JOSE DONOSO
137
Angry dogs occasionally barked from behind the palings.
"Shut up, Czar!" shouted Judit to a Doberman growling itself
hoarse.
"Do you know him?"
"No."
"Why did you call him Czar, then?"
"So many of these dogs are named Czar! They're vicious."
"This one might be nice if he weren't so spooked by the
darkness."
Judit approached the fence. The dog, gone berserk from smell–
ing a female, barked as he ran around the well-watered garden.
Czari, Czari,
Judit taunted him, moving even closer, dangling her
handbag before the animal's nose from the other side of the fence
that separated her from his bloody rage and the heat of his breath,
her hand just a few inches from his impotent jaws. Manungo was
about to say: Careful, Judit, he could tear off your hand with one
bite, look at the power of those jaws, the shining teeth.... But his
warning would be useless. No matter how strong the beast might be
he still couldn't knock down the iron fence and sink his teeth into
Judit's throat. Hateful and mocking, she swung her handbag, sing–
ing him lullabies, whispering to him, almost touching his nose as he
snorted and writhed. She laughed at him and his rage, tantalized
him; torture turned into play.
Manungo felt that Judit took danger as the raw material for
play. He feared for her, particularly since this imbalance aillicted
him as well, and for the first time that night, he felt not unlike the
dog, wanting Judit. He needed to make love to her, as he had
needed to long ago, but now with a certain sadness because they
were all so broken - above all this woman, who was condemned
even by the games she played. Czar jumped, howled, beside himself
with fury. Manungo took Judit by the elbow to pull her away, but
she refused to budge. Only when he spun her around by force could
he see that her face was wet with tears.
':Judit!" he exclaimed, genuinely shocked, and then he em–
braced her.
She allowed herself to be embraced, kissed, and touched, sob–
bing, and then she embraced and kissed in turn, seeking Manungo's
lips the way someone in pain seeks an anesthetic, not the way some–
one seeks love. The animal, a few inches from their tangled bodies,
mocked them by growling, jumping, and biting the air. Czar! Czar!
