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

The Deserter

We find a man in the forest. A living man, a young man, without a uniform. He is lying behind a bush. He looks at us without moving.

We ask him:

"Why are you lying there?"

He answers:

"I can't walk anymore. I've come from the other side of the frontier. I've been walking for two weeks. Day and night. Especially night. I'm too weak now. I'm hungry. I haven't eaten for three days."

We ask:

"Why haven't you got a uniform? All young men have a uniform. They are all soldiers."

He says:

"I don't want to be a soldier anymore."

"You don't want to fight the enemy anymore?"

"I don't want to fight anyone. I have no enemies. I want to go home."

"Where is your home?"

"Still a long way off". I'll never get there if I don't find something to eat."

We ask:

"Why don't you go and buy something to eat? Don't you have any money?"

"No, I don't have any money, and I can't be seen. I must hide. No one must see me."

"Why?"

"I left my regiment without leave. I ran away. I'm a deserter. If they found me, I'd be shot or hanged."

We ask:

"Like a murderer?"

"Yes, exactly like a murderer."

"And yet you don't want to kill anyone. You just want to go home."

"Yes, I just want to go home."

We ask:

"What do you want us to bring you to eat?"

"Anything."

"Goat's milk, hard-boiled eggs, bread, fruit?"

"Yes, yes, anything."

We ask:

"And a blanket? The nights are cold, and it often rains."

He says:

"Yes, but you mustn't be seen. And you won't say anything to anybody, will you? Not even to your mother."

We answer:

"No one will see us, we never say anything to anybody, and we have no mother."

When we come back with the food and blanket, he says:

"You're very kind."

We say:

"We weren't trying to be kind. We've brought you these things because you absolutely need them. That's all."

He says again:

"I don't know how to thank you. I'll never forget you."

His eyes fill with tears.

We say:

"Crying is no use, you know. We never cry, even though we aren't men yet, like you."

He smiles and says:

"You're right. Excuse me, I won't do it anymore. It's just because of the exhaustion."