"I can do as I please!" I began to shout, my anger suddenly matched by the sound of crashing china and cudery behind me. We looked to McDonald's, aware that the restaurant offered only plastic and paper service.
"What are these idiots doing now?" Lefevre said. Several middle-aged women with very full lungs were screaming inside the McDonald's. Almost immediately, the women's roar was joined by a distant counterpart, issuing presumably from the Sevo Terrace below. A strange sonic displacement seemed to be taking place all around us, as if the summer heat with its layers of shimmering, highly sulfuric air were taking on an acoustic quality. "Shit," Lefevre said as the recycling bins started to shake violently, which I surmised could not have been the result of the female screaming alone. "Oh, fuck me," he said.
Sakha ran out of McDonald's, his hands trembling with the yellow remains of a cheeseburger, his Zegna tie stained with a trail of ketchup. He tried to speak but could only sputter and whinny in an impotent intellectual way. It took the McDonald's junior manager, Misha, to make the situation clear for us.
"Georgi Kanuk's plane has just been shot down by Sevo rebels," he said.
i 8
To the Hyatt Station
"I predict," said Lefevre, "that we're all going to die here in Absurdistan." A lone MiG-29 punched a hole through the stratosphere above us and swooped alarmingly over the gray bowl of the Caspian. The Svan'i Terrace rumbled in its wake.
"We're Belgians," I shouted at the diplomat, brandishing my new passport at him. "Who would want to hurt us?"
"I predict that before this ends, We will all be dead," repeated Lefevre.
"What the hell, Jean-Michel?" Misha the junior manager said.
"You told me there wasn't going to be a civil war until August. You said everything would be quiet through July. We would get the Vainberg money and leave. We were going to be on a plane to Brussels next week."
"We're not going anywhere," the diplomat said. "They've shut down the airport by now. That's for certain."
"How could this have happened?" the junior manager shouted, one hand raised in anger, the other draped passionately over his hip.
"And what about that luxury American Express train that runs across the border? The one that costs five thousand dollars a ride. How could they cancel that?"
"I'm sure it's all finished," Lefevre said. "They lied to me."
"Who lied to you?" the junior manager said.
"Everyone," Lefevre said. "Sevo, Svani, Golly Burton . . . " I turned to Sakha, who looked as discarded as a burger wrapper.
"Sakha, what's happening?" I said. "They don't shoot Belgians, do they?"
"Vainberg," Lefevre said, "you have to do something important."
"I'm always ready to do something important!" I cried, scrambling over a recycling bin to get to my feet.
"You have to get the democrat to the Hyatt immediately. Put him under Larry Zartarian's protection. It's not safe for him out here." My heart beat like that of a young girl in love. I was blissful and manic at the same time. Think one person can save a democrat? So do I. "We have a Hyatt jeep out front," I said. "But are you going to be okay, Monsieur Lefevre? Is there anything I can do for you?"
"Just get the fuck out of here," Lefevre said. "Everybody hurts, Misha. But some hurt more than others."
"What?"
"Godspeed, Gargantua! Go!"
The starchy McDonald's was filled with the sounds of women and children whimpering, the men contributing an undignified stream of curses revolving around the all-purpose Russian swear word blyad, or
"whore." The people had hidden beneath the greasy square tables and behind the counter, as if a robbery were in progress. Cardboard versions of the McDonald's mascots, a scary American clown and some kind of purple blob, had been commandeered as "human" shields by several armed customers.
"They think this is a multinational space," Sakha said. "They think they'll be safe here. The only safe places are the embassies, the Hyatt, and the Radisson."
"Yes, yes!" I said, not knowing what I was agreeing to but thoroughly enjoying every second of it. "We'll get you to the Hyatt, Mr. Sakha. You have my word as a Vainberg."
Outside, we became aware of what had accounted for the initial noise of crashing china and cutlery. The used-remote-control market was being pulverized beneath the tread of the advancing heavy infantry. I was looking at a convoy of stubby caterpillars outfitted with battering rams, which I realized were Soviet T-62 tanks, followed by a ring of equally obsolete BTR-152 armored personnel carriers, forests of anti-aircraft cannon poking out of the roof hatches. (When I was a child, the Red Army was one of my main pre-masturbatory obsessions.)
Circuit boards, batteries, and infrared bulbs rained down on us in batches of crushed civilization. The remote sellers tried to salvage their wares, dumping the choicest models into their burlap sacks and then slaloming between the slow-moving vehicles to the relative safety of the Moorish-style opera house adjoining McDonald's. Alexandre Dumas looked down upon them silentiy from his mural, recording everything on his scroll.
The sound of heavy machine-gun fire reverberated throughout the city. I searched excitedly for the telltale plumes of smoke that to me define a war zone, but the sky was given over entirely to the treacherous sun. It was time to do something manly and American. "Go, go, go, motherfuckers!" I yelled to Sakha and Timofey, pushing them toward our car. The jeep's alarm was blaring and a rear window had been partly smashed, but the imperious Hyatt logo had apparently scared off the thieving locals. "You have to drive this thing," I said to Sakha, goading him into the driver's seat. "I have no idea how to do it, and my manservant's no better."
Sakha was hyperventilating. He kept pointing at his mobilnik and gesturing toward Gorbigrad, meaning, I suppose, that he wanted to call his family. I reached for my fanny pack and took out a bottle of Ativan. "What is that?" Sakha wheezed. "Valerian root?"
"Hardly," I said. I crammed a handful of Ativan into his mouth and flooded that orifice with forty ounces of Coca-Cola from the cup holder. "This is going to take effect immediately," I lied. "Breathe, Mr. Sakha, breathe. Would you like me to sing a calming Western song? 'My name is Luka,' " I sang. " 'I live on the second floor.' "
"Stop," Sakha said. "Stop singing, please. I need to think positive thoughts. I want to see my girls again."
A passing T-62 had begun to rotate its barrel our way, like a slow child trying to make friends. "Drive!" I shouted to Sakha. We careened through the McDonald's parking lot and toward a half-assed side street. Wretched balconies groaned beneath laundry lines, terrified occupants peered out their windows, from every direction televisions cackled in the local tongue announcing imminent disaster. The radio station was playing Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, a sure sign that things were much worse than they appeared. We ran through a gauntlet of terrified city cats and swerved onto yet another narrow street, this one dominated by the stone face of a Svani church.
Soldiers had formed a checkpoint by the road leading up to the International Terrace. We found ourselves at the end of a long queue of stalled Zhigulis and Ladas. The cars ahead of us were being searched by short, skinny youths wearing dark mustaches in full bloom and fatigues stitched only with the Russian word soldat ("soldier"). Grenades hung from their belts. Some of them were flopping about in pink beach sandals.
"If they see that I'm a big democrat, they'll shoot me," Sakha said.
"Georgi Kanuk's son is worse than his father. He ran the special forces. His hands are covered with blood. He'll want revenge for his father's death."
"You're with me," I said. "I'm a Vainberg. A Belgian. A Jew. A rich man. You're taking me to the Hyatt. We're important people, Sakha. Have faith in yourself."
"I'm calling my family," Sakha said, unholstering his phone. He started to cry as soon as the connection was made. He spoke in the local tongue and partly in Russian. "Did you take the girls to ExcessHollywood?" I heard him sob. "Did they have Toy Story 2? Tell them I'll be home tomorrow and we can wat
ch it together. Or maybe they can come to the Hyatt and we'll watch it on Larry Zartarian's big screen. Would they like that? Oh, my sweet little monkeys. Never let them go. Never let them out of your sight. I should have known this would happen. I should have applied for that fellowship at Harvard. I've been listening to Josh Weiner for too long."
"That's enough!" I commanded. "Wipe your eyes and turn off the phone. It's almost our turn. Be strong!"
A barely pubescent soldier tapped on our window. He stared at my heavy tits and then at the shaking Sakha and my benighted Timofey, trying to comprehend our menagerie. "Who are you by nationality?" he barked at the democrat, filling our car with the stench of garlic and alcohol, along with the familiar scent of something pubic and male. Sakha started mooing to him hopelessly. The soldier ignored him and, with one dark long paw, reached into his shirt and took out a small golden cross hanging from a chain. He examined the Sevo footrest, then threw the cross back into Sakha's face. "Get out of the car, blyad he said to Sakha.
"I'm Belgian," I shouted, waving my passport. "I'm a Belgian citizen. We're going to the Hyatt. We're in a Hyatt car. This is my driver. I'm a very important man, a Jew."
The soldier sighed. "The Jewish people have a long and peaceful history in our land," he recited. "My mother will be your mother—"
"Forget my mother for a second," I said. "Do you know who my father was? He was Boris Vainberg."
"I'm supposed to know every Jew in the country?" the soldier asked. He raised his Kalashnikov and skillfully placed it directly inside the knot of Sakha's Zegna tie. A familiar liquid was dribbling along the inseam of the poor man's trousers and onto his shoe. His body glowed red from within his crisp cotton outfit. It was possible he was having a heart attack.
I, on the other hand, had never felt more in control.
"You don't know who Boris Vainberg was?" I shouted at the soldier. "He sold the eight-hundred-kilogram screw to KBR."
"You're with KBR1" the soldier asked.
"Golly Burton, Golly Burton," Timofey brayed from the backseat. The soldier lowered his gun. "Why didn't you say so from the start?" he said. He looked at us with sad, childish eyes, resigned to the prospect of one less beating. "Move along, sirs," he said, throwing us a lazy salute.
Sakha managed to throw the car into gear, and we slowly proceeded up to the International Terrace, behind the rump of an armored personnel carrier. The democrat had stopped crying and now produced only short bursts of urine, his hands dug into the steering wheel, his eyes following the anti-aircraft gun bouncing directly in front of us.
"Wow," I said in English. I turned around to look at my manservant. "Did you see that, Timofey? We did it. We saved a life. What does it say in the Talmud? 'He who has saved a life has saved an entire world.' I'm not religious, but my God! What an accomplishment. How do you feel, Sakha?"
But Sakha could not supply the words of gratitude I deserved. He merely breathed and drove. I decided to give him some time. I was already composing an electronic message to Rouenna about the day's exploits. What had she told me in that dream about the eight-dollar apple? Be a man. Make me proud. Done and done. The Boulevard of National Unity was choked with eight-wheel BTR-70 armored personnel carriers, whose sloping, boatlike hulls would be familiar to anyone who watches BBC World. Tanks guarded the strategically important Benetton store and the 718 Perfumery. Slender Absurdi men in black jeans and tucked-in dress shirts, armed only with their holstered mobilniki, darted along the boulevard, minding the drunken soldiers who would hurl abuse at them on occasion, promising to inflict anal sex upon them and whatnot.
Nearing the Hyatt and Radisson skyscrapers, we were caught in a mass of screaming and shoving pedestrians bent on the same destination. Soldiers had surrounded them and were tearing through their documents and pulling at their crosses. They slapped people across the head or fondled young girls with giggly pleasure. At the heart of the action, a young soldier was trying to tug a chain off a matronly neck while punching her in the mouth. "Robbery!" the woman was yelling. "Save me, citizens! Robbery!" For some reason, Timofey and I both laughed nervously at the large woman's strife. We were reminded of something deeply Soviet—a person's dignity being slowly dismembered in front of others.
Respectful of the Hyatt sign on our jeep, the soldiers waved us through, the locals banging on the sides of our vehicle, hoping we could enable their safe passage to the hotel. "Unfortunately we have to save our own hides first," I said to Sakha.
The democrat nodded and said nothing. As we maneuvered into the Hyatt's circular driveway, he shouted two words that made no sense, turned the wheel sharply to the left, and slowly drove us into the camouflaged side of a BTR-70. The air bags inflated before us. Smothered with white, my fat cheeks scratched by the billowing nylon, I stumbled out of the jeep. An officer was running up to us, followed by a line of soldiers. At last I understood what Sakha was screaming behind me. Two words. "Colonel Svyokla." In a novel written during the golden age of Russian literature, a man named Svyolda would look like a svyokla, that is to say, he would be red as a beet. But in the era of modern produce, Colonel Svyokla's head resembled a giant genetically modified peach, fraudulendy spherical and ripe, the skin dry and crisp. He wore neither the democratic goatee favored by Sakha nor the Middle Eastern mustache sprouting from his soldiers' lips. He looked like one of the dignified older men from the Caucasus whom one often finds in the back of St. Petersburg casinos, sipping Armenian cognac with some beauty, ignoring the hurly-burly provincialism at the roulette wheel and the so-called dance floor.
"Misha Vainberg," Colonel Svyokla said, shaking my hand. "What a pleasure. My mother will be your mother . . . "
While he addressed me, the soldiers were dragging Sakha out of the Hyatt jeep. Sakha was not resisting them; he was merely being carried along by their collective force, his dark head bobbing in a sea of camouflage. "I used to work for your father, Boris, as his local oil consultant," Colonel Svyokla said, gamely ruffling my hair. "His death was a terrible tragedy. A major light was snuffed out for the Jewish people. My condolences."
At the far edge of the driveway, beneath a sign reading DANGER: LOW OVERHEAD CLEARANCE, a group of men had been assembled at gunpoint. They stood there with a terrible resignation, their ties hanging limply around their necks, arm hair glistening beneath their short sleeves, some of their eyes already swollen shut, presumably from rifle blows.
"There has been an attempted Sevo putsch," the colonel explained to me. "We'll take care of it in a few minutes. Go back to the hotel, Misha."
I ran as quickly as my weight allowed and burst headlong into the chilled Hyatt lobby. Alyosha-Bob and Larry Zartarian caught me in an embrace, and we all fell to the marble floor.
"You have to . . . You have to . . . " I said, scrambling all over them, my hands flopping up and down as if I were swimming toward a distant lighthouse.
"There's nothing . . . There's nothing . . . " both of them were saying in answer. "There's nothing we can do." I spotted Josh Weiner among a clutch of oil workers, their hands filled with afternoon beer mugs. "Josh," I cried. "Josh, help me. They've got Sakha."
The diplomat was looking deep into his palms, which he had stuck out in front of him. He turned his hands over carefully, never shifting his downward gaze.
"Josh!" I said. Timofey leveraged my weight with his and brought me to my feet.
I hobbled over to Weiner, but he silently turned away from me.
"We've already filed a protest," I heard him say.
"The people they're going to shoot.. . they're not rebels. They're all democrats!"
"Did you hear what I just said, Vainberg?" Weiner grated through his teeth. "We've filed a protest."
I turned around and made for the sunlight. "Misha, no!" AlyoshaBob shouted, throwing himself upon me, but I knocked him out of my way with one enormous squishy fist.
I emerged onto the driveway to the sound of angry male voices.
"On the ground!" the soldiers were yellin
g to Sakha and his cohorts. I felt them. I felt the soldiers with their warm ethnic blood and clan loyalties, their adolescent swagger and inbred psychoses, their madeup heraldry of lamb pie, plum brandy, and a hairy virgin for the wedding feast.
"On your knees!" the soldiers shouted.
The men, some of them heavy, others bestowed with an academic's lack of physical grace, found it difficult to arrange themselves in this tenuous position. Several were tipping over and had to be dragged up by their collars. The soldiers had fallen in line behind them, one soldier to a man, a ratio that did not bode well.
Sakha's eyes fixed on me. There were tears on his face; I couldn't see them, but I knew they were there. "Misha," he shouted to me.
"Mishen'ka, please. Tell them to stop. They will listen to a man like you. Please. Say something."
I felt Alvosha-Bob's hand tugging on my sleeve, his little body pressing into mine. "Gollv Burton!" I yelled. "KBR!" The soldiers looked to Colonel Svyokla, who nodded. They shot the men through the back of the head, the bodies of their victims jerking up in unison with the discharge, then hitting the driveway with tremendous speed, a cloud of loose gravel swirling around them.
The spent bullet casings rolled down the driveway to mv feet. A dozen bodies lay on the ground.
19
My Gray Reptile Heart
Forty stories above the war, civilization a la Hyatt enclosed us. Generators hummed deeply within the skyscraper, allowing the illusion that we were on an American spaceship floating past the tanks and armored personnel carriers, the fake Irish bars and Royal Dutch Shell oil platforms, toward some remarkable and disingenuous Hollywood conclusion. "Everybody into the pool! It's party time!" I dialed, and misdialed, and dialed again Dr. Levine's number. Finally the good doctor came on the line, coughed, sneezed (seasonal allergies again), hacked, and wished me a good day. "Dr. Levine, emergency," I said. "I'm in Absurdsvani Republic. I'm in great danger. Terrible things. Please advise me—" With great patience and analytic equipoise, Dr. Levine beseeched me to calm the fuck down. "Now, where is this place?" he asked.
Absurdistan: A Novel Page 16
