1. Village News
by Belyaev, Alexander“Well, how is the fishing?” he asked, rubbing together his sinewy hands with hook-like fingers.
“Bad,” replied the young fisherman. He was angry at bad fishing and bad weather, and he wanted to take out his anger on someone. “And you’re getting fatter, Hans, why is that?”
The old man smiled pitifully and spread his arms.
“You are gaining weight too, Ludwig,” he replied.
“We’re not talking about me. When a person catches and sells fish with his nets, it’s not surprising that you get fat. And you tell us the secret of how to gain weight without working, then we, too, could warm ourselves by the fireplace, instead of accumulating rheumatism in the sea.”
Hans was clearly embarrassed. He shivered, rubbed his hands, shrugged his shoulders. Everyone noticed the old man’s embarrassment, and this made even those who doubted believe in his guilt.
“We ought to search his place,” the red-haired Fritz said softly, bending over to the ear of another fisherman, “I’ll get it done quietly.” And turning to Hans, he said:
“Are you not afraid to live in a ruin? If a good northeast blows, you’ll get crushed into a pancake.”
“The walls are thick, I’ll be alright,” Hans replied.
“And if it crushes you?” Fritz didn’t hesitate. “It may not matter to you, old man, but they will ask us, why didn’t we take security measures? Don’t want to get dragged to court. We need to inspect your home.”
“Why inspect it now?” Hans was confused. He no longer doubted that the visitors suspected him of something and had come for a reason. “If you like, you can come tomorrow when it’s light.”
“Why tomorrow? We can still look at it today.”
“Why it’s dark, the stairs are destroyed, you can hurt yourselves. Why the rush, really? Lived for fifty years, and then suddenly couldn’t wait one night.” Ludwig had already understood Fritz’s military cunning and began to fuss.
“And you can light the lantern.”
“A lantern! I don’t even have oil for it.”
But Fritz was already fumbling around the round room.
“Don’t have oil? Here is the lantern. And here is the oil. Are you lying, old man?” Fritz quickly poured oil and lit the lantern.
“Let’s go.”