Читать книгу Away! Away! - Jana Beňová - Страница 7

ON THE ROAD

And, if on the way to the hospital or in the forest I should meet a cuckoo. If I’ve already seen her from afar, as she prepares to throw herself at me in friendship, love, and conversation. In an embrace. I beat her to it—in that instant when she pauses to gather her bile—I lunge at her and plant a big kiss on each of her cheeks. Then I push her away and resume my journey.

It’s such a militant mode of defense. To kiss, embrace and then shove someone as far away as possible.

That humiliating feeling, when you stand face to face with a cuckoo and you feel yourself adapting. You smile, kiss. You do the cuckoo thing. There’s nothing for it—to face the cuckoos unveiled, that would be to risk exposure to radiation. To risk damage. Explosions, things flying everywhere, saliva, grimaces, teeth.