I woke up right before lunch. My head was occupied by the thought that two hundred thousand dollars in an account is small change, enough only for… For what exactly I hadn’t yet worked out, but I remained firmly convinced that a «Lamborghini Diablo» – the dream of a lifetime – costs definitely more than two hundred grand. So eight melons that were practically asking to be taken in hand could in no way get in my way. It was with such burdensome thoughts that I ran, jumped and did my push-ups.
…
A week passed in torment.
…
Then another one.
…
Then I went over to the mirror. An angry, unyielding, muscular man looked back at me:
– Hello there, Crossbow.
I measured myself with my eyes once more and – away with jokes and wisecracks! – added:
– And now it’s all going to be for real. The clowning is over.
Without putting the matter off into the long box, I announced to Romanych that I was taking a two-month time-out for a journey to Europe. I did not explain the reason for leaving, only said: «I have to go, that’s all.» Then I threw the things that might come in handy into a travel bag. Such things turned out to number three: Anya’s seal, my notebook with the phone numbers of my Hamburg friends, and the warm jacket I had flown to the Caribbean in more than a year ago.
Rather little for a risky voyage. Take the pistol? Pointless. They won’t let it on the plane. Money? Right. Nowhere without money. I went to the bank and had a debit card issued. That little piece of plastic could surely come in handy in the future. Then, having thought it over a bit, I had a credit card issued for good measure, acquired traveler’s checks and a certain quantity of assorted bank statements. What can I say – I had become learned and provident.
An hour later the cards were in my hands.
Two hours later – tickets bought for the nearest evening flight to Miami.
Three hours later – an hour before departure – I sat down on the sofa. For a minute I sank into recollection.
How long ago that was! A little under two years ago I had sworn never to return to Russia. I was lying in a hospital room, coming to myself slowly and painfully, and asking God to help me pull through. There was one prayer, after which things began to mend: «Lord, only help me survive. I will leave here at once and never appear here again. I will never do what I did before. Never!»
How long ago that was.
So long ago that a sincere prayer seemed like insignificant nonsense that had come into my head on account of being unconscious.
I got up and drove to the airport.