Peter Pišt'anek - Rivers of Babylon

Silvia is content. She has said goodbye to the idea of dancing a black swan on theatre boards that once meant the world to her. Her last link with the ballet is her slender, but muscular figure. She knows that once she gets an engagement in a Western nightclub, she’ll find it easier to realise her dream of a good marriage. He’ll be either a very wealthy Austrian, German, or, ideally, an American. Silvia knows exactly how this encounter will happen. She’ll be dancing on stage. Stripping. When she finishes undressing to music, she’ll take a bow, collect her clothes, and leave for her dressing room. A huge bouquet will be waiting for her. There’ll be a business card in the bouquet with a long name, full of titles before and after it. On the back will be a message written in an energetic hand. Silvia know a few words of German, but these expressions are connected with her profession: “ normal ”, “ französisch ”, “ griechisch ”, “ goldene Dusche ”, “ Natursekt ”, “Wasserspiele ”, “ wichsen ” (straight, French, Greek, golden showers, sparkling wine, water games, wanking), and so on. The note on the card might say, for example: “Your performance has enchanted me. But I suspect you can do even better. Anyway, I shall be waiting for you outside the cabaret after the show. Respectfully yours in admiration, Rainer, Fürst von… and so on.” Silvia will meet him. She will listen to compliments, all the more attractive for being old-fashioned. She will smile her big toothy smile full of eagerness. Her face will be made up to show a fresh girl’s face with wide, rather naïve eyes that suggest education and intelligence, but only a little bit. Men don’t like very intelligent women. Besides, Silvia couldn’t pretend all that much. She’ll portray herself as a girl of good family who, as a result of an unhappy love affair, has fallen on hard times. She will have to arouse his protective instincts, a desire to defend a fragile being. “Ah, Silvia,” he will say with feeling, “you don’t realise how unbearably I suffer every minute you have to spend on stage in front of that mob. It seems you show them shamelessly, to the accompaniment of such lascivious and invasive music, parts of your body that should belong only to me.” To which Silvia will answer, in pure German, of course: “Ah, Duke! I hear the words of a man who has never had to fight for his bread.” Silvia will say this with a radiant smile painted on her lips, in a quiet, gentle voice, implying: “Look, I am a beautiful woman, a beautiful person! I can bend my body and limbs into various positions, but if my soul wishes, my body will stay pure. It will remain pure no matter what.” And at the same time, Silvia will say: “Yes, Duke, that’s how it is. And as for those parts of my body, those you seem to care for so much, I shall show them to anyone who pays to see them. But should it happen that I show these parts to one and only one man in the world, then it will be to my husband and you can be certain of that, Duke.” At this point, the duke clasps her in his arms and never lets her go. Silvia becomes a duchess and lives in wealth and luxury until she dies.

Edita can’t imagine a new environment. She knows Zdravko G. only fleetingly; she had sex with him a couple of times when Silvia was busy. But he’s a serious man, a medical doctor who wants to help both Silvia and her. Twenty thousand schillings is more than seventy thousand crowns. That’s what she was making in the Ambassador, but at what cost? Edita has made a decision: she is not going to allow the punters to screw her. She will only dance. After all, Edita is not a whore. She used to dance in a folk ensemble. They made it to the final round in Vychodna, the great Slovak folk music festival. She got into the Ambassador cabaret with the help of the hotel lawyer. Of course, she had to let him screw her, but then, who doesn’t get screwed nowadays? If this works out, Edita won’t touch a man with a barge pole. She’ll dance and train herself to perfection. When she’s saved enough money, she might open a dance studio. She’ll teach young boys, but mostly girls, modern stage dancing. The girls will see her as an older friend. They’ll trustingly let her touch them round the waist, thighs, and breasts. Maybe one of them will appreciate her gentle touch and then a gorgeous and deep relationship will blossom. It will be full of the tenderness that only a woman can show another woman. Later on, Edita will perhaps marry a wealthy man. He’ll be experienced, a modern man without prejudices. He won’t mind if his wife, Edita, occasionally gives in to temptation with her own sex. On the contrary, he will consider it an interesting enhancement of their marital life. He’ll enjoy watching and will sometimes join in.

Zdravko G. is also happy. He will get more money for both whores than he’s ever seen in his life. And that’s only the beginning! Soon he’ll go back to Bratislava to persuade Wanda the Trucker and Dripsy Eva to come with him to Austria for the bright future they’ll find over there. However, neither long-legged Wanda, nor slender Eva is a dancer. Zdravko will have to come up with some other story. For example, he can tell them that he’s found them well-paid engagements in a luxury brothel, a respectable institution where they’ll soon manage to save enough for a life with no worries. Zdravko will think up something like that.

It is only a short distance to Woeningen, a village near Vienna, just a few more miles to go. Zdravko is so satisfied with his catch that he gets excited again. He turns off onto a dirt track. By the time he stops in a dark snowbound forest, both prostitutes are already undressed. They satisfy him cheerfully, as they are so grateful to him. When they think about it, he’s plucked them from the boredom of everyday life and bought them a ticket to a happier world and a more beautiful and meaningful future. Afterwards, Zdravko watches Silvia and Edita make love to each other. The car is small. The suspension creaks. All three of them are panting.

After a moment, they continue their journey. Zdravko points to a sign: WILKOMMEN IN WOENINGEN.

“This is where my friend’s house is,” he tells the girls.

He slows down and enters a street. Haslauer’s Pervers Club is behind the shopping centre. Zdravko G. knows what will happen next. He’ll deliver the whores to Haslauer. He doesn’t have to worry about anything else. Haslauer’s wife will be very sweet to them. She’ll take their passports away; she has to arrange their work permits, and so on. Then they’ll put them in a room and keep them under lock and key. They’ll start to ply them with drugs, gradually. Occasionally, they’ll give them a slapping. Just so that they realise they have no alternative but to do as they’re told. Zdravko has no idea what this means in the Pervers Club , nor does he care to know. He’s not a client of those establishments. He knows about anal sex, but everybody does that nowadays. Zdravko is no pervert! After the girls have spent long enough in Haslauer’s establishment, they’ll let them go. They’ll give back their passports, pay them the money they’ve made and that Haslauer’s put away for them. Austrians are decent people; they have a sense of fair play. Haslauer would never rob the whores who’ve worn themselves out in his business. What they’ve been through entitles them to a big reward. But this works two ways. First Haslauer deducts the cost of accommodation, food, drugs (without drugs, it’s impossible to work in his Pervers Club without the risk of going mad), sexy lingerie and various aids and items made of rubber and leather. What the whore has left over after these deductions is enough for a good dinner in the Vienna Hilton and a first class train ticket from Vienna to Bratislava via Marchegg and Devínska Nová Ves. And, of course, also her vast experience. A Slovak whore has to be thankful to Haslauer for that: used properly in Bratislava, that experience can make the whore a millionairess in one year. Zdravko has no pangs of conscience. If that’s what people want, you have to help them get it. Haslauer hired Zdravko because the latter, in his opinion, knows a lot about Slovak whores. Zdravko does his best. He hopes that Haslauer is pleased with the first delivery, Silvia and Edita. Maybe for his next trip he’ll let him use his brand-new white Porsche. That would be something! Then Zdravko will be able to bring him amateurs, as well: students, divorcees, jilted fiancées and young chicks. Haslauer told him clients prefer amateurs. He offered him ten times over the odds for a virgin. Ten times more!