Alcohol doesn´t always make you a friend with the right people. He promised to show me everything in Budapest. To my evil, at this point he wasn't lying. The ancient mariner, who has never reached the ground. Still looking at the horizon, never beyond. Restless. His moves were accompanied by the rustling of the amulets, beads and torques he kept wearing and that sound reminded a giant cockroach. His manners were equally odious.
The center, the Elizabeth bridge, suburbs, the hotel Pequod and room 404. Alas, it wasn't the end… Somehow my companion pulled the wooden rudder out of the greasy trench coat and attached it to the door. He set the course and the passage opened. So we set sail, eventually.
The foyer itself was opaque, yet its indecency was palpable. Perfumes were making forcefully their way into my nostrils, accompanied by the sweat and alcoholic fumes. Sounds. Giggles & whispers. All of them were sending a chill through my spine. And yet, I had not seen anything. The monstrous triangle-like table was glass lined by absinth bottles. Viktor and fat matrons, hetaeras and call-boys were sitting together with the kings, queens and dukes; playing cards. Some of them were alive; some of them were obviously dead for a long time. “Evry litta thinga growsa outta da rot and dung and bones. Lifa resta upon da death. Takea da tree. Nota sun alon´ keep da tree alive. Its roots comea undaground. Suckled by da darknessa. But the applea is nota dark. And thata whata ya eat, si?”
We were passing along that vile carnival, venturing upstream and for a strange reason; I knew we were heading towards the Source. To my amazement, the aisle was towering high in noble arches, though I couldn't say that it made that place less dreary. We reached the crossroad and one couldn't overlook how vicious and colossal this locus was. There were immensurable floors splitting in uncountable directions, going right and left and up and down and twisting and turning like the ball of snakes. And I observed the guide-post souring high. Hastily we were moving though I managed to catch some messages: “New York - 6 billion steps, Bratislava - too far from heaven, Holy Sea & Hell - closer than you think, just straight down! El capitan made the decision. He knew for sure where we were faring to. So self-possessed I was that I didn´t ask him.
A tumultuous sound reached my ears. Soon I reached its cause. “Wanna piece of a meat boy? Today special offer! Unicorn thighs! Buy all four, get the horn for free!”
“Seeourfamous B-F-B-B! BEGGAAAAR FOOOR BREAAAD BATTLEEE! Betheonewhowilltrowthebread into thesavagecrowdfull of starvingbeggars! Bloodandgutss guaranteed!” Bewildered I was, even more when I found out that my guide disappeared. What else could I do than venture on to go further?
“Who dares wins! Hence, try Hungarian roulette! Out of these six beauteous maids, only one shelters vagina dentata!”
Then a gentleman wearing stylish hat handed to me the black call-card. On its velvet-like surface was imprinted: Murders Inc. - “Solving your problems.
“This is the end, my friend”, said the man with the harmonica and he started to play a song. It was a lullaby my mother used to sing. After last tone had faded away, he stretched out his scarred palm. I gave him everything I had - 500 HUF in coins. The rest had been spent at Morrison's. As I was leaving him behind, I caught his muttered words: “That's too much“. Suddenly, the captain emerged from the mob, grinning.
Shakespear wasa wronga maan, I amma telling ya. Causa a lifa is lika thisa maketplaca. Buyinga anda sellinga. Ya bady, yair soual, yari though´t. Justa bairgaina. Betta beein´ da merchan´t dan da ware. I cana tell ya.
As we were making our passage through the crowd when hunched, black stature shouldered me aside. “Job tvoju ma_!” shrieked captain at him. “Give me your pardon, sir. I have done you wrong. Yet there are events drawing my attention.” thus spoke the creature and I couldn´t unnoticed that it was holding shiny scythe. My companion uttered: “Verdammt! Thinka da he standa abovea everyoana!
“The end is nigh” pronounced clearly the seaman. And before he said it, I had already known. Timid, faded doors standing in front of me couldn't hold the repulsive shiver. It was easy - to open that door.
There were these 12 men. All of them could be a lofty, in their classy jackets if they weren´t crawling on all fours and if they weren't harnessed up to the giant rod. And I observed, to my terror, that pigtails were sticking out of their trousers. And they were going in the circles and over each stood a woman cladded completely in green leather. They were whipping those men forcefully with twigs made out of gold so that the men were moving faster and faster after each whip. The rod began to turn, shrieking terribly and I realized that it propelled immense shaft which was disappearing in the chasm. Suddenly, I heard screams of utter horror coming from the underworld. Men and the rod and the shaft were giving the power to something beyond my imagination, to something which was breaking the poor beings under the surface.
Enough of these! Take me away! Captain? El capitan! He was gone. Now I knew for sure. That magnificent son of a bitch sold me! I was alone, standing at the edge. Being called. At once, the sweet music of lullaby came to my ear. And it was a principle, a deity in it which helped me to find my way. And then, there was the silence.
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