jevrosima’s Hair

Banović Strahinja’s Goblet

Lazar’s Bicep

Vuk Mandušić’s Dream, white

Maternal Curse

Word of Love

Simonida’s Eyes

A Monk’s Manuscript

And then, as far as the food on the menu went—

FISH AND SEAFOOD

Dragonfly in mayonnaise

Poison d’avril

Barbus de Sumatra in palm oil

Danio Rerio with lemon

Egg of Columbus

Girardinus Guppi (Arc-en-Ciel)

Chinese warrior with mint

Barbillon Galapagos

Aquamarino adriatico

Speckled lutist with mustard

Flying coral with French fries

Seaweed with spaghetti

Mistral with orange

Mistral in olive oil

Mistral from the grill

Mistral in a tin can

South African diamond

Gavial of Celebes

Tahitian pictor

White Tahiti-flower with rice

Rouge-Gorge of the Adriatic

Rouge-Bleu of the Adriatic (with cream)

Tomatoes with Greek olives

Tern with eggs

Bouquet de mariée with mustard

Cleaning lady in lemon juice

Shark à la Sumatra

Ageronio Atlantis

Catenofele salicia (Nymphalisis)

Hvar Guitar without Sordino

Hvar Guitar with Sordino

Brač shipwreck in white wine

Rose of the winds

As he pored over the menu, a cut diamond in the shape of a skull and crossbones twinkled on his short index finger. I observed the way his fingers slid perplexedly over the snakeskin.

But, finally — after he had drunk an absinthe — the man said, “The specialty of the house, please.”

His voice wasn’t trembling when he said it.

“How’s that?” blinked the old man Barba-Umberto, whose eyes were following Leontina’s butt under her black apron as she walked away.

The man with the swollen eyes cast a brief glance at Leontina, who was washing glasses behind the bar. Then he repeated:

“The specialty of the house. A Desperados’ Pistol. . That’s what it’s called, isn’t it?”

Barba-Umberto blanched.

“They promised me that they would look out for her. I said: ‘Boys, if anybody so much as taps her a single time on the. .’”

Then Igor jumped in:

“What may I bring you, sir?”

“A Pi-stol. A Desperados’ Pistol. How many times do I have to repeat myself?”

“Excuse us,” said Igor, wiping the crumbs off of the Brač marble in front of the man with a white napkin.

“Our interpreter is a bit hard of hearing. .”

“A double. Don’t forget: a double.”

“As you wish.” Billy bowed formally and headed to the bar, as the man called out after him:

“Noch ein Bier !”

Igor bowed.

The man had hooked his short little thumbs into his suspenders and was watching the dark, wintry sea through the window. A black and white ship was trying to draw up to the breakwater through the waves. From time to time its howl could be heard over the wind and it immediately awakened in me the memory of a train embankment, of Eurydice.

Next to me I sensed the haste with which Igor was working. He unfastened the pistol from its hook (where it hung over the bar like a museum piece), and then I heard him cock it and eject the four remaining bullets from the magazine. After he had inserted one bullet into the barrel, he brought out a silver dish from under the bar. He wiped it off and then laid a small white silk napkin, folded into a triangle, onto it. Carefully he placed the pistol onto the napkin. He was then ready to head to the table but something else occurred to him. I noticed that he was agitated, although his hands weren’t trembling. He moved the napkin with the pistol over to the side of the tray, and on the opposite side he placed a mug of foaming beer. Then he nodded to Barba-Umberto and handed him the tray, motioning with his head toward the guest with the skull-and-crossbones. The man was still watching the ship roll around right outside the entrance to the harbor. Without a word Umberto took the tray and set it in front of the customer. The man with the suspenders glanced at the pistol, poked around at it intently with his small index finger, and then drank down his beer. Then he sat there for another quarter of an hour, immersed in the sight of the ship. Then he gestured to Umberto to bring the check.

“This is too hard,” he said in German. “An excellent imitation. Eine schöne Imitation . But very hard. I don’t want to bust my teeth. Auf Wiedersehen !”

Umberto brought back the tray with the empty mug and the pistol. He was muttering something to himself, of which I was only able to catch the words: porca miseria, porca miseria .

The stranger had not left a single dinar as a tip. Porca miseria !

No. That’s not how it was.

First he drained the mug. Then he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and lit a cigarette. When the cigarette had burned down to his fingernails, the man stubbed it out in the ashtray. There was desperation and determination in this gesture. He licked the barrel of the pistol, and I saw Barba-Umberto making idiotic faces at him. Then a shot rang out. It was so unexpected that even I started.

He did not fall over backward, as I had expected. Rather he slumped forward with his face on the marble table, as if he were dozing.

Umberto covered the blooming skull with a white cloth. Billy was screaming hysterically into the telephone receiver: “Hello? Hello? Hello?”