Ivan Klima - Lovers for a Day

'I'd read them Bible stories too. We always read the Bible at home on Sundays.'

'In your home?'

'Yes, in my home.'

'And tell me, could you really leave it behind? Don't you love your home?'

'I love you. My home will be wherever you are.'

'How can you tell?'

'I just feel it.'

'This is a foreign country.'

'My ancestors also came to a foreign country. Everyone here bar the Maoris came to a totally foreign country. The journey by ship could take three months in those days. And even the Maoris haven't always been here.'

'But you were born there. You have your parents, your brother, your friends, your wife, your children and the sea.'

'But I haven't got you.'

'Do you mean to say that I count for more than everything else?'

'Yes, that's just what I mean to say.'

'But you hardly know me. After a couple of months here you might start to regret it.'

'I never regret anything I do.'

'You married once and now you want to go away and leave them. And you don't regret it?'

'No. We loved each other once and then it ended. I don't regret it.'

'You'll love me and then it'll end. Won't you regret it?'

'It won't end!'

'If it ended, would you regret it?'

'It won't end.'

'But if it ended you would regret it.'

'No, I wouldn't.'

'What would you find to do here in a foreign country? A sailor with no sea. A man 'with no home, no family, no friends?'

'Didn't you tell me just a while ago that one has to live for the present and not act in terms of what will or won't happen?'

'But we'd break up our families. Both you and I.'

'They're broken already. After what has happened.'

'But things like that happen in life and the family doesn't have to break up on account of them.'

'When love ends it never returns.'

'Are you so sure?'

'I'm speaking about myself

'Bill, these phone calls must have cost the price of an air ticket already. You might as well have come straight here.'

'You didn't tell me whether I should come.'

'I'm really not sure, Bill. It'd be awfully complicated.'

'Life is complicated. Until the day you die.'

'But some complications are needless. Or excessive.'

'Do you think I'm an excessive complication?'

'No, not you. You're someone who's very dear to me.'

'So why don't you want me to come?'

'Hello, Bill, are you there? You keep fading away'

'What did you say?'

'I said you're fading away.'

'There you are. That's something I know from the sea. First your country fades away and then everything else. Even the ones you love the most. Otherwise you'd go mad.'

'What would make you go mad?'

'Getting up every morning and knowing all you'll see that day is the sea and none of your loved ones, the ones that make your life worth living. That's why I want to come to you.'

'Don't come, Bill!'

'You tell me not to come, even though I'm fading from your life?'

'I was only talking about the phone. Otherwise you're not. I mean, I'm not sure. Bill, to come all this way, when we're not even sure we'll be able to meet? The whole thing is madness. I realize I ought to have thought better of it before, but I fell in love with you. Now I'm frightened of the consequences. Not just for me, but for you too. I'm touched by what you want to do and I love you for it. But at the same time I'm afraid.'

'One should only be afraid of dying.'

'Don't talk about dying.'

'Living without you seems to me like dying.'

'That's blasphemy!'

'A day without you is like the sea 'without dry land. There's nowhere to come back to, nothing to look forward to.'

'Bill, you're a… a… I don't know how to say it in English.'

'Say it in Czech then.'

'You're a cvok .'

'What's a cvok ?'

'That's the problem! I don't know how to explain it. It means you're crazy in a nice sort of way.'

'I'm not crazy. I just know what I want. And now finally tell me if I should come!'

'I'm not sure, Bill. I'd love to see you, but at the same time I'm afraid of not finding a solution. Of assuming the responsibility. Wait a moment, someone's opening the front door. My husband's coming in. Quick, say something important. Just the most important thing.'

'Okay. I've got to see you or I'll die. I'll arrive there next

Wednesday via London. At one-thirty p.m. I've already bought my ticket. Do you love me?'

'Yes.'

'I love you — like a cvok. I can't wait to see you.'

'This is Wellington. Are you still speaking?'

'No, not any more, thank you!'

'God, I'm hungry. I've been on the go non-stop since this morning and didn't find a moment for lunch. Have you got something for dinner?'

'Yes, of course… I'll fix you a sandwich in a moment.'

'Is something up?'

'No, why should there be?'

'You were on the phone when I came in.'

'It was nothing. . nothing important.'

'It's okay, you look a bit worked up, that's all.'

'What do you mean?'

'You seem a bit jumpy'

'No, I'm not. I was talking with my dressmaker, that's all.'

'What did she want?'

'She told me the outfit she's making for me will be ready soon. I'm to pick it up on Wednesday at one-thirty.'

You've had another outfit made?'

Yes. I have to dress nicely. So you'll find me attractive!'

(1994)

'I'd like to talk to you.' 'Now?'

'Now or very soon.'

'You say it so seriously.'

'I'm saying it quite normally.'

'I was planning to do something.'

'You are always planning to do something. Anything not to have to talk to me.'

'I was planning to oil the door hinges. They creak horribly. And aren't we always talking?'

'That depends what you mean by talking.'

'Talking means opening one's mouth and saying words.'

'Yes, that's precisely what you do mean by talking.'

'Do you have a better definition?'

'I'm not interested in definitions, I'm interested in having a conversation.'

'Okay: converse.'

'I would like us both to converse.'

'You start, then.'

'How can I start when you won't even sit down. You're standing there in the doorway looking for an excuse to dash away.'

'Sorry. I'm listening now.'

'It's ages since we spent a whole evening together.'

'How do you mean?'

'I mean a proper family evening together, the two of us and the children.'

'But we're together every evening, aren't we?'

'Really? "When was the last time?'

'Yesterday, for instance.'

'Yesterday evening you came home at nine-thirty. You'd had an important meeting. Or so you said.'

'What's that supposed to mean, "Or so you said"?'

'It means that yesterday we weren't together.'

'Sorry, but yesterday I really did have a departmental meeting. And it was on a fairly important matter. Namely, funding for the whole year.'

'And the day before was a club night.'

'I only have one club night a month.'

'Sunday evening you were playing tennis. On Saturday you watched television. And before that you came home a couple of times when the children were already asleep.'

'Are you keeping tabs on my movements?'

'No, I just remember because it upsets me, and the children too.'

'Okay, I'll give up tennis.'

'I don't want you to give up tennis. I want you to feel the need to be here with us sometimes.'

'How can you tell me what needs I ought to be feeling?'

'You don't think I should want anything from you?'

'You can want anything you like from me, but don't tell me what my needs should be.'

'Sorry. It's just that it upsets me that you act as if you don't need us.'

'I do need you. After all, everything I do, I do for you.'