| 15 | |
| He didn’t like that. His lower lip went in under his teeth, and his eyebrows drew down sharply at the corners. His whole face became sharp and foxy and mean. | To mu se nije dopalo. Donja mu se usnica uvukla među zube, a obrve su mu se oštro spustile na uglovima. Čitavo mu lice postalo oštro, lisičje i opako. |
| The buzzer kept up its song. I didn’t like it either. If the visitors should happen to be Eddie Mars and his boys, I might get chilled off just for being there. If it was the police, I was caught with nothing to give them but a smile and a promise. And if it was some of Brody’s friends—supposing he had any—they might turn out to be tougher than he was. | Zujalo je nastavilo svoju pjesmu. Ni meni se nije dopadalo. Ako bi se dogodilo da su posjetioci Eddie Mars i njegovi momci, mogli bi me ubaštati samo zato što sam ovdje. Ako je policija, ćopili bi me a da im ništa ne bih mogao dati: ništa osim smiješka i obećanja. A ako je to neki od Brodvjevih prijatelja — uz pretpostavku da ima i jednog — moglo bi se uspostaviti da su oni tvrđi od njega. |
| The blonde didn’t like it. She stood up in a surge and chipped at the air with one hand. Nerve tension made her face old and ugly. | Ni plavuši se nije dopadalo. Stajala je dok se u njoj pjenilo. Rukom je sjeckala zrak. Živčana joj je napetost postarala i poružnila lice. |
| Watching me, Brody jerked a small drawer in the desk and picked a bone-handled automatic out of it. He held it at the blonde. She slid over to him and took it, shaking. | Pazeći na mene, Brody je trznuo malu ladicu iz stola i pokupio iz nje automatski pištolj s koštanom drškom. Ispružio ga je plavuši. Ova je kliznula do njega i uzela ga, sva se tresući. |
| “Sit down next to him,” Brady snapped. “Hold it on him low down, away from the door. If he gets funny use your own judgment. We ain’t licked yet, baby.” | — Sjedni odmah do njega — dreknuo je Brodv. — Drži ga na njemu tamo dolje, što dalje od vratiju. Ako počne s vicevima, postupi po nahođenju. Još nismo pokopani, maljucna. |
| “Oh, Joe,” the blonde wailed. She came over and sat next to me on the davenport and pointed the gun at my leg artery. I didn’t like the jerky look in her eyes. | — O, Joe — zakukala je plavuša. Prešla je sobu i sjela do mene na sofu uperivši mi pištolj u nožnu arteriju. Nije mi se dopadao istrzani pogled u njenim očima. |
| The door buzzer stopped humming and a quick impatient rapping on the wood followed it. Brody put his hand in his pocket, on his gun, and walked over to the door and opened it with his left hand. Carmen Sternwood pushed him back into the room by putting a little revolver against his lean brown lips. | Zujalo je prestalo brujati; uslijedilo je brzo nestrpljivo lupanje po drvetu. Brodv je stavio ruku u džep, ruku s revolverom, odšetao do vrata i otvorio ih lijevom rukom. Carmen Sternwood ga je gurnula natrag u sobu stavivši mu mali revolver pred mršave smeđe usnice. |
| Brady backed away from her with his mouth working and an expression of panic on his face. Carmen shut the door behind her and looked neither at me nor at Agnes. She stalked Brady carefully, her tongue sticking out a little between her teeth. Brody took both hands out of his pockets and gestured placatingly at her. His eyebrows designed themselves into an odd assortment of curves and angles. Agnes turned the gun away from me and swung it at Carmen. I shot my hand out and closed my fingers down hard over her hand and jammed my thumb on the safety catch. It was already on. I kept it on. There was a short silent tussle, to which neither Brody nor Carmen paid any attention whatever. I had the gun. Agnes breathed deeply and shivered the whole length of her body. Carmen’s face had a bony scraped look and her breath hissed. Her voice said without tone: | Brodv se povukao od nje s ustima u pokretu i izrazom panike na licu. Carmen je zatvorila vrata za sobom ne pogledavši ni mene ni Agnes. Vrebala je pažljivo na Brodvja, s jezikom koji joj je malkice virio između zubiju. Brody je izvadio obadvije ruke iz džepova i počeo joj gestikulirati nešto umirujuće. Obrve su mu se oblikovale u čudan skup krivina i kutova. Agnes je okrenula pištolj od mene i zavila ga prema Carmen. Izbacio sam ruku i čvrsto stegnuo prste oko njezina zglavka a zatim palcem blokirao sigurnosnu polugu. Već je bila blokirana. Potrudio sam se da i ostane. Uslijedilo je kratko tiho rvanje na koje ni Brody ni Carmen nisu obratili nikakvu pažnju. Pištolj je bio moj. Agnes je duboko disala i drhtala čitavim tijelom. Carmenino je lice djelovalo koščato i izgrebano, a dah joj je psikao. Glas koji je izrekao bez intonacije: |
| “I want my pictures, Joe.” | — Hoću svoje slike, Joe. |
| Brody swallowed and tried to grin. “Sure, kid, sure.” He said it in a small flat voice that was as much like the voice he had used to me as a scooter is like a ten-ton truck. | Brody je progutao slinu i pokušao se nasmiješiti. — Sigurno, mala, sigurno. — Rekao je to tako sitnim, uglađenim glasom koji se od glasa kojim se bio meni obraćao razlikovao kao skuter od desettonskog kamiona. |
| Carmen said: “You shot Arthur Geiger. I saw you. I want my pictures.” Brody turned green. | Carmen je rekla: — Ti si upucao Arthura Geigera. Vidjela sam te. Hoću svoje slike. — Brody je pozelenio. |
| “Hey, wait a minute, Carmen,” I yelped. | — Hej, čekaj čas, Carmen — dreknuo sam. |
| Blonde Agnes came to life with a rush. She ducked her head and sank her teeth in my right hand. I made more noises and shook her off. | Plava se Agnes u naletu vratila u život. Prignula je glavu i uronila mi zubima u desnu ruku. Proizveo sam dosta buke i otresao je od sebe. |
| “Listen, kid,” Brody whined. “Listen a minute—” | — Slušaj, mala — zacvilio je Brody. — Poslušaj me samo časak... |
| The blonde spat at me and threw herself on my leg and tried to bite that. I cracked her on the head with the gun, not very hard, and tried to stand up. She rolled down my legs and wrapped her arms around them. I fell back on the davenport. The blonde was strong with the madness of love or fear, or a mixture of both, or maybe she was just strong. | Plavuša je pljunula na mene i zatim mi se bacila na nogu pokušavajući je ugristi. Kresnuo sam je pištoljem po glavi, ne baš jako jako, i pokušao ustati. S val jala mi se niz noge i obmotala ih rukama. Srušio sam se natrag na sofu. Plavuša je bila jaka zbog lude ljubavi ili ludog straha, ili mješavine obojega, ili naprosto zato što je bila jaka. |
| Brody grabbed for the little revolver that was so close to his face. He missed. The gun made a sharp rapping noise that was not very loud. The bullet broke glass in a folded-back French window. Brody groaned horribly and fell down on the floor and jerked Carmen’s feet from under her. She landed in a heap and the little revolver went skidding off into a corner. Brody jumped up on his knees and reached for his pocket. | Brody je zagrabio prema malom revolveru što mu je bio tako blizu licu. Promašio je. Revolver je proizveo oštar zvuk nalik udarcu, ne jako glasan. Zrno je razbilo staklo na jednom od otvorenih francuskih prozora. Brody je užasno zaječao, pao na pod i trznuo Carmenine noge, izbivši joj oslonac. Ona je prizemljila složivši se u hrpu, a mali joj je revolver otklizio u kut. Brody je skočio na koljena i posegnuo u džep. |
| I hit Agnes on the head with less delicacy than before, kicked her off my feet, and stood up. Brody flicked his eyes at me. I showed him the automatic. He stopped trying to get his hand into his pocket. | Pogodio sam Agnes u glavu s manje obzira nego ranije, sritao je sa stopala i ustao. Brody je škljocnuo očima prema meni. Pokazao sam mu automatski pištolj. Prestao je pokušavati uvući ruku u džep. |
| “Christ!” he whined. “Don’t let her kill me!” | — Kriste! — zacvilio je. — Ne daj joj da me ubije! |
| I began to laugh. I laughed like an idiot, without control. Blonde Agnes was sitting up on the floor with her hands flat on the carpet and her mouth wide open and a wick of metallic blond hair down over her right eye. Carmen was crawling on her hands and knees, still hissing. The metal of her little revolver glistened against the baseboard over in the corner. She crawled towards it relentlessly. | Počeo sam se smijati. Cerekao sam se kao idiot, potpuno izgubivši kontrolu. Plava je Agnes sjedila na podu s dlanovima raširenim na tepihu, sa širom otvorenim ustima i fitiljem plave kose preko desnog oka. Carmen je puzala na rukama i koljenima, još uvijek psičući. Metal je njenog malog revolvera svjetlucao uz zaštitnu zidnu dasku, preko sobe, u kutu. Puzala je prema njemu bez i najmanjeg zastoja. |
| I waved my share of the guns at Brody and said: “Stay put. You’re all right.” | Zamahnuo sam svojim dijelom naoružanja na Brody-ja i rekao: — Ostani gdje su te stavili. S tobom je sve u redu. |
| I stepped past the crawling girl and picked the gun up. She looked up at me and began to giggle. I put her gun in my pocket and patted her on the back. “Get up, angel. You look like a Pekinese.” | Zakoračio sam pokraj cure što je puzala i podigao pištolj. Pogledala je odozdo prema meni i počela hihotati. Stavio sam njen revolver u džep i potapšao je po leđima. — Ustani, anđele. Izgledaš kao pekinezer. |
| I went over to Brody and put the automatic against his midriff and reached his Colt out of his side pocket. I now had all the guns that had been exposed to view. I stuffed them into my pockets and held my hand out to him. | Prešao sam do Brodvja, stavio mu automatski pištolj na ošit i dohvatio mu kolt iz vanjskog džepa. Sad sam imao sve pištolje što su se pojavili na svjetlu dana. Nagurao sam ih u džepove pa ispružio ruku prema Brodvju. |
| “Give.” | — Daj. |
| He nodded, licking his lips, his eyes still scared. He took a fat envelope out of his breast pocket and gave it to me. There was a developed plate in the envelope and five glossy prints. | Kimnuo je, ližući usne, dok su mu oči još bile ustraše-ne. Izvadio je debelu omotnicu iz unutrašnjeg džepa i dao ml je. Unutra je bila razvijena ploča i pet sjajnih kopija. |
| “Sure these are all?” | — Siguran si da je to sve? |
| He nodded again. I put the envelope in my own breast pocket and turned away. Agnes was back on the davenport, straightening her hair. Her eyes ate Carmen with a green distillation of hate. Carmen was up on her feet too, coming towards me with her hand out, still giggling and hissing. There was a little froth at the corners of her mouth. Her small white teeth glinted close to her lips. | Ponovno je kimnuo. Stavio sam omotnicu u svoj unutrašnji džep i okrenuo se od njega. Agnes je opet bila na sofi, poravnavajući kosu. Oči su joj proždirale Carmen zelenim destilatom mržnje. I Carmen je već bila na nogama; dolazila je k meni ispruženih ruku, i dalje hihoćući i psičući. Na kutovima joj se ustiju pojavilo malo pjene. Mali su joj se bijeli zubi ljeskali tik uz usnice. |
| “Can I have them now?” she asked me with a coy smile. | — Mogu li ili sada dobiti? — upitala me s čednim smiješkom. |
| “I’ll take care of them for you. Go on home.” | — Ja ću se o njima pobrinuti. Produžite kući. |
