The quarrel

An excerpt of the novel AN AFRICAN SUNSET.

The quarrel

An Africna Sunset

An excerpt

The square emptied up long ago and only a few blurred silhouettes were visible next to the counter at the bar opposite them.

‘Where're all the others and Dariot?’ He asked Shatz perplexed, hiding his anger with much effort.

‘They left, it took you some time, and by the way Dariot said you have beaten that pair quite hard thanks to you.'

‘Why didn’t they wait?’ Everon asked him, clearing his throat with clear signs of frustration.

‘The little one, his daughter urged him to go, she has spent several hours at the swimming pool this afternoon she got tired it seems.’

‘Really, and just now you’re telling it to me, eh? Let’s go.’ Everon retorted and started to cross the square between the empty tables, towards the path leading to the parking lot. He didn’t utter a single word all the way to his car, nor while they were moving out of the parking lot and driving home at one hundred and fifty kilometers per hour.

It’s a bad sign that unexpected silence of his… What troubles him I wonder? Shatz thought surprised, watching absent-mindedly the lighted road ahead.

‘I want you to stop seeing her!’ Everon cut off the short silence with a loud and angry voice.

‘Seeing who, Dariot’s daughter? Why, what’s wrong with seeing her once in a while?’ Shatz answered him, feigning surprise.

‘You’re doing a terrible mistake Reuven!’ Everon raised his voice in a threatening tone.

‘I haven’t the slightest idea what you’re talking about.’ Shatz answered him decisively, doing his best to let the head of the delegation understand that whatever he’s doing with Janine is none of delegation’s head business.

‘I’ll let you understand about what I’m talking right away!’ Everon retorted angrily picking up the "glove" Shatz threw in his direction. ‘I know exactly what you’re doing with her; you’ve started to behave without a bit of responsibility!’ He added raising his voice in a wild shout. ‘You’re endangering the delegation’s interests in this country!’

‘What am I doing, endangering the delegation's interests? Don’t make me laugh! What’s the matter with you? Does it hurt you to see me in her company or to know that I'm dancing with her, or to see her smile to me once in a while? It’s sheer jealousy on your part that’s all!’

‘You don’t grasp what I’m telling you! I’ve received a detailed report of what you did to her, and in the same way that these details reached my ears, it would reach her father’s, and I wouldn’t like to see him running after you brandishing a gun…!’            

‘Are you serious?’ Shatz burst out laughing scornfully. The ridiculous scenario that Everon described, popped up for a friction of a second in his mind’s eye; and he simply couldn’t refrain from laughing, although he knew quite well that Everon would take it as a bitter insult.

‘Yes I’m serious! Everon shouted back with all the power in his lungs. ‘He was a hit man at the “Deuxieme Bureaux” and they do employ him still from time to time, I’m sure of it!’

‘The Deuxieme Bureaux and what’s the hell is that?’ Shatz answered him rather calmly with indifference.

‘It’s their foreign intelligence organization that corresponds to our Mossad!’ Everon declared triumphantly, as if he had already beaten him.

‘Let's consider it sensibly, so he was a member in their intelligence organization, but when was it and when did he serve? Was he serving Clemenceau at the beginning of the century, or did he serve at the First World War? He’s old enough to be her grandfather…’

With a sudden reaction, as if he was struck by madness, Everon pushed with all his might both the brakes and clutch pedals; stopping the car that was cruising at about one hundred and fifty kilometers per hour on the straight road ahead. With a screeching noise of its brakes and tires, the car was swerving from one side of the road to the other continuously " each time on another pair of wheels.

Shatz was thrown forward heating the windshield with his hands and pushed himself right back to his seat.

‘Are you crazy, do you want to kill us?’ He shouted at Everon losing completely his temper.

The lousy mad son of a b***h, he’ll never give up, he must have it his own way, f**k him! Shatz thought furiously throwing a furtive glance at the head of the delegation.    

Everon was pushed against the steering wheel with his chest, but being aware to his deeds he wasn’t hurt. The Quat-Cent-Quat slowed down gradually on all its four wheels and stopped at the side of the road.

Nothing really happened, no grave or serious consequences occurred.

Shatz was breathing heavily, his blood was pounding in his veins, while Everon leaned back in his seat exhausted, his arms’ muscles were strained and his legs were trembling, the excruciating efforts he made in stopping the car weakened him. But he didn’t mean to give up his harangue.

‘I want you to sign to me here and now that you won’t ever touch her, see her or exchange a single word with her, do you understand?’ He said rather dramatically, breathing hard yet. ‘I don’t want any bloodshed on my hands!’

‘What bloodshed, what are you blabbering about? You’re out of your mind, stark mad!’ Shatz shouted back. ‘I’m not Moshe Priel, do you understand? You won’t push me around with your whims, get lost!’

‘You dare to disobey me?’ Everon warned him.

‘Am I disobeying you?’ Shatz wondered aloud bracing himself and getting back to his senses. ‘Do I have to ask your permission to see her? It’s none of your bloody business, that’s all!’

‘Under the power of my authority I may order you to stick to the farm, I may detain you there to the end of your term here, and you’ll never leave it; you can get at Dialo whatever you’ll need for your daily living, and if you’ll object to it and disobey me I’ll send you back home!’

‘And what will you do here without me, you miserable poor devil? What justification would there be, to your presence here? What delegation would you lead?’ Shatz answered him with a wild burst of laughter.

Everon’s legs were trembling still; he kept pushing down the clutch and brake pedals up to that certain moment, without being aware to it; he moved the gear lever into neutral and released his aching legs.

He was terribly hurt; Shatz’s unexpected impudence astounded him. After several moments of silence and rest, in which they were both absorbed in their thoughts, Everon engaged the first gear and they were driving on towards the new sector, without uttering a single word. The few kilometers left up to his villa, were passed rather slowly at about eighty kilometers per hour.

He must be shocked… Shatz thought amused, refraining with much effort from laughing aloud.

‘Meet me at the embassy tomorrow at ten o’clock sharp.’ Everon told him as soon as he stopped his car in his yard, next to Shatz’s Deux-Cent-Quat.

© Haim Kadman 1987 " all rights reserved.

This novel includes 171 pages and 101,480 words.

AN AFRICAN SUNSET is my first novel after having written 75 short stories; it's a fictitious plot, which describes the bond between the Israeli delegation members in general; and the trials and adventures of a young agronomist Reuven Shatz his name, his short love affair with Hilla Priel, the wife of the expert that he was sent to replace, and his relations with the head of the delegation, and the embassy members in Mouaka the Capital of "The Coast of Hope."

"AN AFRICAN SUNSET". An absorbing and gripping read. ganxy.com/i/89369

www.freado.com/read/16997/an-african-sunset‎‎