Dimiter Read Free Page A

You said something that triggered his arrest: “He is alien.” What did you mean by that statement?
    A. Well, he wasn’t a mountain man, not a Geg.
    Q. That is surely innocuous.
    A. Ah, but he’d
told
me that he was a Geg.
    Q. You say he
told
you?
    A. That’s right.
    Q. He
spoke
?
    A. In the mountains this is common,
effendum
.
    Q. Don’t be cheeky, old man. Tell me everything he said.
    A. From what point?
    Q. From the beginning.
    A. Well, now, as I told you—or tried to tell you—I greeted him properly. “God may have brought you here,” I told him. And “How are you?” “I am happy to find you well,” he said. These are formulas of grace that we observe.
    Q. Yes, I know. What happened next?
    A. Well, I asked him to sit at the table, of course, and I set out some food, a great deal of it. He saw that I was blind, I suppose, for he said not to labor overmuch on his account. I said, “Thanks be to God we have food for the guest. Not to have it is the greatest shame of all.” He said nothing to that and I kept putting out the food and the
raki
.
    Q. Why so much food?
    A. Well, his size. He was big. Or rather, dense. Very powerfully built.
    Q. How could you tell that?
    A. Just as I knew you’re from the north. From his step. He got up and put a log on the fire. That was rude. I thought perhaps he was a city dweller, then.
    Q. Just go on.
    A. Well, I asked where he was from and he answered, “From Theti,” and then he explained he was a seller of cheese. Well, I already knew that, of course, from the aroma.
    Q. Which, of course, you promptly told him.
    A. What was that?
    Q. Never mind. What happened next?
    A. Well, then I learned he was a Christian, you see, and I took away the
raki
I’d set out and in its place I gave him wine.
    Q. How did you learn that he was Christian?
    A. His skull cap. I heard him slip it off and set it down on the table. The hard little button at the top makes a sound. But he wasn’t from Theti and he wasn’t a Geg. We plant the heel firmly up here,
effendum
. It’s from walking up and down the sides of mountains. When he first came in the door, that’s how he walked. But then his steps became different. They grew softer, more relaxed. It’s when he saw that I was blind, I would guess.
    Q. You mean he let down his guard?
    A. Yes, that could be.
    Q. Where was he from, then, do you think? From the south?
    A. I don’t know
    Q. From outside?
    A. What do you mean?
    Q. When he spoke was there an accent? Something foreign?
    A. No, no accent. That’s what’s puzzling: perfect northern, even down to the little inflections that are special just to Theti.
    Q. And what else did he say to you?
    A. Not very much. Not in words.
    Q. Please explain that.
    A. Well, I asked him his name and he told me. After that he—
    Q. What name did he give? Do you remember?
    A. Yes, he said that his name was Selca Decani. That, too, was odd. Not the name, my reaction. I had once been acquainted with a Selca Decani, and now when he told me that name I thought, “Yes! Yes, of course! How on earth could I have failed to know that voice right away!” So I said, “Pleaseforgive me, old friend, I’ve grown senile.” Then I suddenly remembered.
    Q. That Selca Decani had died years before?
    A. How did you know that?
    Q. Never mind.
    A. Yes, he’d died.
    Q. Yet the voice was Decani’s?
    A. No, not really. Not at all. Just at first.
    Q. And what then?
    A. Well, I urged him to eat. But he didn’t. I could tell. He was quiet and still. Yet I sensed a great turmoil churning within him, some terrible emotions conflicting. At war. But then soon these grew quiet and I felt a new energy flowing from his being, as something comforting and warm, almost loving, washed over me. At first I didn’t know what it was. Then he spoke and he asked me a very strange question. He asked if I had ever seen God and, if I had, was it this that had caused my blindness.
    Q. This is fanciful.
    A That is what he said.
    Q. Well, alright.