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Veronika decides to die :: Coelho Paulo
Страница: 99 из 115”
“My son involved in drugs?”
“It happens. I smoked marijuana too when I was young; people soon get bored with it. I did.”
His wife felt proud and reassured. Her husband was an experienced man, he had entered the world of drugs and emerged unscathed. A man with such strength of will could control any situation.
One day Eduard asked if he could have a bicycle.
“We’ve got a chauffeur and a Mercedes Benz. Why do you want a bicycle?”
“To be more in touch with nature. Maria and I are going on a ten-day trip,” he said. “There’s a place near here with huge deposits of crystal, and Maria says they give off really positive energy.”
His father and mother had been brought up under a Communist regime. To them crystals were merely a mineral product composed of certain atoms, and did not give off any kind of energy, either positive or negative. They did some research and discovered that these ideas about “crystal vibrations” were beginning to be fashionable.
If their son started talking about such things at official parties, he could appear ridiculous in the eyes of others. For the first time the ambassador acknowledged that the situation was becoming serious. Brasília was a city that lived on rumors, and as soon as his rivals at the embassy learned that Eduard believed in these primitive superstitions, they might think he had picked them up from his parents, and diplomacy, as well as being the art of waiting, was also the art of keeping up a façade of normality whatever the circumstances.
“My boy, this can’t go on,” said his father. “I have friends in the Foreign Office in Yugoslavia. You have a brilliant career as a diplomat ahead of you, and you’ve got to learn to face reality.”
Eduard left the house and didn’t come back that night. His parents phoned Maria’s house, as well as all the mortuaries and hospitals in the city, to no avail. The mother lost her confidence in her husband’s abilities as head of the family, however good he might be at negotiating with complete strangers.
The following day Eduard turned up, hungry and sleepy. He ate and went to his room, lit his incense sticks, said his mantras, and slept for the rest of that evening and night. When he woke up, a brand new bicycle was waiting for him.
“Go and see your crystals,” said his mother. “I’ll explain to your father.”
And so, on that dry, dusty afternoon, Eduard cycled happily over to Maria’s house.
“My son involved in drugs?”
“It happens. I smoked marijuana too when I was young; people soon get bored with it. I did.”
His wife felt proud and reassured. Her husband was an experienced man, he had entered the world of drugs and emerged unscathed. A man with such strength of will could control any situation.
One day Eduard asked if he could have a bicycle.
“We’ve got a chauffeur and a Mercedes Benz. Why do you want a bicycle?”
“To be more in touch with nature. Maria and I are going on a ten-day trip,” he said. “There’s a place near here with huge deposits of crystal, and Maria says they give off really positive energy.”
His father and mother had been brought up under a Communist regime. To them crystals were merely a mineral product composed of certain atoms, and did not give off any kind of energy, either positive or negative. They did some research and discovered that these ideas about “crystal vibrations” were beginning to be fashionable.
If their son started talking about such things at official parties, he could appear ridiculous in the eyes of others. For the first time the ambassador acknowledged that the situation was becoming serious. Brasília was a city that lived on rumors, and as soon as his rivals at the embassy learned that Eduard believed in these primitive superstitions, they might think he had picked them up from his parents, and diplomacy, as well as being the art of waiting, was also the art of keeping up a façade of normality whatever the circumstances.
“My boy, this can’t go on,” said his father. “I have friends in the Foreign Office in Yugoslavia. You have a brilliant career as a diplomat ahead of you, and you’ve got to learn to face reality.”
Eduard left the house and didn’t come back that night. His parents phoned Maria’s house, as well as all the mortuaries and hospitals in the city, to no avail. The mother lost her confidence in her husband’s abilities as head of the family, however good he might be at negotiating with complete strangers.
The following day Eduard turned up, hungry and sleepy. He ate and went to his room, lit his incense sticks, said his mantras, and slept for the rest of that evening and night. When he woke up, a brand new bicycle was waiting for him.
“Go and see your crystals,” said his mother. “I’ll explain to your father.”
And so, on that dry, dusty afternoon, Eduard cycled happily over to Maria’s house.