The Collector of Names

by Miha Mazzini

  The Colector of Names

  Miha Mazzini

  Prologue

  She was watching her husband eat his soup when she suddenly realised she was pregnant. From the kitchen, she could hear the clattering of the dishes Greta was putting on the serving trolley. There was no tension in the air and she did not sense anything terrible was about to happen. A quiet family dinner: even the flames from the candles were almost still and the darkness in the corners of the dining room was undisturbed. The rhythmic sound of the splashing waves wafted through the half-closed shutters, lazily, slowly. There was no wind.

  Her husband's spoon waded through the liquid, pushing the soup away - maybe in the rhythm of the waves outside? - and she knew that he would sense her looking at him, pause, raise his head and smile at her. She waited for him, ready.

  "I'm pregnant."

  The spoon stopped and waves of soup splashed over it. He smiled slowly and for a moment she felt sorry for him. Not for the whole of him, just for that slow widening of his lips in the early summer evening.

  "How long have you known?" he asked.

  "Three minutes. It's a boy," she answered very honestly and immediately regretted her outburst. Watching his smile had temporarily made her drop her guard.

  He looked in her eyes and she knew he would not demand an explanation for her strange answer.

  The spoon was still floating in the middle of the liquid.

  "What will his name be?" He only just managed to complete the question before he was overtaken by the growth - yes, that is exactly what she thought: something is growing. Out of his ears. So fast that his face did not have time to change, let alone grimace. His smile just stopped. Before she became aware of something leaving his body, his bald patch, covered with hair combed sideways, bent towards her. That's just how it seemed: the slight movement of a hat being raised politely. It all lasted only a moment and this comparison only came to her later, much later, when it was all over.

  The next few images came so fast they just ran into each other, drowning in a sound, which was by no means loud or unpleasant. As if somebody had hit a rock with a wet cloth. The body on the chair opposite her sat upright and dead. Untouched below the nose; but above that, nothing - it simply stopped, destroyed in the explosion. The base of the skull, above which only a moment ago the brain had been suspended, sparkled obscenely in the glow of the candles which flickered belatedly, nearly went out and then steadied themselves. The torn skin stood erect, surrounding the remaining half of the skull like the small leaves on a hazelnut. Then they wilted, gradually bending outwards. Downwards.

  She looked around the room and the small, animated traces were visible everywhere. They slid down the walls, down the portraits of his predecessors, travelling down to the frames and then dripping onto the floor.

  "What will his name be?" she repeated quietly, smiled and tore her look away from the splattered walls and returned it to the incomplete body in black tails and bow tie. Even after his retirement he still dressed as if he was in the diplomatic service.

  She looked at the spoon, which continued to be held in the previous position by the stiff muscles, neither on the bottom of the plate nor up in the air. Why had she been given this body, which had so rarely laid on top of hers and which needed a full five years to impregnate her? Because it was coming to this place? She sighed deeply. You can not ask questions when you are in service.

  The sound of the flickering room started to fade. The dishes clattered in the kitchen again.

  Oh, yes.

  She rang for Greta.

  *

  "Holy mother of Jesus...Holy mother of Jesus...Holy..."

  He forced himself to look at his left hand. Yes, it was still there, even though he had stopped feeling it one ledge lower. It was bleeding without any real pain.

  "Come on...come on..."

  To plead without making a sound? Only in his head? Without looking down, at them? He closed his eyes and leant his forehead on the rock. Warm, but not very - as if the summer sun had bypassed it.

  "I must...I must..."

  He could picture their faces. All five of them, standing far below, watching. He felt dizzy at the mere thought of the distance, in metres and age. They were all a few years older than him; and they seemed so small. Dizzyingly small.

  He was motionless even though he knew that he could not afford to be. With stillness came pain, a terrible trembling of the arms, as if they were someone else's and uncontrollable.

  Whenever he opened his eyes and looked in front of him the rays of the setting sun reflected off the rock and blinded him. He did not dare look up for fear that his backwards bent neck would break off like a piece of the rock on which he was climbing and pull the rest of his body after it. He focussed his every look on some small detail: indentations, cracks with grass growing out of them, dried up by the lack of rain. Whenever he could, he would hold onto ledge with grass stalks under his fingers. He could not even feel the grass, let alone be protected by it from the sharpness of the edge. Once, it seemed like a long time ago, what sounded like a seagull had screeched right next to him. He had not dared to turn around.

  The spectators said nothing and because of their silence they seemed very remote. The temptation to look back kept repeating itself. What if they had gone and left him on his own? Had they got fed up and walked down the beach? Had they left only tracks which the sea would erase in long sweeps? The sea. Water. Cool, not yet warmed up. In spite of the heat, the summer had not been around long enough.

  He pressed himself against the rock, which grabbed the heartbeat from his thumping chest and amplified it into what seemed like thunder.

  "Holy mother of Jesus...Holy mother of Jesus...Holy..."

  If he only knew how much further it was to the top. For longer and longer periods he kept his eyes shut. Sweat was dripping from his forehead and flooding his eyes. He squeezed his eyelids together and felt the drops of sweat running around them. He could not close his mouth in time and with quick breaths he drank his own sweat. Judging by the taste of it, his own sea of sweat. The first drop was the most dangerous one, it nearly made him fall. It slid down, then just tore itself away; he thought: what's that? - and twitched his head to shake it off. You need room for a swift movement so he leant away from the wall. His left hand lost support, fell and immediately redeemed itself: a short distance further down it caught on a ledge and gave his body some time to calm down.

  Did any of the spectators scream? Or at least gasp? He imagined himself splattered on the ground: a view from above, as if his soul, now rid of his body, was continuing with the climb and was fearlessly looking around. They would just run away and not tell anybody. They would leave him to the seagulls, the tide and the fish. They would turn him into another one of their secrets, one of those they bragged about all the time and because of which they held their heads up so proudly.

  The secrets he wanted to find out. To share.

  The sun had already begun to set and was shining directly into his eyes. Or was it that the rock had become smooth and reflective? Maybe the light had already destroyed his eyelids? He had never seen them so bright red, with tiny dots circling around, like small fish in the shallows.

  What a wide ledge! The whole of his right palm slid over it, then his wrist, right up to his elbow. Then his left arm. His torso. His chest touched the ground. He opened his eyes and had to close them immediately because of the stream of sweat. He did not dare let go of the rock and wipe his eyes. He scrambled forward, then tried to open his eyelids a few times before he succeeded. He was at the top, beyond the reach of their eyes.

  The jerky trembling started in his feet and promptly spread to his hands. He lay on the ground, giving in to his b
ody.

  Then he picked himself up, brushed the dust off his shorts and T-shirt and went down the path leading to the beach.

  He was expecting their examining looks and spent the whole way getting ready for them. He practised looking bored and laid-back as if deep in thought about things which had very little to do with what was going on.

  "As red as a tomato!" said Luka with contempt.

  "Look, look, his legs are shaking!"

  "Did you shit yourself?"

  His eyes desperately wanted to look down, but he managed to stop them at the last minute and instead looked each of them in the eye. It was very unpleasant, as they were all a lot taller than him and he had to look up at them. Nevertheless, they did stop shouting, only Luka was still grinning contemptuously.

  "I completed my first test," he said, nearly sinking into the ground with shame about the unsuitability of his voice: it was high, trembling and he even had to take a few deep breaths in order to steady his vocal cords enough to say the first word.

  "Yeah, you did indeed," said Luka, "but this was the easiest one. The worst is yet to come!"

  They left him waiting while they retreated to the rocks. Slowly he took a few steps to the sea and let the waves lick his scratched feet. Every time they stung, he said to himself:

  "I'll manage! I'll manage! I'll manage!"

  A pleading chant, but the pain did become more and more subdued, almost bearable in the end. There was something pleasant in it.

  The five of them had their heads together, arguing excitedly. Every now and then one of them would forget himself and look towards him. Only to quickly look back again, with a feeling of guilt. He went a bit further away to show them how he was not going to listen and did not care about what they came up with, they would not break him. Only a few excited negatives, hissed a bit too loudly, reached him.

  He looked at the soles of his feet. They were strangely white, discoloured. There was no blood left in them, the edges of the open cuts looked torn. He bent over and watched the skin flapping. A little fish came swiftly, seemed to rip the edge of his skin off and disappeared just as quickly.

  "They're eating me," he thought, shaken but also surprised to find no disgust in that realisation.

  The voices in the background had stopped. He turned round and saw that it was decided. They stood beyond the reach of the waves, looking at him. He deliberately let them wait a bit, splashed a bit deeper into the sea and a slightly bigger wave washed over his knees.

  He stopped a good two metres in front of them. They resembled priests in a temple, like the ones he remembered from his father's bible. There was an uncanny resemblance even though, instead of eastern robes and turbans, they were wearing the shorts and T-shirts that they would be wearing for the rest of the summer and well into the autumn. The state of some of them would soon make it clear that they were the only ones their owner possessed.

  "Right, brat, a second test. Do you give up?" said Luka.

  "No!"

  "You'll be sorry! We don't accept such small brats."

  "I'll complete all the trials!"

  "We've yet to see that! Let's go."

  They walked down the beach quickly and he had a feeling they were in a hurry.

  Suddenly he saw clearly the horror of his second test. They would take him to one of the holes in the rocks, he would have to lie in the dark dampness and...

  ... and spiders, spiders would crawl all over him! He would not be allowed to scream or move. Spiders!

  "What's the matter, are you afraid? You're lagging behind!"

  He speeded up, hoping they could not read his mind. He would do even that, if he had to. They had already teased him to death just because he had dared ask to be accepted into a gang of lads who were all three or four years older than him. If he gave up now, he would not be able to leave the house ever again. He would do anything. Even spiders...

  He imagined their hairy legs, the prickly feeling of them quickly and almost imperceptibly touching his skin. He had to press his teeth together and gather all his strength to swallow, it was as if he had to break up a lump of dry sand in his throat.

  "Here we are," he heard Luka say.

  He looked around him with surprise. No caves, no spiders.

  !?!

  They stood on a long rock protruding into the sea like a small peninsula. Luka took a small knife out of his pocket, held it briefly on his palm just in front of the boy's eyes and flung it over his shoulder.

  "Bring it back," he said. The boy could sense pleasure in Luka’s calm voice.

  Even though the knife was already disappearing in the breaking waves he could still make out its reflection. But it was fading rapidly in the darkness.

  "You can have one go only," added Luka.

  "Eh..."

  What comfort! He could see Adriano opening his mouth to (he was certain) object, but Luka stopped him with just a look. The boy's earlier hunch of who would turn out to be his ally was right. He looked at Adriano gratefully, sighed deeply and jumped.

  It was strange that it was the sea they had chosen as the next trial. He had expected that to be right at the beginning. They had all been born on this island and were all good swimmers, unlike their grandfathers, who mostly could not swim at all.

  He dived in what he thought was the direction of the disappearing knife. The light became weaker and more diffuse. On his left, he could see a rock covered with mussels. He wondered how deep the sea was around there. Probably quite deep or they would not have chosen that spot. He would swim until he found the knife, he thought. If not, he would not go back. They would be sorry. He let go of a breath, which the water immediately turned into bubbles and carried to the surface. Suddenly, he had a feeling of certainty: this time, nothing would go wrong. A large fish swam past him, looked at him, waved its tail and swam into the open sea. The boy looked after it and with a corner of his eye caught a reflection on his right.

  The knife.

  Impossible! A rock was reaching up from the depth of the sea, it was as sharp as a tooth. On the top, amongst the few strands of seaweed, stood the knife, waiting for him.

  He carefully slowed down and approached the rock. The knife was perched very precariously, the slightest movement could dislodge it and make it fall into the deep waters, where they would both disappear for ever. He gently moved his hand closer and picked it up.

  Closed his palm around it.

  It had been so very easy!

  He held onto the rock until he felt a pain in his lungs. Only then did he swim back up to the surface.

  Seeing their faces was even more of a triumph. Adriano smiled briefly to himself and Luka bit his lip when he received the knife.

  "Next one..." he said.

  Again, the boy waited, wading through the sand. These negotiations were even longer, more objections reached his ears and he was beginning to regret annoying them by having been so openly pleased after the last trial.

  What if he were to decline to join the gang after the last successful trial? What if he were to just walk away without looking back? He imagined their looks eating into his back and he wallowed in the sweetness of these thoughts.

  "NO!"

  Adriano moved away from the others.

  "NO!"

  "WHAT?" roared Luka.

  "No! We can't do that to him!"

  Spiders. Must be spiders!

  "Come back this instant or I'll throw you out of the gang!" shouted Luka.

  "I don't care!"

  "You'll never be able to join again!"

  The threat did not seem to have any effect on Adriano.

  Bruno went over to Adriano's side.

  Luka calmed down noticeably.

  "Don't be silly, lads, let's not fall out over this little brat!"

  "We mustn't do that to him," repeated Adriano. Bruno nodded. Even the two boys loyal to Luka did not look overenthusiastic.

  "At least we'd get rid of him!" groaned Luka, looking rather uncertain.

&n
bsp; "With something even you didn't dare do?"

  Adriano sounded quite malicious.

  Luka sighed deeply, jumped towards Adriano and pushed him in the chest with the open palms of his hands. Adriano stumbled but did not fall.

  "What didn't I dare? What didn't I dare?"

  "You didn't dare," added Bruno.

  The two silent ones were also nodding, even though they did not dare say anything.

  "ARE YOU COMPLETELY MAD? DIDN'T YOU SEE THE GREEN...?"

  Luka ran around them all, screaming in their faces.

  "DIDN'T YOU SEE? WELL, DIDN'T YOU?"

  "We did," said Adriano, "we did, and that's precisely why none of us dared go nearer. Not even you."

  "I'll go! I'll do what he didn't dare!"

  They all turned round in surprise, staring at the new volunteer, who did not even know himself why the offer escaped his mouth. Was their astonishment really worth the risk?

  "Don't be silly, boy! You don't even know what this is about."

  Adriano sounded genuinely upset.

  The others nodded, apart from Luka who grinned.

  "Well, now, you see! He himself wants to do it! Let him go then! Let him go!"

  He opened his arms wide.

  "Well? Well? You see!"

  Adriano came closer.

  "Now, let me tell you what you're getting yourself into. Do you know where that diplomat's villa is?"

  The boy nodded. It was right at the other side of the island, where he did not often go.

  "That wooden one, with one floor? With a summer house and cabins on the beach?"

  The boy nodded.

  "I know. I've seen it."

  Only once, in the company of his father. They had gone around the island in a boat and his father had answered all his questions very briefly. Yes, the villa was inhabited. It had been built by a diplomat, a man from the mainland - there were always problems with those - as his retirement home. No, he was already dead.

  He had stared at the house until it disappeared behind the peninsula, it was such a surprise to see it there. You got used to the rocks, the little coves, the seemingly endless pine-trees, which had an even greater lulling effect than the rocking of the boat. And then suddenly, a bigger cove, a meadow behind it with a building in the middle and only then the edge of the pine-trees.