by Rein Raud
“Very nice to meet you,” Alex says, reaching out his hand, “I’m Alex.”
“An old friend,” Maarja adds, just in case.
And now is probably the time to bid them farewell. As we walk away we just manage to hear Kristjan invite Alex to visit them at the summer cottage in Türi which Maarja’s grandmother left her, and Alex promises he will, if he ever makes it back to Estonia. The wind carries their words away and whisks up the leaves from the ground, together with a few brightly coloured leaflets, as there happen to be elections on, and on that same pavement just behind Maarja and Alex there are two large banners, facing each other off. On one side is the Social Justice alliance, with Valev standing in the front row flanked by other members (let’s put him there, why not?), on the other side is the right-of-centre Prosperity bloc, whose figurehead is unsurprisingly, Aare Murakas although there is a row of sensible-looking people standing behind him as well. Wait – it can’t be … can it … surely our eyes must be deceiving us, no they’re not … yes, we really do know one of them from the old days. If we haven’t realised yet, it’s Murakas’s trusted advisor and the bloc’s candidate for interior minister, Hardi Vinkel.
But since you ask, I’ll say one more thing: only a fool would throw away a beautiful apple from his own garden just because it has a few maggot holes in it. Only a fool prefers things which are shiny and never rot. After all, it’s always the tastiest of apples that the maggots go for. And you can bet your life on it, the maggots’ll know these things.
2009-2015