The Collector of Names (2 page)

"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.

"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.

Adriano continued:

"Well, that woman from India lives there. The one whose husband died. Five years ago."

"Seven years," interrupted Bruno sternly.

"OK, seven then. It doesn't really matter. Do you remember her?"

The boy shook his head.

"Yeah, I thought so," said Adriano. "You're too young. Since her husband died, she's never come out. She's living alone with a son I've never seen."

"Me neither... me neither..." went round the circle.

That was no news. The whole village was speculating about the stranger and her son. They lived in complete isolation and that alone was a good enough reason for curiosity and gossip.

Adriano returned to his story:

"Well, the other evening, we were wandering around there and saw..."

"Miro saw it first," explained Bruno.

"Bruno, you're a real bore! What will become of you! Well, Miro saw a light shining from the cellar window. But it was no ordinary light. It was... how shall I put it..."

Suddenly they all started describing it.

"Green..."

"... a poisonous green."

"Satanically green ... "

"A terrible green!"

"... light," continued Adriano. "And then Luka said somebody should go and see what was going on in the cellar."

"Somebody should go and see!" said Bruno meaningfully. "Somebody!"

"Yes, and nobody went. Nobody dared. At the end, after he'd shouted at each one of us," Adriano pointed to Luka, "he didn't go either. He took five steps towards the house and shat himself."

Luka jumped again and this time he caught Adriano unawares and knocked him over. He wanted to jump on top of him when the boy said:

"I'll go and see what that light is. If it's there again tonight?"

"It will be. We've gone there three evenings now and it's always there. But don't boast prematurely, you've never seen that kind of green ever before. There's nothing like it!"

Luka slowly relaxed his hands from the fighting pose and stepped back.

"Are you scared, boy?"

"No!"

"You're lying!"

"That's nothing, just to go there and look."

"You don't have to!" interrupted Adriano whilst shaking the sand off his T-shirt.

"I'll go!" repeated the boy calmly.

*

It was getting dark as they stood on the edge of the woods, hidden in the pine-trees. They had not come along the path which they could still just about make out at the end of the valley; they had walked here along the sea, which took them a lot longer. They had plenty of time before evening. There had been no conversation and they had passed a very silent afternoon.

The sun swelled and turned red above the sea, leaving its signature on the windows of the villa, behind which no movement could be seen.

The boy started hoping that there would be no green light that night. He was not anxious or scared. All the way there he had a strong feeling that nothing would come of it all. The trial he had set himself would not take place. Fate would make sure of that. Definitely.

The sun sank into the sea and in spite of the rays of light left behind, darkness started spreading amongst the trees.

"It won't be there today," said Adriano in a whisper (and with hope?).

They waited a bit longer.

"Let's wait for the darkness," said Luka, "the light always comes on with the darkness."

The boy knew his mum and dad were already looking for him around the village, so far probably still without a belt in their hands. But if he did not come back soon... Anyway, he was too far now and there was no chance of getting back early enough to avoid a beating. Even if he got up straight away and ran along the cart-track which cut the island in two, he would need more than half an hour to reach home, which would be too long for his father's patience. He could imagine the familiar figure opening the door forcefully and taking the "educational belt" hanging on a hook as a warning to the children. He would grab it with his right hand, fold it so that it became very short and give his palm a short slap. As a warm up. Without realising, the boy stroked his backside.

"It's dark," said Bruno.

"It won't happen. Let's go."

Luka persisted, as expected.

"Let's wait! Maybe it's still too light. The moon is so bright tonight!"

The boy looked through the branches of the trees and stared at the moon. Only a sliver of it was still missing. Its silver light made them look like princes. He looked at Adriano, who was breaking a pine-tree branch by beating it against the ground. He picked up a new one, squeezed it in his palm and rapidly hit the stones. The thin wood broke without a noise.

Suddenly Adriano's left cheek became green.

They jumped to their feet and grabbed hold of the tree trunks.

"That's it!" breathed Bruno.

"Don't go!"

"I'm going!"

The boy stepped forward and only now got a front-row view. The whole house was completely dark, apart from the cellar window. It did not look as if somebody was shining something to light the stairs while they walked down. The window just lit up suddenly and completely with a dense green light, which cut across the meadow and penetrated the pine-trees.

The colour was indescribable and it looked (oddly?) evil, unnaturally poisonous. Who was it who had said that?

The boy stopped and looked at it.

"Well, can you see now?" said Luka. "Do you understand now?"

"Yes, I understand. Are you coming with me?" replied the boy bravely, even though he did not feel courageous. He was tingling from the inside of his arms through his armpits and across to his heart.

"Holy Mary, be with me," he said to himself, stepping onto the grass and starting to approach the house.

It was probably some stupid thing. Brandy making? That'll be it! Or...? What could produce such a colour? He thought hard but could not think of anything.

He stepped into the light and when he looked towards its source he was not blinded. He could make out the window frame and occasionally, just for a split second, a shadow moving around. Or shadows?

A silly thought: he was spying on people whose names he did not know. Then he recalled he had heard the name of the Indian woman, but like the rest of the villagers he could not remember it. It was too foreign and difficult to pronounce. He had never seen the child either and did not know his name. Nobody in the village did, even though nobody found that strange or at least they never talked about it. But they talked about everything else, oh yes!

He could sense the looks of those in the woods. To go back, like Luka did? To be his equal? Never! After all the trials of the day he had already surpassed him. He was not aware of the fact that in the morning when he had started the whole thing it was only to become their equal, and now it was all about proving that he was different, superior.

A shadow, this time he definitely saw a shadow behind the glass. A raised hand? Holding something? How strangely it was lowered! So... He could not quite see, he had to go nearer.

He started to count his steps. Ten. And the shadow crossed the light again. Another ten steps and again the shadow.

Another ten steps, the shadow.

Another ten steps...