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| 6 | |
| Rain filled the gutters and splashed knee-high off the sidewalk. Big cops in slickers that shone like gun barrels had a lot of fun carrying giggling girls across the bad places. The rain drummed hard on the roof of the car and the burbank top began to leak. A pool of water formed on the floorboards for me to keep my feet in. It was too early in the fall for that kind of rain. I struggled into a trench coat and made a dash for the nearest drugstore and bought myself a pint of whiskey. Back in the car I used enough of it to keep warm and interested. I was long over parked, but the cops were too busy carrying girls and blowing whistles to bother about that. | Kiša je ispunila slivnike i zapljuskivala visoko do koljena odbijajući se od pločnika. Krupni žbiri u nepromočivim ogrtačima što su se sjajili kao pištoljske cijevi imali su krasnu zabavu prenoseći rashihotane cure preko gadnih mjesta. Kiša je oštro bubnjala po krovu automobila i jute-na je cerada promočila. Lokva se vode stvorila na podu da imam u čemu držati noge. Bila je prerana jesen za takvu vrstu kiše. S mukom sam se nekako uvaljao u kišni ogrtač, prhnuo do dragstora i kupio pola litre viskija. Ponovno u automobilu, potrošio sam ga koliko je bilo dovoljno da me održi zagrijanim i zainteresiranim za život. Već sam se odavno preparkirao, no žbiri su bili prezaposleni prenaša-njem cura i puhanjem u zviždaljke, a da bi oko toga razbijali glave. |
| In spite of the rain, or perhaps even because of it, there was business down at Geiger’s. Very nice cars stopped in front and very nice-looking people went in and out with wrapped parcels. They were not all men. | Unatoč kiši, ili možda zbog nje, u Geigerovu je dućanu bilo mnogo posla. Vrlo su se lijepa kola zaustavljala pred njim i vrlo skladni ljudi ulazili i izlazili sa zamotuljcima. Nisu svi bili muškarci. |
| He showed about four o’clock. A cream-colored coupe stopped in front of the store and I caught a glimpse of the fat face and the Charlie Chan moustache as he dodged out of it and into the store. He was hatless and wore a belted green leather raincoat. I couldn’t see his glass eye at that distance. A tall and very good-looking kid in a jerkin came out of the store and rode the coupe off around the corner and came back walking, his glistening black hair plastered with rain. | Pojavio se oko četiri sata. Blijedožuti automobil s dy> ja vrata zaustavio se ispred trgovine, i ja sam uspio baciti pogled na debelo lice i kitajske brčiće dok je ovaj odskakao od kola prema dućanu. Bio je bez šešira, a na sebi je imao kišnu kabanicu od zelene kože s remenom. S tolike udaljenosti nisam mu mogao vidjeti stakleno oko. Iz dućana je izišlo povisoko i Ijepuškasto momče u kožnom kaputiću i odvezlo automobil iza ugla da bi se potom vratilo pješice, s blistavom crnom kosom slijepljenom kišom. |
| Another hour went by. It got dark and the rain-clouded lights of the stores were soaked up by the black street. Street-car bells jangled crossly. At around five-fifteen the tall boy in the jerkin came out of Geiger’s with an umbrella and went after the cream colored coupe. When he had it in front Geiger came out and the tall boy held the umbrella over Geiger’s bare head. He folded it, shook it off and handed it into the car. He dashed back into the store. I started my motor. | Prošao je još jedan sat. Smračilo se, a kišom zamagljena svjetla dućana promočila su se mrakom ulice. Tramvajska su zvona s vadi j ivo brenčala. Oko pet i petnaest iz Gei-gerove je radnje izišao visok momak u kožnatom kaputiću i pod kišobranom pošao po automobil krem boje. Kad ga je dovezao ispred vrata, Geiger je izišao dok mu je ovaj držao kišobran iznad gole glave. Sklopio ga je, otresao i pružio u kola. Zatim je šibnuo u dućan. Pokrenuo sam motor. |
| The coupe went west on the boulevard, which forced me to make a left turn and a lot of enemies, including a motorman who stuck his head out into the rain to bawl me out. I was two blocks behind the coupe before I got in the groove. I hoped Geiger was on his way home. I caught sight of him two or three times and then made him turning north into Laurel Canyon Drive. Halfway up the grade he turned left and took a curving ribbon of wet concrete which was called Laverne Terrace. It was a narrow street with a high bank on one side and a scattering of cabin-like houses built down the slope on the other side, so that their roofs were not very much above road level. Their front windows were masked by hedges and shrubs. Sodden trees dripped all over the landscape. | Automobil je skrenuo bulevarom na zapad, što me je prisililo da izvedeni lijevi zaokret i stvorim si hrpu neprijatelja, uključujući tu i vozača koji je izvirio glavu na kišu da bi mi ispsovao sve živo. Ostavio me dva bloka za sobom prije no što sam se ubacio u brazdu. Nadao sam se da je Geiger na putu kući. Došao mi je na oči još dva ili tri puta,a onda sam ga vidio kako skreće na sjever u Laurel Canvon Drive. Uspevši se pola puta uza strminu, skrenuo je ulijevo i pošao vijugavom vrpcom vlažnog betona zvanom Laverne Terrace. Bila je to uska ulica s visokim nasipom s jedne strane i raspršenim kućama nalik na kolibe izgrađenim niz padinu s druge strane, tako da im krovovi nisu bili mnogo viši od razine ceste. Fasadni su im prozori bili zamaskirani živicama i žbunjem. Promočeno se drveće cijedilo preko čitavog krajolika. |
| Geiger had his lights on and I hadn’t. I speeded up and passed him on a curve, picked a number off a house as I went by and turned at the end of the block. He had already stopped. His car lights were tilted in at the garage of a small house with a square box hedge so arranged that it masked the front door completely. I watched him come out of the garage with his umbrella up and go in through the hedge. He didn’t act as if he expected anybody to be tailing him. Light went on in the house. I drifted down to the next house above it, which seemed empty but had no signs out. I parked, aired out the convertible, had a drink from my bottle, and sat. I didn’t know what I was waiting for, but something told me to wait. Another army of sluggish minutes dragged by. | Geiger je imao upaljena svjetla, ali ja nisam. Ubrzao sam i prešao ga na okuci, pokupio u prolazu kućni broj i skrenuo na kraju bloka. On se već zaustavio. Njegovi su farovi bili nagnuti i usmjereni na malu kuću s četvrtastom zatvorenom živicom, tako uređenom da je potpuno skrivala vrata na pročelju. Promatrao sam ga kako s podignutim kišobranom izlazi iz garaže i ulazi kroz živicu. Nije se ponašao kao da očekuje da bi mu netko mogao biti na tragu. U kući su se upalila svjetla. Otplutao sam niz cestu do prve kuće iznad njegove, koja je djelovala prazno ali nije imala istaknute natpise. Parkirao sam, provjetrio kabriolet, otpio iz boce i zasjeo. Nisam znao što čekam, no nešto mi je govorilo da treba pričekati. Povlačila se još jedna armija tromih minuta. |
| Two cars came up the hill and went over the crest. It seemed to be a very quiet street. At a little after six more bright lights bobbed through the driving rain. It was pitch black by then. A car dragged to a stop in front of Geiger’s house. The filaments of its lights glowed dimly and died. The door opened and a woman got out. A small slim woman in a vagabond hat and a transparent raincoat. She went in through the box maze. A bell rang faintly, light through the rain, a closing door, silence. | Dva su se automobila uspela uzbrdo i prešla preko sljemena. Činilo se da je to vrlo tiha ulica. Malo poslije šest blistaviji su se farovi probili kroz nasrtaje kiše. Automobil se dovukao i stao ispred Geigerove kuće. Žarne su se niti njegovih reflektora sumračno zažarile i utrnule. Vrata su se otvorila i iz njega je izišla nekakva žena. Sitna vitka žer nica pod petrolejski zelenim šeširom i u prozirnoj kišnoj kabanici. Ušla je kroz labirint živičnjaka. Slabašna zvonjava zvonca, svjetlo kroz kišu, vrata koja se zatvaraju, tišina, i - «* |
| I reached a flash out of my car pocket and went downgrade and looked at the car. It was a Packard convertible, maroon or dark brown. The left window was down. I felt for the license holder and poked light at it. The registration read: Carmen Sternwood, 3765 Alta Brea Crescent, West Hollywood. I went back to my car again and sat and sat. The top dripped on my knees and my stomach burned from the whiskey. No more cars came up the hill. No lights went on in the house before which I was parked. It seemed like a nice neighborhood to have bad habits in. | Pos€gWio sam za baterijom i izvadio je iz džepa na vratima, pošao nizbrdo i pogledao automobil. Bio je to packard kabriolet, kestenjast ili tamnosmeđ. Lijevi je prozor bio spušten. Pipajući sam potražio korice vozačke dozvole i usmjerio svjetlo na nju. Registracija je glasila: Car-men Sternvvood, 3765 Alta Brea Crescent, West Hollywood. Vratio sam se u svoja kola i nastavio sjediti i sjediti. S krova mi je kapalo na koljena a želudac je gorio od viskija. Automobili se više nisu uspinjali. Ni jedno se svjetlo nije upalilo u kući pred kojom sam se parkirao. Susjedstvo se činilo prelijepo a da bi čovjek u njemu imao ružne navike. |
| At seven-twenty a single flash of hard white light shot out of Geiger’s house like a wave of summer lightning. As the darkness folded back on it and ate it up a thin tinkling scream echoed out and lost itself among the rain-drenched trees. I was out of the car and on my way before the echoes died. | U sedam i dvadeset usamljeni je bljesak oštrog bijelog svjetla izletio iz Geigerove kuće, nalik na val ljetnog sijevanja. Kad se tama ponovno sklopila i progutala svjetlo, piskutavi je zvonki vrisak odjeknuo iz kuće pa se izgubio između kišom promočenog drveća. Bio sam vani i na putu prije no što su odjeci zamrli. |
| There was no fear in the scream. It had a sound of half-pleasurable shock, an accent of drunkenness, an overtone of pure idiocy. It was a nasty sound. It made me think of men in white and barred windows and hard narrow cots with leather wrist and ankle straps fastened to them. The Geiger hideaway was perfectly silent again when I hit the gap in the hedge and dodged around the angle that masked the front door. There was an iron ring in a lion’s mouth for a knocker. I reached for it, I had hold of it. At that exact instant, as if somebody had been waiting for the cue, three shots boomed in the house. There was a sound that might have been a long harsh sigh. Then a soft messy thump. And then rapid footsteps in the house—going away. | U vrisku nije bilo straha. Bio je to zvuk napola zabavnog šoka, s akcentom pripitosti, međutonom čistog idiotizma. Bio je to gnusan zvuk. Naveo me je da pomislim na ljude u bijelom, rešetkama zagrađene prozore i uske tvrde le-žajeve s kožnatim remenjem za zglavke i gležnjeve učvršćenim za njih. Geigerovo je skrovište ponovno bilo savršeno tiho u trenutku kad sam se zabio u prolaz u živici i pri-krao se oko ugla koji je prikrivao vrata na pročelju. Na njima je bio željezni prsten u lavljim ustima što je služio kao zvekir. Posegnuo sam za njim i držao ga u ruci. Točno u trenutku, kao da je netko čekao na znak, tri su pucnja prasnula u kući. Čuo se zvuk koji je mogao biti dugački hrapavi uzdah. Zatim zbrkani mekani Ijosak. I tada hitri koraci u kući, koraci koji se udaljuju. |
| The door fronted on a narrow run, like a footbridge over a gully, that filled the gap between the house wall and the edge of the bank. There was no porch, no solid ground, no way to get around to the back. The back entrance was at the top of a flight of wooden steps that rose from the alley-like street below. I knew this because I heard a clatter of feet on the steps, going down. Then I heard the sudden roar of a starting car. It faded swiftly into the distance. I thought the sound was echoed by another car, but I wasn’t sure. The house in front of me was as silent as a vault. There wasn’t any hurry. What was in there was in there. | Vrata su bila okrenuta prema uskome mostiću, nalik na pješački prijelaz preko jarka, koji je ispunjavao procijep između kućnog zida i ruba nasipa. Nije bilo trijema, •ni- je bilo čvrstog tla, nije bilo načina da se zaobiđe do začelja. Stražnji je ulaz bio na vrhu drvenog stepeništa što se uzdizalo odozdo, iz ulice nalik sokaku. Znao sam to jer sam čuo lupetanje nogu po stepenicama, nogu što su silazile. Zatim sam čuo iznenadnu riku automobila što se pokrenuo. Brzo je zamrla u daljini. Učinilo mi se da je ovom zvuku kao jeka odgovorip zvuk drugog automobila, ali nisam bio siguran. Kuća je ispred mene bila tiha kao grob. Nije bilo žurbe. Što je bilo, bilo je. |
| I straddled the fence at the side of the runway and leaned far out to the draped but unscreened French window and tried to look in at the crack where the drapes came together. I saw lamplight on a wall and one end of a bookcase. I got back on the runway and took all of it and some of the hedge and gave the front door the heavy shoulder. This was foolish. About the only part of a California house you can’t put your foot through is the front door. All it did was hurt my shoulder and make me mad. I climbed over the railing again and kicked the French window in, used my hat for a glove and pulled out most of the lower small pane of glass. I could now reach in and draw a bolt that fastened the window to the sill. The rest was easy. There was no top bolt. The catch gave. I climbed in and pulled the drapes off my face. | Zajahao sam ogradu pokraj prijelaza i nagnuo se daleko prema zastrtom ali roletama nezaklonjenom francuskom prozoru i pokušao prodrijeti pogledom kroz procijep između dva zastorska krila. Vidio sam svjetlo svjetiljke na zidu i jedan kraj police za knjige. Vratio sam se do prijelaza i uzeo zalet preko čitavog njega i još malo živice, da bih vratima dao težak udarac ramenom. To je bilo bedasto. Vrata su gotovo jedini dio kalif orni jske kuće koji ne možete probiti nogom. Sve što sam postigao bilo je da sam nabio rame i sama sebe razbjesnio. Ponovno sam se uspeo preko rešetkaste ograde i šutnuo francuski prozor unutra, upotrijebio šešir kao rukavicu pa izvukao veći dio male staklene ploče. Mogao sam sada posegnuti unutra i povući zasun koji je držao prozor uz okvir. Ostalo je bilo lako. Nije bilo gornjeg zasuna. Kvaka je popustila. Popeo sam se unutra i povukao zastor s lica. |
| Neither of the two people in the room paid any attention to the way I came in, although only one of them was dead. | Nijedno od dvoje ljudi u sobi nije obratilo ni najmanju pažnju na način na koji sam ušao, iako je samo jedno od njih bilo mrtvo. |