White Niggers
Chapter 11
Saturday, August 3rd, 2019, 17:30
"Capital City Lights" restaurant, Fischhof 3, 1st district of Vienna
Zoe rises to her full 5' 1" height, and walks towards the bathroom with the gait of a hungover sailor on a storm-tossed ship. Only now, Timur notices that Zoe wears a short skirt which exposes too much of her tanned legs.
"She's irritable today because of the divorce," Timur says. "Sorry for that."
"Sorry, I didn't know," Lisa says.
She looks around. The noise from the other end of the table gets louder. Timur hears conversations in Russian, German, and Ukrainian, with sprinkles of Yiddish.
There is an Austrian squeezed between two busty brunette women with similar faces. He doesn't seem to enjoy the juxtaposition. When one of them calls him "honey," he is nervously smiling. Both women are chatting loudly with each other and other guests in Russian. He looks at his watch, then hides it when one of the women looks at him. Doesn't want to risk the eruption of ruthless and merciless Eastern-European love.
Shmuel is talking to a group of folks from the Caucasus. He is telling a joke that, if it wasn't told by a Jew, would be considered antisemitic. Something about Sarah's nightgown. Timur doesn't hear the end of it because the Caucasians start laughing.
A construction worker with a clean-shaven head talks with a middle-aged man wearing a bowtie on how to upgrade the carburetor of a Volga Gaz-24 for increased power.
"That's quite a diverse bunch," she says.
"True," Timur says. "We have all sorts of people here, from auxiliary workers to scientists. There was even a guy who was the right hand of some Georgian warlord. The one who got killed in the civil war. Forgot his name."
"Gamsakhurdia, maybe?" Lisa says.
"Exactly!" Timur says.
He notices that Zoe just came out of the bathroom and now is talking on her mobile phone.
"What do they have in common?" Lisa says.
"I guess they all want to talk to… how did you put it?" Timur says. "Humans instead of robots? Men who don't paint their fingernails?"
Lisa smiles, and looks at Timur as if trying to analyze him.
"I know this sounds ridiculous, and I know you probably can do better, but would you be willing to give me a chance of slaying a dragon or two for you?" Timur says.
"That's very sweet of you, Timur, but I don't usually go on dates," Lisa says. "I need to finish my thesis."
Zoe finishes talking, throws the mobile phone into her purse, and goes back to her place at the table.
"Who wants to go on a date? You?" Zoe says to Timur. "I already told you. Stay in your lane. Lisa is not for you. Out of your league."
Timur starts laughing.
"What's so funny?" Zoe says.
"You pay so much attention to my love life," Timur says. "Are you jealous?"
"Don't get close to her," Zoe says.
"She is a grown woman," Timur says. "She can decide for herself."
"And you, I hope you didn't come all the way from Ukraine to get hooked up with a khachik," Zoe says to Lisa. "They are all alcoholics, wife-beaters, freeloaders–"
"Whom do you mean – the Caucasians, the Russians, or just your ex-husband?" Lisa says.
"All of those damned men, especially ours!" Zoe says. "Lisa, don't waste your beauty and… everything on those rednecks. You are selling yourself short!"
"I am not for sale!" Lisa says. "Furthermore, I think that those who encourage wholesale prostitution should be executed."
And if she wanted, she could break Zoe in half, Timur thinks.
"Who said anything about prostitution?" Zoe says. "What are you talking about?"
"When a woman sleeps with a guy for 100 Euros, that's retail prostitution. She sells a part of her time," Lisa says. "When she marries someone for reasons other than love, she is selling herself in bulk. The former is frowned upon, the latter socially acceptable. But they are both two sides of the same coin."
"But–" Zoe says.
"No buts," Lisa says. "Not a penny in dowry, nor an inch to barter."
Lisa takes her cup and drinks the coffee. Her movements are as fluid as before, no trembling hands or anything. Zoe is sitting slouched on her chair like a wounded boxer after a knockout. Timur is wondering what ticked Lisa off so much. And why Zoe tries so hard to keep Lisa away from him.
Anyway, that business is done, Timur thinks. I tried and I failed. But at least I tried. Found the courage and all.
"So, pizza man…when do you have some free time?" Lisa says to Timur.