AHARON APPELFELD
439
and his extended arms. He had wanted to recite a verse to him to con–
sole him, but no verse came to his lips, and instead a stale joke rose to
his mind, so stale was it that for a few days he sensed its spoiled taste in
his mouth.
Meanwhile the buffet emptied. Only the two young women re–
mained there, raucous music played, and the owner of the buffet, a
coarse-looking man, announced that in another twenty minutes he was
locking the buffet. "Honey," one of the women, who had drunk one
too many, turned to him, "Why don't you go back home to your
sweet wife. You're as drunk as a coot."
Kurt rose to his feet . The impudent voice barned him for a moment,
and he answered quietly, "Honey, I'm not drunk."
"You are drunk, sweetie. Your legs are trembling."
"I?"
She chortled as though a man's hand had stroked her, and she said,
"I like you."
''I'm no longer such a young man, deaL"
"You 're a fine man. Susi and I would be happy to entertain you in
our house . Your sweet wife can wait awhile."
''I'm turning out the lights," the buffet owner called out from his
window. "It's after midnight. I've been patient enough tonight."
Kurt stepped over to the counter and paid. That slight motion made
him dizzy.
It
was important to him, for some reason, to show those
young women that he was standing firmly on his feet.
At the buffet window he called out, "Go home, young ladies. The
hour is late."
"He's talking to us like a priest."
"I'm a rabbi."
"You don't look like it. Rabbis have beards. You 're drunk, honey.
You 're mixed up. Why don't you give us a tenner? We didn't make a
penny tonight."
Kurt reached his hand to his vest pocket, took out a banknote and
gave it to her.
"You're as sweet as honey," she said and kissed him on the lips. He
stood still, and they went away, chattering out loud, rolling out vulgar
words, and laughing at the top of their voices. For a long while he
stood in the damp darkness and the longer he stood, the more he felt
the thoughts draining out of his head. Now he no longer remembered
what had brought him there. His feet stumbled, and his body trembled.
He grasped the railing of the stairs and sat down. That movement pressed
his stomach a little, and he vomited.
After vomiting, he felt relieved. A pleasant odor of moist fallen
