"The Book of Lies" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kristof Agota)

Purchase of Paper, Notebook, and Pencils

At Grandmother's there is no paper, there are no pencils. We go looking for some at a shop called Booksellers and Stationers. We choose a packet of graph paper, two pencils, and a big thick notebook. We place all that on the counter in front of the fat gentleman standing on the other side. We say to him:

"We need these things, but we have no money."

The bookseller says:

"What? But… you have to pay."

We repeat:

"We have no money, but we absolutely need these things."

The bookseller says:

"The school is closed. Nobody needs notebooks or pencils."

We say:

"We are having school at home. All alone, by ourselves."

"Ask your parents for money."

"Father is at the front, and Mother has stayed in the Big Town. We live at Grandmother's, she doesn't have any money either."

The bookseller says:

"You can't buy anything without money."

We don't say anything else, we just look at him. He looks at us too. His forehead is damp with sweat. After a while he shouts:

"Don't look at me like that! Get out!"

We say:

"We are quite prepared to effect certain tasks for you in exchange for these things. We could water or weed your garden, for example, carry parcels…"

He shouts again:

"I don't have a garden! I don't need you! And in the first place, can't you talk normally?"

"We do talk normally."

"Is it normal, at your age, to say 'quite prepared to effect'?"

"We speak correctly."

"Yes, too correctly. I don't care at all for the way you talk! Nor for your way of looking at me! Get out!"

We ask:

"Do you have any chickens, sir?"

He dabs his white face with a white handkerchief. He asks, without shouting:

"Chickens? Why chickens?"

"Because if you don't have any, we have at our disposal a certain quantity of eggs and can supply you with them in exchange for these things, which are indispensable to us."

The bookseller looks at us and says nothing.

We say:

"The price of eggs increases day by day. On the other hand, the price of paper and pencils…"

He throws our paper, our pencils, and our notebook in the direction of the door and yells:

"Get out! I don't need your eggs! Take all that, and don't come back!"

We pick the things up carefully and say: "We shall be obliged, however, to come back when we have used up all the paper and pencils."