Young Turk Read Free

Deniz’s big breasts.
    On the beach, Ester, still contorted, hugged us. ‘How did you know I was in trouble?’
    Lisa pointed at Gül, who had picked up the ball and was practising some fancy footwork. ‘She saw you.’
    Deniz nodded. ‘Yes, I heard Gül shout! That’s what made me turn round and see Ester.’
    I was amazed. ‘How could you have heard her? You were too far out.’
    ‘I don’t know how. I just did.’
    Gül dragged me away. ‘Come on – let’s play!’
    Later, at siesta time, Gül and I took to our bikes. Defying the afternoon heat with strenuous activity was our way of demonstrating our toughness. We went across to the Golden Horn and, pretending we were competing in the Tour de France and climbing mountains like the Tourmalet, the Aubisque and the Izoard, rode furiously up and down the hills. Gül, being the faster rider, had long designated herself the
maillot jaune
and always wore a yellow jersey.
    When we stopped to pick some figs from the trees lining the lane to the Greek patriarchate, I asked her. ‘How could Deniz have heard you? You weren’t even shouting!’
    Gül thought for a long time. ‘Strange, isn’t it?’
    ‘Telepathic, I’d say.’
    ‘Maybe.’
    ‘What else?’
    Gül pulled me closer to her. ‘Can you keep a secret?’
    ‘You know I can.’
    ‘Nobody must know.’
    ‘What is it?’
    ‘It is like telepathy, only stronger. I sense – see – things. Dangerous things. Just as they’re about to happen ...’
    ‘You’re kidding me ...’
    ‘I can see Death ... When he gets too near ...’
    ‘That’s impossible ...’
    She looked annoyed. ‘I can! I’ve chased Death away many times. I chased him when he came for you ...’
    ‘For me?’
    ‘When you had diphtheria the second time.’
    ‘I had diphtheria the second time because they inoculated me at school before I’d recovered from the first!’
    ‘Well, he came for you – Death ... Stood around for three nights ...’
    I remembered those nights. My windpipe was so blocked I could barely breathe. My mother had managed to procure an oxygen cylinder from the hospital – probably the only one in Istanbul in those days – but even that hadn’t helped. They had had to do a tracheotomy.
    ‘It was the tracheotomy that saved me.’
    Gül smiled smugly. ‘That was my doing.’
    I forced a laugh. ‘Oh, sure!’
    ‘I kept shouting at all the doctors I could think of! Inwardly – the way I shouted at Deniz this morning: Do something! Do something! Finally they performed the tracheotomy.’
    I stared at her, expecting her to giggle and tell me she’d been teasing me.
    She stared back defiantly. ‘You don’t believe me?’
    I did. And I didn’t. I nodded uncertainly.
    ‘You’ll keep it a secret – you promised!’
    I nodded again.
    She rubbed her hands. ‘Right. Now, don’t think Death’s forgotten you. He’s around somewhere. So, time to get you really strong. Turn all that fat into muscle. Do you wrestle?’
    ‘No ...’
    ‘Best way. Let’s go!’
    I gaped at her. ‘Wrestle with you?’
    ‘Why – scared I’d beat you?’
    ‘You’re a girl ...’
    ‘I won’t tell, don’t worry!’ We were near a plot of land awaiting builders. She dragged me there and drew a square on the earth. ‘This is the mat ...’
    And as we grappled, as I locked my arms around her muscular thighs and felt her buttocks, firm like flexed biceps, I decided I would definitely marry her, too young or not. I even swore I would stop being unfaithful to her in my fantasies and no longer lust after dream women like Deniz – an impossibility, as I soon found out.

    Much as I loved tumbling with her, I didn’t like losing to Gül every time we wrestled. So I joined the Fenerbahçe Youth Club and began some serious training after school.
    I surprised everybody, most of all myself, by showing an aptitude for sport. After about a year’s weight training, I had converted most of my fat into muscle and was noticeably stronger, so