Heaven Tree

Solska Forest, by T. Dziubinski, all rights reserved.

.

BRANCHES

by Teju Cole

Dramatis Personae:

Marushka: a woman
Aleksander: her husband
The Countess: her friend
Ilya Ilyich: neighbor and friend of the Countess
Yelena Adreyevna: new friend of the Countess
Anya: Aleksander’s sister
Leonid: Anya’s husband

SCENE ONE

[On a car of the N-Train.]

Aleksander: Where’s my pen?

Marushka: Have you looked in the side pocket?

Aleksander: Didn’t you put it in the main
compartment?

Marushka: Did you give it to me? Are you sure you gave
it to me?

Aleksander: I already looked there.

Marushka: I don’t think you gave it to me.

Aleksander: You say that only because I can’t find
it. Wait. Aha, here it is.

Marushka: But aren’t you terrible, Sasha? Didn’t
you say you looked in there?

Aleksander: And you said, “I don’t think you gave
it to me.”

Marushka: How will we get there?

Aleksander: I don’t know. Didn’t you just talk to
the Countess?

Marushka: No, I couldn’t reach her. I was speaking
with Ilya Ilyich. And he doesn’t know how to get
there either.

Aleksander: Well, you decide our route.

Marushka: We can get off at 42nd street.

Aleksander: Why not 49th? That’s closer.

Marushka: The N goes east before it reaches 49th.

Aleksander: Doesn’t it go north until the park? I
think it only goes east at 59th. Look at the map.

Marushka: I will.

Aleksander: When?

Marushka: I will.

[Aleksander goes to look at the map, and comes back.]

Aleksander: We go to 49th, that’s on 6th Avenue.
It’s a short walk.

[They disembark.]

Marushka: It’s one of these doors.

Aleksander: You’ve been here before? These doors all
look the same.

Marushka: With the Countess.

Countess: Darlings! You made it. [kisses them both]
This is the van. Aleksander, I have books for you.

Aleksander: Thank you, Countess. But I fear my brain
is full already.

Countess: Nonsense. Take these. This one is not even
published yet! Ah, here comes Yelena Adreyevna. Have
you met her? Yelena!

Yelena: Countess! [They kiss each other. Yelena
Andreyevna shakes hands with Marushka and Alexander.]

Marushka: Did everyone eat already?

Countess: Put your bags in at the back. Ilya Ilyich is
late.

Marushka: He will be late.

Countess: Not will be. He is.

Marushka: I mean, I spoke to him. He is at the bridge.
He will be here in twenty minutes.

Countess: A groundhog has taken residence in the
garden. You will see. We have plenty of fresh
vegetables though. And a trap has been set. Where is
Ilya Ilyich?

Yelena: Is that him?

Aleksander: You mean that big-breasted black woman in
the yellow tanktop?

Yelena: [laughs] I guess that can’t be him.

Countess: And already it’s getting dark. He’s the
one who said we had to leave early. Everyone arrives,
and there’s no sign of him. Yelena Andreyevna, can
you navigate?

Marushka: That’s him now, I think.

Aleksander: It’s him for sure.

Countess: And now he’s stopping to talk to someone.

Ilya: Hello everyone. Are we all here?

Yelena: Can I say a prayer before we leave? Yes? Oh
Divine Protective Spirit of the Universe, be with us,
guide us in this journey and on these days of travel.

Countess: Ilya Ilyich, you’re late!

Ilya: You said eight.

Countess: I said between seven and eight. It’s eight
twenty.

Ilya: What’s the big deal? I was delayed on the
bridge. Let’s get going.

Countess: The deal is that you can’t apologize for
keeping everyone waiting.

Ilya: Well I’m sorry for being twenty fucking
minutes late.

Yelena: [singing] Om shanti. Om shanti, shanti om.

Ilya: What are you doing? What are you doing? Conflict
is natural.

[Aleksander and Marushka laugh]

Aleksander: It’s alright Countess. It’s going to
be such a beautiful weekend.

Marushka: I love it when all the lights come on in the
city, but the sky isn’t completely dark yet.

Ilya: Hey, wasn’t the radio on? What happened to the
80s?

Yelena: Mommy’s upset.

Countess: I’m not mommy. And I’m not upset.

Yelena: A right here. In half a mile, there’s
another right. No. A left. Who has a pen?

Marushka: Sascha has one. Where’s your pen dear?

Aleksander: It’s in the bag. It’s out of reach.

[Fade out. End of Scene One.]

SCENE TWO

Countess: Yesterday, I was talking to a friend, and he
said, “Never do an act of violence to anyone because
the person you hurt might be the only one who can help
you in the future.” [pause] Did anyone bring
breakfast for tomorrow morning?

All: No! [all laugh]

Aleksander: Did you finish eating dear?

Marushka: Yes.

Aleksander: What did you eat?

Marushka: A weggie burger?

Aleksander: A weggie burger?

Ilya: Do you need something?

Aleksander: No. But my wife can no longer tell when I
am making fun of her. My life is over, Ilya Ilyich.

Yelena: Two more miles to Plains Road.

Countess: Is it a left here?

Yelena: Not here. In a mile and a half. This is—what
does that sign say?—Houses Corner.

Ilya: Mouses Corner?

Countess: Spouses Corner?

Aleksander: I know the one. It’s where the rural
folk drop off their spouses.

Ilya: They are hiding in their cars, behind the
bushes, as we speak. Waiting to see who gets dropped
off.

Aleksander: Wife-swapping.

Ilya: I want to go to a country pub. But they
wouldn’t know what to do with me.

Aleksander: Don’t be so sure of that. Some of these
country boys are the most closeted of all. Maybe
you’re exactly what they’re looking for.

Countess: I thought this was Plains Road.

Marushka: What a storm! This better not keep up.

Yelena: Faster.

Countess: In this weather? No, I’m going as fast as
is safe, don’t give me driving instructions.

Yelena: I said, make the windshield wiper go faster.

Countess: Oh, sorry. Where’s the button. Yes, now I
see the road better. I remember this area. Ilya Ilyich
must remember it too: there’s a Vietnam Memorial.

Aleksander: Because he’s Vietnamese? That’s goofy.
Ilya Ilyich, are you Vietnamese or Cambodian?

Ilya: Vietnamese.

Countess: It’s so heavy. I’m frightened. I think
I’ll close my eyes for a while.

All: No! [laughter]

Countess: Seriously, I think we’re lost. Do we turn
around here or keep going?

Ilya: I think we turn around. We must have passed
Plains Road.

Aleksander: I think we turn around.

Yelena: The rain has stopped.

Marushka: How strange. It looks like it didn’t even
rain here. It stopped so suddenly.

Countess: Yelena Andreyevna, will you ask that
policeman how to get to Plains Road?

[Yelena goes, and returns.]

Yelena: He said we keep going, less than a mile, and
then a left turn, past the signs for the State Fair.

Countess: Thank you. This road is so dry. As if the
rain—but didn’t you say that already, Marushka?
It’s true.

Ilya: That’s the house up ahead, just past these
trees.

Marushka: It’s so desolate, and so pink!

Countess: This is the house. Aleksander, the books.
Don’t forget to take the books.

Marushka: Countess, thank you for getting us here
safely. There are no other houses for miles around.

Aleksander: A perfect setting for a murder mystery.

Ilya: You’ll be the old professor.

Aleksander: Yes, with his very young wife. And you’ll
be the butler. Everyone knows the butler did it. But
there’ll be no murder until Leonid and Anya arrive.

Ilya: That’s if they’re not waylaid at Spouses
Corner.

Countess: Come in, everyone. Let’s figure out who goes
in which room.

Marushka: Very young what? Don’t talk nonsense dear,
I’m older than you.

Aleksander: Ah, not in the version I’m going to
write. Where’s my pen?

[Fade Out. End of Scene Two.]

SCENE THREE

[The breakfast room in the country house.]

Marushka: Oh my.

Ilya: It’s like an apparition.

Marushka: They’ve come so close to the house.

Aleksander: Who’s come close to the house?

Marushka: Cows. An entire herd of them. I didn’t
know you were awake, Sascha.

Aleksander: I wasn’t. Until I heard the clatter from
downstairs.

Countess: That solves our milk problem, don’t you
think. I just need some volunteers.

Aleksander: Er, no thanks. I think I’ll stick to the
powdered stuff.

Marushka: There’s omelettes with fresh picked herbs,
there’s coffee, and there’s wine. That’s it.
I’m going to the garden.

Aleksander: It’ll do. White wine for breakfast.
There must be a revolution coming.

Yelena: [announcing] For a long time, my father was
the chief physician to the Prime Minister of India.

[Pause, and quizzical expressions from everyone.]

Countess: Which one?

Yelena: Indira Gandhi. He was with her two hours
before she was shot. We were under suspicion for a
long time.

Ilya: Did your family stay in touch with the other
Gandhis?

Yelena: On and off. Rajiv didn’t really like my
father. Anyway, my father died a while ago, and my
mother has no interest in that life or in those
contacts. But you know what? I’m interested in
dictators.

Ilya: What do you mean?

Yelena: I’d like to marry one. For a long time, I
was interested only in rock-stars. Now it’s
dictators. I want to be close to that kind of power.

Aleksander: Is that an improvement?

Ilya: I don’t know. I don’t know. Yelena
Andreyevna, is that an improvement?

Marushka: Everyone, smell this!

[All crowd together.]

All: Hmm!

Aleksander: That’s heavenly.

Countess: Thyme?

Ilya: Rosemary!

Countess: It could be used in a perfume.

Aleksander: Estee Lauder, the fragrance for city
slickers.

Marushka: Sascha, we might have to move into that
garden. Set up camp in it and never leave.

Countess: My brother and I—

Aleksander: I didn’t know you had a brother.

Countess: Oh, yes. He lives in Gdansk still.

Aleksander: What’s his name?

Countess: Marek. A very common name in Poland. Marek
and I had a garden like this one, and we also grew
herbs. This smell makes me think of him.

Marushka: How close in age where you?

Countess: He’s older by two years. But since I came
here seventeen years ago, we haven’t been in contact
much.

Marushka: Was there an argument?

Countess: Nothing like that. Just distance. You fade
away. You still love each other. But Marek’s in
Gdansk, I’m in New York. What is there to say?

Yelena: So, for lunch—

Ilya: But we just had breakfast!

Yelena: Planning is vital. I want to buy some
vegetables, some mozarella to go with the basil, and
some okra, orzo to go into the soup with the string
beans from the garden.

Marushka: That sounds good. I’ll help.

Countess: We’ll go shopping.

Aleksander: I see a listing for an antiques shop. Can
we stop in there on our way to the market?

All: Antiques, yes!

Yelena: Is that a knock at the door?

Countess: Someone is here.

Ilya: Who?

Marushka: It’s them. At last.

Aleksander: Anya! Leonid!

Anya: Brother!

Leonid: What a saga.

Marushka: What happened?

Leonid: The taxi.

Ilya: You took a taxi?

Anya: He gave up, and dropped us two miles away.

Ilya: All the way from the city?

Leonid: We’ve been wandering.

Anya: Like babes in the wood.

Aleksander: Oh no! What a mess. But first, you must
meet everyone. The Countess, of course, you know. This
is Ilya Ilyich.

Ilya: Charmed.

Aleksander: And this is Yelena Adreyevna, a friend to
the Countesss.

Anya: Nice to meet you all. Thank you for letting us
join the party.

Countess: Seven of us. That is the perfect number.

Aleksander: For a murder mystery, yes.

Leonid: What?

Aleksander: Everyone has a motive?

Anya: What?

Marushka: Don’t mind him. He’s being a goof.

Aleksander: Won’t seem so goofy when the body is
discovered.

Ilya: So you took a cab all the way from the city?

Anya: Oh no, not all the way. That would have cost a
fortune. We took it to Newton. Then got a cab from
there to here. Or almost to here

Leonid: We’ve been on the road since six this
morning.

Aleksander: Poor things!

Leonid: We got funny looks from the locals.

Aleksander: Not surprising. A Nigerian woman and a
Danish man wandering the country roads. Even I would
have called the cops.

Marushka: But what happened to your phones? We tried
calling.

Anya: One wasn’t charged, the other had patchy
reception.

Aleksander: You’re here. That’s the important
thing. We are about to head out to the market and the
antiques shop. Do you want to rest, or will you come
with us?

Leonid: Well, we are here. No point staying cooped up.

Anya: We’ll come.

Yelena: So lets go.

Countess: Yes let’s go.

Ilya (to Aleksander): They are a beautiful pair,
aren’t they? Both so tall, one perfectly black, the
other perfectly white. Like two rare flowers.

Aleksander: Leonid, Anya, I’ll sit with you at the
back. Are you hungry?

Leonid: Yes, but we’ll just have water for now. We
can manage.

Marushka: Careful as you walk out here, the path is
strewn with cow dung.

Ilya: That’s a song. Isn’t that a song? The path
is strewn with cow dung.

[Fade out. End of Scene Three.]

SCENE FOUR

[An antiques shop in the country]

Aleksander: It sounds rude, but this implement is a
hoe.

Marushka: Not a spade?

Aleksander: I know hoes, and this is a big one.

Marushka: How much is it?

Aleksander: I don’t know. Let’s see. Twenty five
dollars. It’s funny that for most of my life, that
word hoe was so innocent. Now I can’t say it with a
straight face.

Ilya: Oh look at this.

Marushka: What are those?

Ilya: Brass candle sticks.

Aleksander: This place is magical. Where’s Anya?

Anya: [dancing] Sascha, the music is perfect for this
shop too. Old time jazz.

Leonid: I think they charge extra for entertainment,
Anya. Careful they don’t see you dancing.

Marushka: These old magazines are frightful.

Aleksander: What is that? He’s in blackface?

Ilya: I don’t think we’ll be buying that one.

Aleksander: Who buys this racist crap anyway? But
these hanging lanterns. Now these are something
special.

Marushka: Let’s get those.

Aleksander: Can we afford them?

Marushka: Can we live without them?

Yelena: [aside] Aleksander, I just spoke to the
Countess. I need to tell you something.

Aleksander: Yes?

Yelena: There’s a bus at 5.30. I’m going back to
the city.

Aleksander: What? Is everything alright?

Yelena: Yes. Everything is peachy. But I must leave
right away. The Countess will drop me off, or I’ll
call a taxi.

Aleksander: OK.

[Yelena goes outside.]

Marushka: What was all that?

Aleksander: Yelena Adreyevna says she must return to
the city. She didn’t give a reason.

Marushka: And you didn’t ask for one.

Aleksander: Of course I didn’t ask for one. What is
it to me? She’s very sudden, isn’t she?

Marushka: A little cuckoo, if you ask me.

Leonid: What’s going on?

Aleksander: No one knows.

Anya: [looking out] She’s still out there, with the
Countess.

Aleksander: Where’s she going? We just got here.

[The Countess comes in.]

Countess: Are we done shopping?

Leonid: We have to pay for these.

Aleksander: And we have to get these lanterns wrapped
up.

Countess: Yelena Andreyevna is staying. We have to go
to the market now. Pay quickly. We need vegetables and
wine.

Marushka: It’s all very strange.

Aleksander: No, dear. It’s not strange at all.
It’s all part of the murder mystery.

Leonid: What murder mystery?

Aleksander: Ah, don’t play innocent with me, Leonid!
You have motive, and you have means.

Marushka: Cuckoo.

[Fade Out. End of Scene Four.]

SCENE FIVE

[That night. At the dining table.]

Countess: Are we ready?

All: Yes.

Marushka: Just a little more wine in the sangria.

Ilya: The roasted corn smells amazing. What was that
you said yesterday, Countess? Something about not
leaving the present for the future?

Countess: Something like that, Ilya. But I forget now.

Leonid: This other wine is only for drinking. Not for
sangria.

Ilya: Is the grill off?

Aleksander: I switched it off.

Anya: A proper feast. My eyes are popping out of my
head. Thank you all so much.

Yelena: Before we start, I just want to say something.
Two minutes of your time, please.

Countess: Sure.

Yelena: I know things were awkward this afternoon. I
wanted to explain a little about what happened. Just
two minutes of your time, please.

[pause]

Yelena: Ever since I came to America, I have had
strong allergies to all kinds of processed foods. This
is not usually a problem. I cook my own food, and I
make sure that I am ready in all situations. When I
was coming here, the Countess told me that there would
be food from the garden, that there would be spices in
the kitchen, and that we would be able to go shopping
for additional food. This was not the case. Understand
what I mean. This was not completely the case. I
needed to go shopping for food, and I said so. I was
hungry. We spent a lot of time waiting for Leonid and
Anya to arrive. Fine. By the time we were in the
antiques shop, I had lost the plot. My blood sugar was
low. The antique shop was not the issue, but I hate to
be in that situation.

Aleksander: You might have told someone. You didn’t
say anything.

Yelena: I hate to impose. I hate to impose on people.
I like to take care of myself.

Ilya: [aside, to Aleksander] She imposes by not
imposing.

Yelena: I am glad I stayed. Sorry to have
inconvenienced all of you. But since this afternoon, I
notice that people have been making allowances, trying
to include me, or trying to make me feel better.

Marushka: [aside, to Aleksander] I hate to say it, but
I know this kind of upper-class Indian woman. It’s
attention-seeking behavior, that’s all it is.

Countess: Who has been making allowances? No one has
done this.

Yelena: I don’t want to be the focus of attention.
That is all. I hope you understand. Thank you for your
time. If you don’t mind, we can eat now.

Countess: Thank you, Yelena Andreyevna. Thank you for
explaining. No apologies necessary. We are all friends
here.

Ilya: Hear, hear.

Aleksander: We are happy you stayed. That’s all.

Leonid: To friendship.

All: [raising their glasses] To friendship.

Aleksander: The wine is going to my knees. Where is
Marushka?

Marushka: Here, here. I just went to get something
upstairs.

Aleksander: Note the time please, people. Marushka was
absent from the general company for four minutes
between 10.15 and 10.19. What was she doing during
those minutes?

Marushka: I propose we make Sascha the victim.

Aleksander: You’d be the first suspect. Your eager
hands want to take hold of the inheritance.

Countess: I don’t understand this talk of murder.
Can we just enjoy our dinner, and not talk about
people killing people?

Anya: More wine.

Ilya: More wine.

Leonid: No one is driving home tonight. This is home.

Aleksander: Exactly. Feel free to get sloshed.

Countess: I couldn’t eat another bite.

Anya: It’s the freshness of everything. It makes you
eat more.

Yelena: Shall we light the candles?

Countess: Yes, let’s light the candles. Good idea.

Leonid: Anya and I are going up to sleep. We had a
very early start to our day.

Aleksander: There are fourteen candles in all. As you
two leave, I’ll snuff out four, one for each of your
closing eyes.

Yelena: I’m going to stay up a bit and read.

Marushka: As will I.

Ilya: Not me. I’m joining the early-to-bed brigade.
Good night all.

Aleksander: I’m putting out your candles, Ilya
Ilyich. Thank you for being head-chef. Sleep well.

Marushka: Good night Ilya.

Countess: We must go for a long walk in the woods
tomorrow morning. Aleksander, will you join me on the
porch? Let us finish the rest of this bottle and watch
the fireflies.

Aleksander: With pleasure, Countess.

[Fade out. End of Scene Five.]

SCENE SIX

[The following morning, at the edge of the woods.]

Marushka: Your eye forgets what distance is like.

Leonid: We are always ringed by buildings.

Marushka: This kind of open space; it’s a surprise.
You lose balance a bit. You feel like falling forward.

Leonid: Here comes Anya.

Anya: The others are almost ready. Sascha has a little
hangover.

Aleksander: I have a little hangover. My god, what a
day.

Leonid: The cows look unimpressed.

Ilya: Are we ready?

Countess: I think we’re ready.

Ilya: Do we have a plan?

Anya: What of Yelena Andreyevna?

Countess: She wants to stay in and read. She will
protect the house for us.

Marushka: Let’s go.

Ilya: Do we have a plan?

Aleksander: The plan is not to get lost.

Anya: Marushka is dressed the part. That hat is
fantastic.

Ilya: Straight into that stand of trees, alongside the
stream.

Countess: There’s a waterfall further on. Maybe we
will find it.

Anya: Past the cows, along the stream. Got it. Let’s
go.

Aleksander: The branches are so thick. Does anyone
know where the closest hospital is?

[They head into the woods.]

Anya: The woods are always exciting. I miss this part
of my life. Look at this tree.

Leonid: That doesn’t even look possible. The load
bearing on that curved trunk is incredible.

Anya: I think it grew like that to avoid some
obstacle. It bent out of the way, and then grew
straight up.

Leonid: They took us out into the woods often, every
summer in Copenhagen. It was a chore. I had to learn
to like it again.

Marushka: But you, Anya, not as much?

Anya: Nigerians in general, no. Certainly not my
brother. But I have always had an interest in nature.
I started a nature club at my school. And afterwards,
in South Africa, I somehow got into birdwatching, so I
spent many weekends camping.

Leonid: Those three are walking fast. They’re out of
sight already.

Marushka: You were a twitcher?

Anya: I hate that word! I had the boots, the
binoculars, the hats. I knew the names of birds. I
knew the names of trees. But, sadly, I’ve now
forgotten everything.

Marushka: And your brother, he just stayed indoors?

Anya: You know how he is.

Leonid: We are so lucky with this sun today.

Marushka: There was a storm on Friday, on our way
here. Did it rain in the city?

Anya: No.

Aleksander: Being here reminds me of Kurosawa. Who
knows that scene from Rashomon? The woodcutter in the
woods.

Marushka: There you are. You guys were racing ahead. I
can’t see Ilya Ilyich or the Countess.

Aleksander: But I just dropped back to say hello.
I’m off again to join them.

[He leaves.]

Anya: You two are a real inspiration. You really
understand each other.

Marushka: Is that true? I suppose it’s a little
true. But don’t let him hear you. It’ll go to his
head.

Anya: Oh God.

Leonid: What?

Anya: Do you see it?

Leonid: No.

Anya: There.

Leonid: Wait, yes!

Marushka: What?

Leonid: There. Behind those branches.

Marushka: Which branches? Oh, yes.

[They are silent.]

Marushka: It can see us too.

Anya: Is it coming closer?

Marushka: It’s moving.

Leonid: I think it’s coming closer.

[They are silent.]

Marushka: Oh, it’s gone. So beautiful.

Anya: Strange, being close to something wild.

Leonid: And he just vanished.

Anya: Say, don’t they carry lyme disease?

Leonid: They do. Our friends came back from a visit to
the country, and they both had lyme disease.

Anya: Ticks.

Marushka: Ticks?

Leonid: Ticks.

Anya: Good thing we’re all doused in bug-off.

Marushka: Can you still see the stream?

Anya: No. Where are you going Leonid?

Leonid: Come and look from here. I can hear it and see
it.

Anya: But no sign of the waterfall.

Leonid: I think Ilya Ilyich, Aleksander and the
Countess are not going to turn around. They’ll take
the track around to Plains Road, and come back to the
house that way.

Marushka: We’d better follow them then.

Leonid: It might be longer.

Anya: The trees have thinned out. We’d better follow
them.

Leonid: So, no waterfall. We are back among the farms.
And again on these roads. The neighbors will surely
place a call to immigration this time.

Marushka: What must people be thinking as they drive
by?

Anya: The Countess and Leonid will be fine. It’s the
rest of us that have to worry.

Leonid: Look, that entire herd is looking at us.

Anya: Oh my. It’s true.

Marushka: They are so large. And so white, like
elephants.

Leonid: Moo.

All three: Mooooo.

Anya: God only knows what they are thinking.

All three: Mooooo.

Marushka: They are still watching, standing perfectly
still, but rotating their heads slowly, like
periscopes.

Leonid: I’m sure I’ll have interesting dreams
tonight.

Marushka: I wish we had come back through the woods. I
don’t like walking out on the road like this.

Anya: We are almost there.

Marushka: I forgot to tell you: the groundhog opened
up our trashbags from last night. There’s a mess to
clean up.

Leonid: Who’s that on the porch?

Anya: It’s the Countess. She’s waving. Hello
there, Countess! We saw a deer! And the spookiest herd
of cows!

Marushka: Sascha, what happened?

Aleksander: Yelena Andreyevna is gone. She left a
note.

Leonid: What a strange person!

Countess: I don’t know anyone like this. She left a
note that said, “took a cab.”

Leonid: Just like that?

Countess: Just like that. The house was empty when we
arrived. “Took a cab.”

Aleksander: So, she’s gone? She’s gone. Who wants
lunch? There’s mozarella and bread. There’s
weggies.

Ilya: I found more zucchini in the garden. And basil.

Countess: I don’t know anyone, in all my years, like
this.

Marushka: Why is this your problem? It’s not your
problem. It’s hers.

Leonid: I’ll man the grill.

Anya: I’ll help. Who knows what’s been happening
out there in the wider world?

Leonid: You think something has happened while we’ve
been away?

Aleksander: The last time I was this isolated from
civilization, I returned to find that the Princess of
Wales had been dead two days. Maybe this time, too,
someone has died.

Anya: Or maybe someone has been born.

Marushka: We’ll find out in a few hours. Look at the
sky. It’s almost too much, isn’t it?

Aleksander: It’s like the picture on a carton of
organic milk. Rolling hills, blue sky. It’s almost
ridiculous, wouldn’t you agree?

Leonid: When I look at a landscape like this, all I
see is how much work it took to tame it.

Ilya: Aleksander, take this knife. Help me with the
zucchini.

Marushka: The sky is filling my head up.

Aleksander: At last, the murder weapon.

[The End.]

© 2007 Teju Cole