| 10 | |
| The lean black-eyed credit jeweler was standing in his entrance in the same position as the afternoon before. He gave me the same knowing look as I turned in. The store looked just the same. The same lamp glowed on the small desk in the corner and the same ash blonde in the same black suede-like dress got up from behind it and came towards me with the same tentative smile on her face. | Mršavi je crnooki draguljar Stajao u svojem ulazu u istom položaju u kojem je bio i prethodno popodne. Uputio mi je isti pogled pun razumijevanja kad sam skrenuo unutra. Dućan je izgledao sasvim isto. Ista se svjetiljka žarila na malom pisaćem stolu u kutu i ista je pepeljasta plavuša u istom kostimu iz crnog, antilopu sličnog materijala ustala od njega i prišla mi s istim uslužnim smiješkom na licu. |
| “Was it—?” she said and stopped. Her silver nails twitched at her side. There was an overtone of strain in her smile. It wasn’t a smile at all. It was a grimace. She just thought it was a smile. | — Što biste ...? — rekla je i zastala. Srebrni su joj se nokti trznuli obješeni niz bok. U njenu je smiješku bio prizvuk napetosti. To uopće nije bio smiješak. Bila je grimasa. A ona je zbilja mislila da je bio. |
| “Back again,” I chirped airily, and waved a cigarette. “Mr. Geiger in today?” | — Evo me opet — zacvrkutao sam lepršavo i mahnuo cigaretom. — Mister Geigera irna danas? |
| “I’m—I’m afraid not. No—I’m afraid not. Let me see—you wanted…” | — Bojim ... bojim se da ne. Ne ... bojim se ne. Da vidimo ... Trebali ste ...? |
| I took my dark glasses off and tapped them delicately on the inside of my left wrist. If you can weigh a hundred and ninety pounds and look like a fairy, I was doing my best. | Skinuo sam crne naočale i počeo njima lagano lupkati po lijevom dlanu. Ako je moguće s osamdeset pet kila izgledati kao pasivac, učinio sam sve što se moglo. |
| “That was just a stall about those first editions,” I whispered. “I have to be careful. I’ve got something he’ll want. Something he’s wanted for a long time.” | — To s prvim izdanjima bila je samo magla — pro-šaptao sam. — Treba \>iti oprezan. Imam nešto što bi mu bilo po volji. Nešto što već dugo traži. |
| The silver fingernails touched the blond hair over one small jet-buttoned ear. “Oh, a salesman,” she said. “Well—you might come in tomorrow. I think he’ll be here tomorrow.” | Srebrni su nokti dodirnuli plavu kosu iznad jednog od dva mala uha s gagatnim medaljonima. — Ah, trgovački putnik — rekla je. — Ovaj, bolje da dođete sutra. Mislim da će biti popodne. |
| “Drop the veil,” I said. “I’m in the business too.” | — Skinimo maske — rekoh. — I ja sam u tom poslu. |
| Her eyes narrowed until they were a faint greenish glitter, like a forest pool far back in the shadow of trees. Her fingers clawed at her palm. She stared at me and chopped off a breath. | Oči su joj se suzile dok se nisu pretvorile u slabašni zeleni odsjaj nalik na šumsko jezerce duboko zakopano u sjenu drveća. Nokti su joj se zabili u dlan. Zapiljila se u mene i nekako iskopala dah. |
| “Is he sick? I could go up to the house,” I said impatiently, “I haven’t got forever.” | — Je li bolestan? Mogu mu otići doma — rekao sam nestrpljivo. — Nemam vječnost na raspolaganju. |
| “You—a—you—a—” her throat jammed. I thought she was going to fall on her nose. Her whole body shivered and her face fell apart like a bride’s piecrust. She put it together again slowly, as if lifting a great weight, by sheer will power. The smile came back, with a couple of corners badly bent. | — Vi... ovaj ... vi... — grlo joj je zakazalo. Pomislio sam da će pasti na nos. Čitavo joj je tijelo zadrhtalo, a izraz joj se lica raspao kao da diže težak teret, čistom snagom volje. Smiješak joj se vratio, na nekoliko mjesta gadno iskrivljen. |
| “No,” she breathed. “No. He’s out of town. That—wouldn’t be any use. Can’t you—come in—tomorrow?” | — Ne — dahnula je. — Ne. Nema ga u gradu. To ... to ne bi imalo nikakve svrhe. Možete li... doći... sutra? |
| I had my mouth open to say something when the partition door opened a foot. The tall dark handsome boy in the jerkin looked out, pale-faced and tightlipped, saw me, shut the door quickly again, but not before I had seen on the floor behind him a lot of wooden boxes lined with newspapers and packed loosely with books. A man in very new overalls was fussing with them. Some of Geiger’s stock was being moved out. | Već sam otvorio usta da nešto kažem, kad su se vrata na pregradi otvorila za tridesetak centimetara. Lijepi je tamni i visoki momak u kožnom kaputiću provirio napolje, blijeda lica i stisnutih usana, ugledao me, opet brzo zatvorio vrata, ali ne prije negoli sam uspio vidjeti iza njega na podu hrpu drvenih sanduka omotanih novinskim papirom i ispunjenih nemarno nabacanim knjigama. Neki je čovjek u sasvim novom radničkom kombinezonu prtljao oko njih. Dio se Geigerove robe seli. |
| When the door shut I put my dark glasses on again and touched my hat. “Tomorrow, then. I’d like to give you a card, but you know how it is.” | Kad su se vrata zatvorila, ponovno sam stavio crne naočale na nos i dotakao šešir. — Sutra, dakle. Volio bih vam dati posjetnicu, ali znate kako je. |
| “Ye-es. I know how it is.” She shivered a little more and made a faint sucking noise between her bright lips. I went out of the store and west on the boulevard to the corner and north on the street to the alley which ran behind the stores. A small black truck with wire sides and no lettering on it was backed up to Geiger’s place. The man in the very new overalls was just heaving a box up on the tailboard. I went back to the boulevard and along the block next to Geiger’s and found a taxi standing at a fireplug. A fresh-faced kid was reading a horror magazine behind the wheel. I leaned in and showed him a dollar: “Tail job?” | — Da-a. Znam kako je. — Zacvokotala je još malo a zatim ispustila između jarkih usnica zvuk nalik na sisanje. Izišao sam iz dućana pa udario na zapad bulevarom do ugla, pa zatim sjeverno ulicom do prolaza koji je išao iza trgovina. Crni je kamionet sa stranicama ispletenim od žice, bez firme, bio natraške parkiran uz Geigerovu rupu. Onaj je čovjek u sasvim novom kombinezonu upravo podizao sanduk u tovarni prostor. Vratio sam se na bulevar i uz blok susjedni Geigerovu naišao na taksi parkiran kraj požarnog hidranta. Klinac rosnog lica sjedio je za volanom i čitao nekakav magazin strave i užasa. Nagnuo sam se u-nutra i pokazao mu dolar: — Slijeđenje? |
| He looked me over. “Cop?” | Prešao me pogledom. — Murjak? |
| “Private.” | — Privatni. |
| He grinned. “My meat, Jack.” He tucked the magazine over his rear view mirror and I got into the cab. We went around the block and pulled up across from Geiger’s alley, beside another fireplug. | Nakesio se. — Šljaka po mjeri, Pero. — Zatakao je magazin za retrovizor, a ja sam ušao u kola. Pošli smo oko bloka i zaustavili se preko puta Geigerovog prolaza, pokraj nekog drugog hidranta. |
| There were about a dozen boxes on the truck when the man in overalls closed the screened doors and hooked the tailboard up and got in behind the wheel. | U kamionetu je bilo oko tucet kutija kad je čovjek u kombinezonu spustio rolo, zakačio stranicu kamiona, ušao u nj i sjeo za volan. |
| “Take him,” I told my driver. | — Drži ga — rekoh vozaču. |
| The man in overalls gunned his motor, shot a glance up and down the alley and ran away fast in the other direction. He turned left out of the alley. We did the same. I caught a glimpse of the truck turning east on Franklin and told my driver to close in a little. He didn’t or couldn’t do it. I saw the truck two blocks away when we got to Franklin. We had it in sight to Vine and across Vine and all the way to Western. We saw it twice after Western. There was a lot of traffic and the fresh-faced kid tailed from too far back. I was telling him about that without mincing words when the truck, now far ahead, turned north again. The street at which it turned was called Brittany Place. When we got to Brittany Place the truck had vanished. | Čovjek u kombinezonu je potjerao motor, bacio pogled uz i niz prolaz i zaprašio u suprotnom smjeru. Izišao je iz prolaza skrenuvši ulijevo. Učinili smo isto. Uhvatio sam kamionet kako skreće istočno na Franklin i rekao vozaču da mu se malo približi. On to nije htio ili nije mogao. Kad smo dospjeli na Franklin ugledao sam kamion dva bloka daleko. Držali smo ga na oku do Vinea, pa preko Vi-nea čitavim putem do Westerna. Iza Westerna smo ga dvaput ugledali. Bilo je mnogo prometa, a klinjo rosa lica slijedio ga je suviše zaostavši. Upravo sam mu govorio o tome prilično neuvijenim riječima, kad je kamion, sad već dobrano odmakao, ponovno skrenuo na sjever. Ulica u koju je ušao zvala se Brittanv Place. Kad smo dospjeli do nje, više ga nije bilo. |
| The fresh-faced kid made comforting sounds at me through the panel and we went up the hill at four miles an hour looking for the truck behind bushes. Two blocks up, Brittany Place swung to the east and met Randall Place in a tongue of land on which there was a white apartment house with its front on Randall Place and its basement garage opening on Brittany. We were going past that and the fresh-faced kid was telling me the truck couldn’t be far away when I looked through the arched entrance of the garage and saw it back in the dimness with its rear doors open again. | Klinjo mi je počeo umirujuće tepati kroz pregradu. Pošli smo zatim uzbrdo brzinom od šest kilometara na sat tražeći kamion iza grmlja. Dva bloka više, Brittanv Place se svijala na istok da bi se spojila s Randall Place u jezičak zemljišta na kojem je bila bijela kuća sa stanovima za iznajmljivanje; pročelje joj je gledalo na Randall Place dok su joj se prizemne garaže otvarale prema Brittanv. Prolazili smo mimo nje i rosni mi je malac upravo objašnjavao kako kamion ne može biti daleko, kad sam pogledao kroz nadsvođeni ulaz garaže i u polumraku mu ugledao stražnji dio s ponovno spuštenom stranicom. |
| We went around to the front of the apartment house and I got out. There was nobody in the lobby, no switchboard. A wooden desk was pushed back against the wail beside a panel of gilt mailboxes. I looked the names over. A man named Joseph Brody had Apartment 405. A man named Joe Brody had received five thousand dollars from General Sternwood to stop playing with Carmen and find some other little girl to play with. It could be the same Joe Brody. I felt like giving odds on it. | Pošli smo uokolo do pročelja najamne zgrade i izišli. U predvorju nije bilo nikoga, a nije bilo ni kućne telefonske centrale. Uza zid je, okrenut rnu stražnjim dijelom, bio zguran drveni pisaći stol, a pokraj njega je bila ploča s pozlaćenim poštanskim ormarićima. Pregledao sam imena. Čovjek imenom Joseph Brodv imao je stan broj 405. Čovjek imenom Joseph Brodv primio je pet tisuća dolara od generala Sternwooda da se prestane igrati s Carmen i pronađe za igru neku drugu curicu. Mogao je to biti isti Joe Brodv. Osjećao sam da bih se mogao kladiti u to. |
| I went around an elbow of wall to the foot of tiled stairs and the shaft of the automatic elevator. The top of the elevator was level with the floor. There was a door beside the shaft lettered “Garage.” I opened it and went down narrow steps to the basement. The automatic elevator was propped open and the man in new overalls was grunting hard as he stacked heavy boxes in it. I stood beside him and lit a cigarette and watched him. He didn’t like my watching him. | Obišao sam nekakav lakat od zida i našao se u dnu popločanog stepeništa i okna automatskog dizala. Vrh je dizala bio u razini s podom. Pokraj okna su bila vrata na kojima je bilo ispisano »Garaža«. Otvorio sam ih i pošao niz uske stube u podrum. Vrata su automatskog dizala bila širom rastvorena, a čovjek je u novom kombinezonu mučno stenjao dok je u nj slagao teške sanduke. Stao sam kraj njega, pripalio cigaretu i počeo ga promatrati. Nije mu se dopadalo to što radim. |
| After a while I said: “Watch the weight, bud. She’s only tested for half a ton. Where’s the stuff going?” | — Pazi na težinu, brajane — rekao sam nakon nekog vremena. — Dozvoljena je težina samo pola tone. Kamo to ide? |
| “Brody, four-o-five,” he grunted. “Manager?” | — Brodv, četiri-nula-pet — progunđao je. — Nadstojnik? |
| “Yeah. Looks like a nice lot of loot.” | — Aha. Fina lovina, čini se. |
| He glared at me with pale white rimmed eyes. “Books,” he snarled. “A hundred pounds a box, easy, and me with a seventy-five pound back.” | Bljesnuo je na mene svojim blijedim, bijelo okruženim očima. — Knjige — zarežao je. — Pedeset kila po sanduku, lako moguće, i mojih osamdeset u dupjetu, |
