第59节

hat dream out of her mind.

She stood up from her bath and went to put on some nice clothes. She wanted to look her best to please him, make him happy.

Just as she buttoned the last button, in burst Tomas with the chairman of the collective farm and an unusually pale young farm worker.

Quick! shouted Tomas. Something strong to drink! Tereza ran out and came back with a bottle of slivovitz. She poured some into a liqueur glass, and the young man downed it in one gulp.

Then they told her what had happened. The man had dislocated his shoulder and started bellowing with pain. No one knew what to do, so they called Tomas, who with one jerk set it back in its socket.

After downing another glass of slivovitz, the man said to Tomas, Your wife's looking awfully pretty today.

You idiot, said the chairman. Tereza is always pretty.

I know she's always pretty, said the young man, but today she has such pretty clothes on, too. I've never seen you in that dress. Are you going out somewhere?

No, I'm not. I put it on for Tomas.

You lucky devil! said the chairman, laughing. My old woman wouldn't dream of dressing up just for me.

So that's why you go out walking with your pig instead of your wife, said the young man, and he started laughing, too.

How is Mefisto, anyway? asked Tomas. I haven't seen him for at least —he thought a bit— at least an hour.

He must be missing me, said the chairman.

Seeing you in that dress makes me want to dance, the young man said to Tereza. And turning to Tomas, he asked, Would you let me dance with her?

Let's all go and dance, said Tereza.

Would you come along? the young man asked Tomas.

Where do you plan to go? asked Tomas.

The young man named a nearby town where the hotel bar had a dance floor.

You come too, said the young man in an imperative tone of voice to the chairman of the collective farm, and because by then he had downed a third glass of slivovitz, he added, If Mefisto misses you so much, we'll take him along. Then we'll have both little pigs to show off. The women will come begging when they get an eyeful of those two together! And again he laughed and laughed.

If you're not ashamed of Mefisto, I'm all yours. And they piled into Tomas's pickup—Tomas behind the wheel, Tereza next to him, and the two men in the back with the half-empty bottle of slivovitz. Not until they had left the village behind did the chairman realize that they had forgotten Mefisto. He shouted up to Tomas to turn back.

Never mind, said the young man. One little pig will do the trick. That calmed the chairman down.

It was growing dark. The road started climbing in hairpin curves.

When they reached the town, they drove straight to the hotel. Tereza and Tomas had never been there before. They went downstairs to the basement, where they found the bar, the dance floor, and some tables. A man of about sixty was playing the piano, a woman of the same age the violin. The hits they played were forty years old. There were five or so couples out on the floor.