page 1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8 were red. He neglected to mention that we had stayed on the island for another day, and that it wasn’t until the morning of the next day, after we’d asked him about the jetty and the chapel, that the barman told us the legend of Our Lady of the Whores. He also didn’t mention that the barman had asked us afterwards if it was a tall youngster, as he put it, who’d told us the story. "Yeah, it was," we said. How did he know?       "How would I not know," he said, "she harasses all the strangers who come here. Out of the blue, she just strips her clothes off and lies down on the jetty of whoredom. She’s a little— you know..." and tapped his forehead with his index finger. "We call her the Virgin of Whoredom."       "So what happened, did you stay...?" Maia didn’t finish her question but instead stared tensely into Damir’s eyes. She couldn’t see them, for they had receded deep inside their hollows, hidden behind tight eyelids, but even if she could have seen them—I know very well—she couldn’t have read much in them.       "Have you ever observed the night sky?" said Damir, instead of replying.       Maia shook her head silently.       "There are no stars on the rim, it’s empty, black," he said. "And do you know about the dark storm?"       Maia shook her head again.       "It’s a very fucked up storm," said Damir. "One day," he pointed at me, "when the time comes and the darkness descends, we’ll go straight into it, full sail out, to the rim of the night sky. That’s where people like us come together." Q mala visoka, baš tako se izrazio, kazala za priču. Je, ona nam je kazala, rekli smo, a kako zna? A kako neću znati, rekao je, kad gnjavi sve strance koji dođu ovamo. Zna se iz čista mira skinuti i leći na mol od bluda, znate, ona je malo, i kucnuo je prstom po sljepoočnici. Zovemo je Djevica od bluda, dodao je.       "I sto je bilo, jeste li ostali...", Maja nije dovršila pitanje, napeto se zagledala Damiru u oči. Nije ih mogla vidjeti, jer su se povukle duboko u duplje, skrile se iza stisnutih kapaka, ali sve da ih je i vidjela, dobro znam, tamo ne bi mogla pročitati bogznašto.       "Jesi li ikad gledala noćno nebo?", rekao je Damir umjesto odgovora.       Maja je niječno odmahnula glavom.       "Na rubu nema zvijezda, prazan je, crn", rekao je. "A znaš li što je škura bura?"       Maja je opet odmahnula.       "To je vrlo zajeban vjetar", rekao je Damir. "Jednom ćemo", pokazao je na me, "kad za to dođe vrijeme i kad zapuše škura bura, isploviti i punim jedrima otići u mrak, sve do ruba noćnog neba. Tamo se okupljaju ljudi poput nas". Q page 1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8 Copyright © 2004 GobQ LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited, and tra la la... . SITEMAP : HOME BACK ISSUES SUBSCRIBE GOBQ STORE WHO AM US GOB WORDS LINKS COPYRIGHT SHITE FELLOW TRAVELERS EMAIL US MAILING LIST SUBMIT WRITING