A NEW YEAR'S FABLE
257
"This would have reduced my work by half!" I even bang–
ed the table with my fist.
At this moment I noticed on the floor the bandit's note,
which I had dropped earlier in the day. I had not had time to
read some of the lines, and it was these lines that now stared
at me from the floor.
"I can be of use to you. Did you grasp what was told you
about a certain bandit? Then ask the woman standing before
you, and she will give you the notebook in which I secretly
copied all your ideas-those which you had been throwing into
the stove for the last two years. I intended to make use of them
myself, for you did not need them."
"Where shall I find her now?" I shouted, failing to finish
the note again. Then I saw the words: "Her telephone . . ."
In a few seconds I was standing, like someone in a fairy
tale, amidst a group of people who looked as though they had
been drugged by TV, breathing regularly, although their eyes
were wide-open. Placing the telephone on the shoulder of one of
them, I dialed a number. After a few rings, I heard the sound
of her voice.
From that moment another chapter opened in my new,
brief life. It began with a misunderstanding, for which only I
was responsible.
"You should pick up the receiver at once!" These words
burst from me before I had time to realize my rudeness. "Where
is the notebook? Why didn't you give it to me?"
"You didn't ask for
it,"
the voice replied. "You didn't
even read the letter. And the note said: if you...."
"It's obvious you set no value on time," I burst out again.
"Forgive me...."
The receiver was suddenly silent.
"Why don't you speak?" I roared again. "The notebook,
the notebook!"
"I am coming," a soft, caressing voice replied.
When I heard her footsteps, I suddenly realized that I
