Apocryphal Tales
Page 18
The man grumbles something and crawls under the bench to look for the coin; the rest of the people on the streetcar watch him with interest and sympathy.
“I think it landed over here,” a second man mutters, and he squats down to look. Senhor Varga’s patience is at the straining point. “Thank you . . . thank you,” he stammers, “but truly it isn’t necessary — ”
“It’s here, all right,” the second man reports, his head still under the bench, “but the son of a bitch fell between the floorboards! Got a knife?”
“No, I don’t,” Senhor Varga apologizes, “but please . . . it’s simply not worth the trouble — ”
A third man sets aside his newspaper and, without a word, begins fishing in his trouser pocket; he extracts a leather case, and from that he extracts a silver penknife. “There you go,” he says to the second man, “took me a moment to find it.”
The entire streetcar is looking on with delight and anticipation as the third man pokes the blade into the crack between the floorboards. “Got it,” he grunts with satisfaction, and at that very moment the little coin leaps out and rolls farther away.
A fourth man leans over and hunts under his bench. “Here it is!” he announces triumphantly, and he gets to his feet, his face flushed from his effort. “All yours, sir,” he pants, and he hands the coin to Senhor Varga.
“Thank you . . . thank you very much, sir,” Senhor Manoel Varga falters, deeply touched. “You have been extremely kind, and the other gentlemen as well,” he adds, bowing politely in all directions.
“It’s nothing,” rumbles the third man. “Don’t give it another thought,” says the second man. “Just happy it was found,” the first man adds.
The people on the streetcar are smiling and nodding their heads. Just happy that coin was found, hurrah and thank goodness! Senhor Manoel Varga, rosy with embarrassment at having provoked such thoughtfulness and courtesy, sits down again, staring straight ahead. All the same, he sees the third man, the one with the penknife, pick up his newspaper and begin to read that article: Hands off, Senhor Manoel Varga!
When Senhor Varga alights from the streetcar, the friendly people wave to him through the windows; even the newspaper readers raise their eyes and murmur, “Adeus, senhor!”
November 20, 1938
Other Books by Karel apek
TOWARD THE RADICAL CENTER: A Karel apek Reader
Edited by Peter Kussi, foreword by Arthur Miller
apek’s best plays, stories, and columns take us from the social contributions of clumsy people to dramatic meditations on mortality and commitment. This volume includes the first complete English translation of R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots), the play that introduced the literary robot. 416 pp., illus.
WAR WITH THE NEWTS. Translated by Ewald Osers
This new translation revitalizes one of the great anti-utopian satires of the twentieth century. apek satirizes science, runaway capitalism, fascism, journalism, militarism, even Hollywood. “A bracing parody of totalitarianism and technological overkill, one of the most amusing and provocative books in its genre.” — Philadelphia Inquirer. 240 pp.
TALES FROM TWO POCKETS. Translated by Norma Comrada apek’s unique approaches to the mysteries of justice and truth are full of twists and turns, the ordinary and the extraordinary, humor and humanism. “apek’s delightfully inventive tales ... stretch the detective story to its limits and, in the process, tell us much about the mysteries of human existence.” — New York Times Book Review “One of the Best Books of 1994.” — Publishers Weekly. 365 pp., illus.
THREE NOVELS: Hordubal, Meteor, An Ordinary Life
Translated by M. & R. Weatherall
This trilogy of novels approaches the problem of mutual understanding through various kinds of storytelling. “apek’s masterpiece.” — Chicago Tribune. 480 pp.
TALKS WITH T. G. MASARYK. Translated by Michael Henry Heim. Never have two such important world figures collaborated on a biography. Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (1850-1937) was the original Philosopher-President who founded Czechoslovakia in 1918, an important inspiration for Václav Havel. 256 pp.
CROSS ROADS. Translated by Norma Comrada. Two early volumes of stories, with metaphysical tales and realistic stories. 256 pp.
Other Czech Literature from Catbird Press
KAREL APEK – LIFE AND WORK by Ivan Klíma, trans. Norma Comrada. A literary biography by the novelist. 265 pp.
THE POETRY OF JAROSLAV SEIFERT . Translated by Ewald Osers, ed. George Gibian. The largest collection in English from the Czech Nobel Prize winner. 255 pp.
Three Novels by Vladimír Páral: CATAPULT, tr. William Harkins. 240 pp. THE FOUR SONYAS, tr. William Harkins, 391 pp. LOVERS & MURDERERS, tr. Craig Cravens, 409 pp.
FINGERS POINTING SOMEWHERE ELSE by Daniela Fischerová, tr. Neil Bermel. Contemporary stories. 176 pp.
CITY SISTER SILVER by Jáchym Topol, tr. Alex Zucker. The great Czech novel of the 1990s. 512 pp.
LIVING PARALLEL by Alexandr Kliment, tr. Robert Wechsler. A beautiful Czech novel of the late 1970s. 238 pp.
Catbird Press. 203-230-2391, info@catbirdpress.com,16 Windsor Road, North Haven, CT 06473. Visit www.catbirdpress.com for more information, including excerpts.