They didn’t speak to each other for a while. Albert interrupted the silence by reminding Sylvanus of the duties for the rest of the day, “Sylvanus, my dear, I am now as calm as ever. I have to remind you that we have to do a couple of things before night arrives. We have to go to the cinema to watch The Maltese Falcon. just to have an idea how movies are going on nowadays. At the end I think it will be very funny indeed. The Maltese Falcon… what a suggesting and stimulating title. I had nearly forgotten this particular. Now I’m here with you looking forward to going to the cinema. I think we will be very happy. Now I’m still astonished about what happened at the post office. I’m not saying it’s the last time we show such kindness but we will show a bit of arrogance and anger if required. I also want to remind you that today is a special day for us. It’s the tenth anniversary of our joining the good farm. I would like to go there to check if the hens are producing enough eggs. I also promised Araon that I would give him some fresh eggs. I think we have time enough to go there before the cinema.”
The two friends gained their quiet again and focused themselves in what they had to do as established. It was already five pm and the sky showed a very dark side of itself. But at the farm they had all the tools to work undisturbed. They made frantic efforts to go and verify if everything was right. There was a sad surprise for them All the possible eggs were missing. The goats had refused to give milk from the beginning of the day and the horses refused to get fed properly. It was one of those negative days that they wished would never happen again. They entered the small house for a cup of tea and they regretted that they had to go to the movie later on. The cinema was in central Amsterdam. They quickly started the engine of the car and at their arrival they plunged themselves into the crowd outside of the cinema. The funniest thing was to see all the men dressed in tuxedos, sporting the perfect blazer. Albert and Sylvanus, in their turn, submitted themselves to the rules of the occasion. The public started to clap at the appearance of the breathtaking leading star. Albert and Sylvanus went with the flow. The movie was a success, which empowered Albert and Sylvanus with more enthusiasm. Everybody had watched it from the beginning to the end without stopping clapping. Albert and Sylvanus had definitely a lot of things to report to their buddies.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Ans and Denise were occasional bystanders of his imagination the day that Araon decided to go to Rotterdam all alone. It was a place full of wonders and extremely interesting for people in difficulty. Araon was in front of the Robberzool when the young couple stopped him. They were pale and shabby as if they were coming from a chimney. “Good guy,” they started, “Can you tell us where is the best place to eat? We have just arrived and our hotel is over there.”
“Well,” answered Araon, “I have also just arrived. I don’t know any restaurants in particular but I would suggest that you should go to one with Italian cuisine. You have just to go round the corner and you’ll see a beautiful restaurant which may be good for you.”
“Thanks a lot, and goodbye.”
“You are the welcome. I hope to see you again.”
Araon was aghast because of the queer couple. It was as if they were coveting secret plans. At least that was his thought, caused by the fears he had gone through recently. Jill was not with him and that annoyed him a bit. He wanted to spend some time out of Amsterdam and Rotterdam was the ideal place for a meditating soul. The day was particularly funny, which was a good incentive to work fast. He had a couple of things to sort out before he could be ready to report to Doctor Van der Baast the proceedings of the matter he had to refer back. The smell of blood sounded familiar. They had found some guilty DNA up to then. They felt they were starting from scratch in the hypothesis concerning the blood found next to Van Gogh’s Sunflowers. Rotterdam was so inspiring. It came to Araon’s mind that the missing body was just minced meat. They must have been two of them to transport the solid body so quickly out of the museum. But it was not clear yet what was their last destination. Araon had covered for a long time everything regarding the finding of the truth. Misogyny and philanthropy were the main concern of Araon mind for a while. Not that he thought that the missing body was the one of a woman, and the reason for the murder was a philanthropic one. He just wanted to be belligerent in front of an enigma of such a calibre. A ray of sun stopped him from meditating for a moment. He imagined something kicking in Jill’s belly. But that moment had not arrived yet. He was sure it would arrive soon though. The greatest joy of his life made him succumb to the spiral of obscenity. He was scared to imagine Jill with a big belly. It was a blessing anyway. The place was full of foreigners, that were a resource for Araon inspiration. What if the wanted murderer of the Van Gogh Museum had fled abroad? He must be very cunning and smart to do such a thing. But the vision of Jill’s big tummy was stronger and by far more powerful than the vision of blood. “Wait a minute,” he thought. “Giving birth is also a matter of blood.” He was so consumed with fantasy that he lost touch with reality.
The young couple he had met previously arrived again. They were very pleased to see him. They wanted to talk to him about the Italian restaurant they had just been in. They had found it delicious. “Hey, mate,” they called him, “We are here again. What about you? You have been here all the time?”
“Yes indeed. Actually, it is not time for lunch for me yet. I’m happy you have enjoyed yourself because of my advice. What are your next plans?”
“We are going to the hotel for a little nap. Then we will go around the city all the evening. We think that we’ll change destination tomorrow. We’ll go to Amsterdam.”
“Good choice. It’s the place where I come from. There are a lot of things to see and people are very friendly. If you have a map of the city, I’ll suggest to you all the best place worth seeing.”
“Here you are.”
“You see you can go to see Plaza Dam and the National Monument. and then you carry on towards the streets of the old city. I don’t live far from there. There is a dam nearby. Amstel Dam. I hope you’ll enjoy yourself during your stay there.”
“You are very kind. We hope you’ll come to visit our city, Vancouver, very soon. It’s an interesting place you cannot miss.”
“I will be pleased to come there with my wife who is not here at the moment. Good luck and bye!”
” Bye to you!”
Araon had always been an excellent talker but that couple embarrassed him a lot. There was something strange about them. He also thought it was a lie the fact that they told him to come from Vancouver. They had not the features of Canadians.
He was surrounded by people entertaining themselves with the flash of cameras and they took an accidental shot of him as well two minutes after the weird couple disappeared. He went to the first bench and he started to count the minutes to contact Jill. He had left her at home with huge nostalgia. Pigeons touched his feet which were trembling and storms of ideas overwhelmed him. That bench was not the best seat in the world but it was suitable for his brief rest. He could hear here the ring of church bells. A sudden burst of sadness made him surrender to his instinct. There was no time for lies and the best solution was to try self-analysis. To arrive deep down to his heart would have sorted out everything. And Jill could wait.
One of the ways Jill used to kill the time was to enjoy a course of knitting. Even that day she was there with other twelve women all willing to find an escapism in the torpor of that hobby. Jill started to work with the left hand, on the contrary of what the teacher had suggested her to do.” I don’t mind if you are left-handed. I just want you to work in the right way,” said the teacher a bit annoyed. But Jill couldn’t help. She carried on knitting her own way despite the teacher having given her a dressing down. She was very meticulous but a bit absent-minded. She was so absorbed by her desire to create little wollen socks for newborn babies that she didn’t listen to what the teacher was telling all the women to do. “I see you have already in mind something. I didn’t know you were pregn
ant,” said Gay, the teacher to Jill, this time a bit more relaxed.”
“I am not pregnant but my husband and me are willing to become parents within the year. I’m sorry I can’t follow you. I feel so stupid. Not considering the fact that my husband is out of town, which makes me more nervous. I promise I’ll follow your instruction from now on,” said Jill a bit embarrassed. She was entering a sort of oblivion. She didn’t know exactly why Araon went to Rotterdam and this made her feel guilty. She felt she should have a different approach to her husband. But it was not the time to abandon herself in her own argument. She wanted a teacher full of praise and she was sure she could get what she wanted.” Are you considering having a nanny?” said Gay a bit curious.
“Well, these are things that we will arrange later on. Now I’m focusing on what all the other ladies are doing thanks to your advice.”
“I didn’t want to be rude to you. But now I’m happy you are learning.”
Gay went on with her inspection of all the ladies of the course. Jill stopped working for a while when a fat old lady sat next to her to have a chat. Jill was sure she had met the lady in the past but she didn’t remember exactly when and where. The lady wanted to talk to her about the problem of her niece who was working as a prostitute. She was even proud of that job because of the huge amount of money the job allowed her to earn. But the fat old lady was horrified by the end her niece could come to working in the low life. “Do I disturb you if I chat with you for a minute’? said the lady to Jill.
“No, go ahead,” answered Jill, friendly.
“I’m here to forget my problem. As I have told you I have a niece who is working as a prostitute and I don’t know how to stop her. I am so troubled. I lost my husband several years ago, my sister lives far from Holland and my niece is the only person I have here. I’m looking for comfort and consolation.”
“I’m so sorry,” answered Jill “Have you ever tried to involve your niece in your hobbies? I don’t think is money what motivates her. I think she feels to be a stranger to society. Probably she doesn’t want to marry and she doesn’t want to fall victim of the prejudices that people can have against her. I would suggest that you should talk to her a lot and at the end you’ll see you’ll convince her to change her life. The most important thing is to try not to be judgmental. She would fall into the deepest desperation. I’m sure one day you will find her here with you. Why don’t you try to look for a job for her? The paper is full of adverts. I’m sure you will find something more suitable and useful to her.”
Jill and the lady didn’t realize they had wasted a lot of time chatting. They had done simply half the work the other ladies had done. Definitely Jill was not so focused on her job that day. After that tremendous chat, Jill finally remembered where and when she had met the fat old lady. It was in the period of the separation from Araon. She was walking around the streets of Amsterdam and she stopped to enter a dilapidated house with the floor crawling with ants. It was a sort of sign of the destiny for her. She really didn’t know what to do for the lady. but she had to be alert not to be ensnared in mischievous traps. Maybe the lady was looking for money and her story was a good start to get some. Or maybe she just wanted to pour out her grief. It was one of those moments when Araon was needed next to her. Hopefully, Gay started a new lesson and all the ladies went to their proper place. Jill was all pervaded with candor which did her justice as regards to the story of the lady. She was not used to ingratiate herself with the teacher. She considered herself undervalued, nothing else. Gay pretended not to have noticed the long chats of the two ladies when finally, the bell rang at of the end of the lesson. Jill went out of the classroom with a sense of freedom. It was such a stressful time for her. Now she had to consider how to organize the rest of the day waiting for Araon to arrive from Rotterdam. At least she arrived home with two little socks for a newborn baby. The meal was already in the oven but she was not hungry yet. She wanted just to sit in the sofa in the sitting room and listen at the news on TV as Araon used to do.
Araon was lying tranquil and blissful on the bench when some flies buzzed around it. All that didn’t spoil his meekness, on the contrary, it was a source of inspiration. He was able to see far beyond the normal sight of a man and this metaphorically speaking. He had in front of him the vision of the whole plaza. The scenery offered a really neat picture though every now and then people arguing could be seen by an indifferent Araon. He was a man of peace with a hack for enquiring into unsolvable matters. “Poor Jill,” he thought, “if only she could be here!” The quiet time he was spending there was marred by the absence of Jill. But why he didn’t dial her number? There was something about him which was not fulfilling. Even if images of their babies crossed his mind, he was not able to give Jill a call. And to make things worse, a policeman approached him. With his funny helmet, all fears of Araon vanished.
He felt guilty to have a secret he should have shared with the official order. The policeman was holding a baton and an automatic. Finally, Araon learnt that the officer was there to calm a brawl down. Two men who piggishly bounced their cigarette stubs on the floor were arguing in front of everybody. “You bloody bastard. idiot, keep silent” Was the cry of the first of the two. The bigger man opened his arms wide and made a gesture of stretching and tried to suffocate the small one. People were scared by that burst of violence but nobody was able to intervene to stop them. The policeman had arrived just on time.
“I’m afraid you are under arrest,” he said showing his badge.
The tone of the two cooled down instantly. They didn’t know what to say to justify themselves and stood in disbelief when they realized what the policeman had just decided. He was being serious. Two handcuffs were ready for the two who were about to be carried to the nearest constabulary. Araon was half shocked and half surprised by that scene that made him learn a lesson of civilization. He considered the whole matter a sort of blasphemy. It was the first time that he had witnessed a situation with such violence without showing the freedom to intervene to calm things down. He was heartbroken. He wasn’t able to distinguish the traits of the two’s personality; they seemed good chaps and selfish idiots at the same time. To him the fear of being hurt was not a good excuse not to intervene to push the fighters to stop it all. The only comfort he had was the fact that nobody else present dared intervene to placate the visible riot. That acid reality had a limit. It was time to think of Jill again. He was inspired by an old couple walking arm in arm in the majestic plaza. He had been impressed by the smart suit and sweet manners of the two. He saw in them the image of Jill and him in the future. A normal quiet couple who had had everything from life. He was very satisfied by life at the moment. He had a good wife, a good job and a good brain teaser that followed him everywhere. Now here were two old ladies approaching him, apparently with the excuse to have a chat.
“Hey dude, what are you doing all alone in this bench?” said the first one.
Araon flushed tears and hesitated a bit before he could answer. “Actually, I am not alone,” he said. “I am accompanied by the most beautiful thoughts in the world. My wife is always in my mind no matter the distance that separates us two. I was watching you with admiration. You are so quiet, so serene after what happened. Don’t tell me you haven’t seen the police involved in an accidental quarrel over there. What are you doing here? Are you tourists?” he said.
“We are tourists in our own country,” the women answered all together. “We are both widows. I’m the oldest one. I’m ninety-four years old. We go out every day for a stroll to keep healthy. We spend our life enjoying ourselves while keeping an eye to what is our final target, you know. We also noticed you when we entered this square. It’s such a frantic place. We wish we could meet people as meek as you every day. Life has taught us a lesson: not to trust everybody. I don’t know why, but you seem to me a very good fellow. By the way, are you enjoying the sight over there? We are so fascinated by the beauty of this city, in particular by this plaza,
which is our favourite site,” said the little shy lady.
“Well,” answered Araon, “I’m now in the position to share my emotions with whoever. You are a good example to society and I hope to meet other women like you again. Now I am attached to this bench because this is the way I feel I have to spend my time now. Now I let you go. I do not want to annoy you any more,” he said.
“You don’t annoy us at all. There is nothing more fulfilling than a natural chat with a stranger. Now we carry on walking. We wish you good luck” they said.
Araon observed them disappear quickly from his sight. He started being negative again. He saw with his imagination the soiled walls of the biblical slaughter of the lambs. Apparently, it had no link with what happened to him these past months. But being negative was a prerogative of his state of mind. He was not horrified by the vision of blood. After all it was the source of life. He didn’t want to spend more time meditating on oblivion. He was always conscious of what would happen to him if he took the wrong direction. He was walking in a steel-wire-tape with his own imagination. But this must have an end very soon.
“What do you hide in your pocket?” asked the officer to the little rascal he had just caught. He was one of the two guys who went to the supermarket and stole a pack of chips. He had hidden it in the handbag and there was no surprise when the policeman didn’t believe that the loot he and his friend had taken from the supermarket. The policeman believed that that small theft was a way to hide a worse crime. The two guys were two Senegalese who had started living in Rotterdam since the end of the eighties. They were nicknamed Pit and Put because of their own habit to handle anything together. Now they were in trouble because the policeman didn’t believe them. “What do you do for your living?” asked the cop. No answer.
The Red Box Page 16
