Free The Collector of Names by Miha Mazzini Page A

immediately:
    "Let's go and have a ciggie!"
    "Something's wrong," a voice said inside Raf again when he was the last one to leave the nursery. He looked back at the fluffy toy. The elephant did not return his look, instead it kept stubbornly staring ahead as if the answer lay in its dark eyes almost completely obscured by dust.
    *
    Uncle Aco did not become any more talkative and made no effort to explain anything. He stood by the window looking at the sea. He turned round only once and he looked completely calm, just slightly remote. He started asking her very detailed questions about the boys, demanding a description of their appearance and anything else she could remember.
    Ana did her best to please him and she noticed how she spent most of the time talking about the thin boy who had not spoken to her even though he had a chance.
    Aco nodded from time to time and when she finished talking he turned away again. Ana pottered round the kitchen, put the rest of the fish in the bin, washed up, sat down, saw the red sky behind her uncle's head and tried to gather courage.
    She wanted to ask him for permission to go for a walk but she forced herself to change the question into a statement:
    "I'm going for a walk."
    She had to say it again, before he mumbled something which she interpreted as his permission even though she suspected he had not really heard her at all.
    *
    They sat on the sand by the sea giving in to the sunset. Max and Alfonz were smoking with the ferocity typical of smokers who have been deprived of cigarettes for a whole hour because of the heat and the burden they have been carrying, but whose bodies had now calmed down and were demanding tobacco.
Alfonz had also brought a bottle of brandy and it travelled among them slowly.
"Yuck, it's hot!" yelped Max.
"Yeah, we'll have to cool it," agreed Alfonz.
    He took the bottle to the sea and spent a while trying to position it in the water by digging it in and surrounding it with stones so that the precious contents would not spill.
    "That won't work," said Samo. "We can't be coming here in the dark during the party. Besides, if the tide comes in, the sea-water will go into the bottle."
    "You're right," agreed Max.
    "What if we took all the drink to the cellar?" suggested Alfonz.
    "Yes, there was quite a cold draft when you opened that door. Alfonz, you sort it out! I leave it all to you. Samo, what do you think?"
    "You're right, Max. But it would be best to cool the beer a bit in the sea first, while it's still light."
    Alfonz got up obediently and made his way to the veranda to get the crate. Raf accompanied him with his eyes, wishing he would rebel just once.
    "What's the matter Raf, why are you so quiet?" Max prodded him.
    "Oh, nothing."
    Suddenly, Raf felt a strong desire to mention the girl from the ferry. Just like that, in passing, even though he knew what sort of comments about her he could expect from the others. But if she was not present at least in their conversation it seemed to him that she would become very remote, non-existent. He had to clench his teeth, so overwhelming was his desire for her presence. He had to talk about her, he had to!
"I'm still knackered from the journey," he said.
"Yes, it was boring," sighed Max. "It was too long".
"No interesting passengers," added Raf, congratulating himself on his cunning.
"Yeah, except that babe who wasn't too bad," agreed Max.
"Well," said Samo, "she could be a bit fitter, her hips were too small."
"And her tits weren't very big either," grimaced Max.
In the background they could hear the clanking of the bottles as Alfonz arranged them on the veranda.
"I do like them to have big tits," went on Max dreamily, "but they have to be nice and firm!"
"Yeah, right," yawned Samo, stretching.
    Every word cut into Raf's heart. How nastily they spoke of her! But even that was better than the silence after they had exhausted the subject of all the relevant parts of the female anatomy.
    Raf got up:
    "I'm going to help