White Niggers
Chapter 35
Friday, September 6th, 2019, 20:00
Tim's flat, Helmut-Qualtinger Hof, Daringergasse 12-20, 19th district of Vienna
"So what do you do?" Irmgard says to Timur.
"I work in a pizzeria," Timur says. "Best pizza in town."
"Great!" Irmgard says.
Timur notices her eyes are red and her movements slow.
"How about you?" Timur says.
"I am a painter," Irmgard says.
"Really?" Timur says.
"Yes. I work part-time in a warehouse to make ends meet," Irmgard says. "Which gives me the money to survive and the freedom to create."
She looks somewhere with an absentminded gaze, then her upper body makes retching movements as if she was about to vomit.
"Is everything okay with you?" Timur says.
"Yeah… it's just…" Irmgard says. "It's just yesterday I went to a party. And there I drank five… no, six liters of beer."
When was the last time I drank so much? Timur thinks. Is it manly to date a woman who can outdrink you?
"I understand," Timur says. "Sorry, I will be back in a moment."
Timur tries to break free, but Irmgard holds him by his shirt sleeve.
"Please don't. It's very noisy here," Irmgard says. "How about we go to my place?"
"I actually prefer to stay here," Timur says. "I need to talk to someone."
"Please, please, please," Irmgard says in a childish voice. "You cannot refuse the request of a woman, jigits don't do that."
"Was it Zoe who told you about the jigits?" Timur says.
"Maybe," Irmgard says. "So what do you think? Can we go?"
She smiles at Timur as if she wanted to seduce him.
Her booze breath is so strong that it cancels out any carnal anticipation, Timur thinks. She isn't even a Zaporozhets, but a horse-drawn carriage without a horse, lying in a gutter.
"I guess we can," Timur says.
He walks out with Irmgard. From the far end of the room Lisa looks at him with perplexity.
Why did I say that? Timur thinks. Did her breath intoxicate me? Or did my Johnson get his way through backchannel communication?