31

On the ninth and tenth day, Kosef J stayed glued to the dying man, who experienced long spurts of delirium. He wasn’t even able to sit up any longer. Oddly enough, as he was nearing death, the swelling on his neck started to diffuse. Kosef J kept dabbing his forehead with a wet cloth, and in the rare moments the man regained consciousness, Kosef J would insistently remind him: ‘You’re free! You’re free, understand?’

‘Come on, give me a break!’ the man would reply.

Yet an impassioned Kosef J carried on talking to him regardless. Something really major had happened in the life of the man with swollen throat. Had he, the man with swollen throat, realized what had happened in the course of the night? What was the man with swollen throat feeling? Was he feeling anything? No, the man with swollen throat wasn’t feeling anything. And wasn’t believing in anything either. No one was free. Yes, the two of them, Kosef J and the man with swollen throat, were free.

‘Get out of here!’ the man with swollen throat cried out, sounding borderline amused.

Oh no! How could the man with swollen throat not realize what had been going on? He didn’t realize, because nothing was going on. How come nothing had been going on? Now that the man with swollen throat was nearing the end, he was no longer willing to be fooled. Kosef J had many years ahead of him, still, so he had reasons to allow himself to be fooled perhaps. He was still young and healthy. For him, there was a point in letting himself being fooled. Kosef J couldn’t follow this. But there wasn’t much to follow. And yet Kosef J wanted to understand. What, Kosef J didn’t realize that he had been bribed? BRIBED? Yes, bribed. By whom? What for? Could it be that the man with swollen throat was already delirious?

‘Give me a break, once and for all!’ The man with swollen throat said yet again, and fell into a drowsy state.

Kosef J kept fretting in the cellar, waiting for the man with swollen throat to regain consciousness. Towards the evening, he tried to wake him up and make him swallow a few bread balls. But the man refused to swallow. He had clenched his jaws as if he’d given up on talking and eating.

On the tenth day, just as it came to lunchtime, the man opened his eyes and asked for some food. His voice was no longer trembling and his fingers were able to confidently grab the bread balls.

‘I had a dream about all sorts of things that didn’t make sense,’ the man said as if he’d been woken up by these very dreams.

His gaze was clear, his face seemed serene and the man’s entire being gave off a sense of restfulness, stability and calm. The man with a cheerful face came to visit the man with swollen throat. In fact, the man with swollen throat had turned into an almost normal person. The man with a cheerful face said a few encouraging words to the man who had just returned to normal. Then, the man with a cheerful face was followed by others. The man with a lisp gave a long speech to the man who had just returned to normal. The man with a darkened face came, too, and sat down quietly in a corner. The short and calm man only put in an appearance to address a few words to the man almost back to normal, and then turned to Kosef J. He had been very impressed with the way in which Kosef J had chaired the meeting.

‘Really?’ the latter replied, pleasantly surprised.

Yes, the short and calm man was of the opinion that Kosef J had demonstrated an incredible presence of mind, because that was one of the most difficult meetings they’d ever held. Every single intervention had turned out to be firm and precise. So events could have easily gone awry, but Kosef J had reigned them in every time and channelled them back to their usual, constructive and democratic path. Now they were about to decide over the issue of cauldrons because they were part of the same problem.

Kosef J knew nothing about the problem of cauldrons.

Cauldrons were no longer cleaned in the evening, as before. Rules had been changed. After the food had been dished out, Rozette would line up the cauldrons by the ovens. On the bottom and inner walls of cauldrons, however, as well as at the base of giant ladles the organic matter of leftover dinner would continue to be lying in wait. At times in very thick layers at that, enough to feed another ten if not fifteen people. Not to mention the hundreds of plates piled up unwashed in the kitchen overnight—adding these to the mix would raise the number of those who could be fed to up to twenty. In winter time and under the given circumstances, this particular winter being as harsh as it was, this source had simply become impossible to ignore.

Kosef J agreed. The source didn’t appear negligible at all.

The only problem was Rozette. The short and calm man burst out in a loud laughter, pinched Kosef J on the cheek and winked. Kosef J responded with an idiotic smile.

The room had soon filled up with tired men, all turned livid with cold. Their shared breaths had started to warm the space up. Someone got ahead by telling about the hare they had caught a few days back. The traps lined up along the wall had finally proved to be useful. The cold would sooner or later drive the beasts out of their burrows. The men kept chattering and laughing. Due to the warm air the barrels had an even stronger smell of alcohol than usual. More and more tired and livid men turned up, and soon the room was packed with bodies. Following his conversation with the short and calm man, Kosef J found himself stuck in a corner, at some distance from the man who had almost returned to normal. When he tried to make his way towards the man he bashed into a quasi-compact mass, and didn’t manage to break through this cluster of bodies that were basically preserving their body heat by sticking close to one another. The room was fighting for breath, akin to some giant beast coiled up on itself. Suddenly everyone got overwhelmed by a sense of elation. Words had become less clear, bordering on the vague, and gradually turned into babble, as if all mouths present had been trying to utter some pagan prayer. Bodies started to sway slowly, as if a wave-like movement was meant to accompany the incantation. Kosef J tried to take a look around but could only see the necks and temples of those glued to him. On his left, a man with cleft chin had closed his eyes and kept lifting his neck, as if he had been trying to elevate himself to the heavens. This giant beast was practically floating. Oblivion had slowly sneaked into his particles, and a gentle and pleasant sensation of numbness made him think that supreme goodness had finally come to life in his flesh.

The man nearly back to normal passed away during these illusory moments, unnoticed by anyone.