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1、权宜之计英语美文权宜之计英语美文A Temporary SolutionOrly Castel-bloomDanny Brava was a rich, handsome man. His millions gavehim special class which demanded a high standard ofbehaviour, and prevented him from getting involved inconversations which didnt lead anywhere and which hecalled p r o m i l l e conversations
2、.The serious expression he wore on his face was theresult of calculation and self control, and without it hewould probably not have got where he was: an office in thenorth of the city with thirty two employees where he was:an office in the north of the city with thirty twoemployees where he was: an
3、office in the north of the citywith thirty two employees and sixty clients, twenty of themheavy and to the point.Even though he dealt with large sums of money hedidnt forget to be fair to his employees, and paid themhigh salaries. They, who were unable to pay him back inmoney, stayed overtime withou
4、t financial pensation, andthus they also found a way to thank him for the lunches hesubsidized at “Whos Who”, on condition they didntexceed twenty-five shekel a dish, which was enough fortehina, pickles, a decent sized fillet steak and a colddrink.Brava hated flattery. Anyone who dared to flatter hi
5、mopenly would be interrupted rudely with the question: Whatdo you want?Thus he forced his interlocutor to retreat to one oftwo corners: either to forgo any wish he might have hadimmediately and to withdraw into himself, or to say what hewanted immediately, short and to the point, without anyfrills.T
6、he friend, although he was already quite careful,sometimes tripped up and flattered him, in which case hewould choose the first alternative. He would keep quiet,let Brava feel the sharp, clear boundaries of hispersonality, and quickly change the subject. Only aftertalking of some marginal subject, n
7、ot connected to Bravaand his wealth, did he dare to speak of Dannys difficultyears from 1976 to 1981, how he had overe his difficultiesand learnt to turn them to his advantage, or else to askhim:“Tell me, Danny, how did it go with those tractor guystoday?”Sometimes it would work, and Danny would coo
8、perate withhim. But when the attempt at flattery was too blatantthings would get a little plicated. Danny would turn hiseyes away from the friend and say something like:“You stupid idiot, why dont you shut up and leave mealone?”Then the friend would shut up and rack his brains for adifferent subject
9、. But Danny for the most part didnt needto talk to anyone and certainly not to the friend, forDanny Brava, after all, had a firm personality of his own.Evenings like this would end with the friend goinglimply home after he and Danny had not exchanged a singleword, and after the friend had smoked hal
10、f a packet ofcigarettes and Danny not even one.In the early years the friend would suffer agoniesduring the long silences, but after the third year helearnt to find himself special thoughts for these silences.Thoughts, since actual actions were out of the question.When Danny turned his eyes away fro
11、m him, or stood up andwent about his business, he would learn by heart the placeof all the objects around him, so that next time he came tosee Danny he would be able to tell by the changes whatDanny had been doing in the meantime and who had been tovisit him. When this amusement paled, he would star
12、ewithout moving at a point on the white wall and try toforce himself to think pleasant thoughts, about lakes inSwitzerland, for instance, which he had never seen in hislife.With Brava too there had been developments over theyears, and he permitted himself to retire to other rooms,to hold long teleph
13、one conversations, to cook himself lightmeals, to pour himself a drink. The more Brava isolatedhimself, the more difficult it became for the friend toexercise his imagination, and he searched urgently for newviews, buildings, country landscapes. Always inanimate andalways in daylight. If he failed t
14、o find any such picturehe would simply count sheep, and sometimes he would ringthe changes and count cows, or amuse himself and countsnakes hiding in the rocks and waiting to pounce oninnocent bathers on the sea shore.At a certain stage in the evening, when Brava showedobvious signs of impatience, t
15、he friend would rise from hisseat and say:“Bye, Im going.”Danny would turn to look at him reflectively, and wavehis big hand in farewell.A moment before he reached the door he would shoutafter him good night, a salutation to which the friendnever responded. He liked leaving the luxurious apartmentwi
16、th a slam of the door.One Tuesday, exactly on the day when they showed theprogramme on television about what would happen to Tel Avivif an atom bomb was dropped on it, the friend came late.Brava sat opposite the colour screen, drank beer, watchedthe programme and sniggered. It amused him to see thep
17、laces long familiar to him being blown to smithereens. Theexplosion, said the usually smiling mentator, who waslooking serious in honour of the programme, had beensimulated by means of amazing and expensive technology,specially imported for the production of the programme fromJapan, where they had s
18、hown a similar programme about Tokyoa few months before.Danny felt safe. Perhaps because he knew that it wasall special effects, and perhaps because he was so oftenout of town. Five times a year to New York, four times toprofessional conferences in the capitals of Europe, andfour absolutely unavoida
19、ble times to Frankfurt, in order toinvest the money which he didnt want to leave in thebanks in Israel.The pathos in the voice of the mentator increase whenhe recited the figures of the damage to life and propertywhich the bomb was likely to cause. After this, theprogramme began to repeat itself bor
20、ingly, and Dannyswitched off the seat.With one big gulp he finished the beer and threw theempty can out of the window. The can traveled eight floorsand landed on the pavement. Sometimes Danny would throwthings from the balcony which even if they hit someone onthe head wouldnt have done any great har
21、m, certainly notfatal.The friend, if he had been there now, would have burstinto loud laughter, clapped his hands and run to hidebehind the big plants on the balcony to see if the can hadhit anyone, and to report back to Danny, looking at himwith a smile from his seat.Brava opened another can of bee
22、r, switched on thetelevision and watched the end of the programme. As soon asit was over the telephone rang.“Whats up?” said Danny, who was sure that it wasthe friend.“Danny?” he heard his sister Tirzas voice and wassorry he had answered the phone.She asked him if he had watched the programme. “No,”
23、he said, because he couldnt stand members of his familyknowing what he did. Especially not Tirza, who shot hermouth off to everyone after wards. She was divorced, and inpast he had rescued her from the legal tangle betweenherself and her husband. He had paid for her lawyer, andshe was grateful to hi
24、m. Ever since she had felt obliged tophone her younger brother every day, and try to amuse himwith all kinds of funny stories from her place of work. Atthe end of the conversation she would reveal an interest.Usually she wanted the male point of view on a new man shehad met. This time she asked him
25、about her ten year oldsons private tutor in arithmetic.“Tell me, is it true what I think?” she asked. “Thathes trying to start with me? He put his hand on myshoulder when he saw me to the door, and left in thereuntil the last minute. In other words, until I left. Howcan I be sure”Yes, he was definit
26、ely trying to e on to her, herbrother interrupted her, maybe he was even in love with her,who knows? He thought of how transparent and boring hissister was and he wanted to be rid of her. Tirza said hewas a real honey and put the phone down on the excuse ofnot wanting to stop him from watching the n
27、ews ontelevision.Danny stood on the cool balcony and wiped the sweatwhich had collected on his forehead away with his fingers.The lights of the meaningless city twinkled in thedistance The place where he had chosen to live was perfect,in spite of the noise of the aeroplanes which he had learntto liv
28、e with. The airport even soothed him. It reminded himof his trips abroad, which he had missed for the past sixmonths. A small civilian plane was about to take off for adestination inside the country. Brava looked at its shadow.The little plane took off, and on a momentary impulse Bravathrew the half
29、-full can of beer at it. The can did not hitthe plane. On the long way down the liquid parted from itsrespectable.The bus stop where the friend was supposed to get offwas deserted. Danny went downstairs and leaned against thebus-stop pole. In the distance a figure approached. Hedecided not to bawl t
30、he friend out. But it wasnt thefriend at all. It was only Shmulik, a parasite and a donkeywho lived at the expense of his parents, Dannysneighbours.“Hy, Danny,” said Shmulik.“Hy,” Danny grunted.Shmulik coughed and went on walking.“Have you got a cigarette?” Danny called after him.Shmulik offered him
31、 the white pack. After Danny pulleda cigarette from it Shmulik went on walking to hisparents place, to squeeze a few more pennies out of them.Brava smoked and remembered how once ha had e late to adate with the friend. It was in the winter of that year. Hehad a meeting with a good chance of half a m
32、illion clearprofit a year, and he didnt want to miss it. For sixhours he sat in his office opposite the customers, twofifty year old brothers with a coffee import pany, andnegotiated with them, while telling them witty jokes toreduce the tension.While he mixed them cocktails in his office anddescrib
33、ed what they were made of, he worked out that in thelight of what he had in front of him here it was no bigdeal if the friend waiter half an hour in the rain. Acalculation that proved to be quite right.When he got home the friend was wet. He was afraid towait for Danny in the stairwell in case the n
34、eghbours gotsuspicious and called the police.When he saw Danny his eyes expressed intense hatred. Hewas stinking too. And Brava felt a little disgusted by him.The two of them hurried up to the apartment because theycouldnt wait any longer. Nevertheless Danny asked thefriend to take a shower. He well
35、 remembered the slap hegave the friend when he came out of the shower wearing thebathrobe he had brought back from Singapore.“Youve got big eyes,” he said and slapped him inthe face.The friend took the robe off indifferently.The conscienceless Shmulik walked past Brava again.Brava ignored him, and S
36、hmulik too pretended not to knowBrava. After the quarter of an hour that he had allocatedhimself he went upstairs, took his car keys and drove athigh speed to Bat-Yam.“Hes not home,” said the friends mother.Brava pushed her gently aside and saw the friend lyingon the sofa, staring at the ceiling. He
37、 didnt shift hisgaze even when Danny approached him.“Are you ing?” asked Danny.The friends mother walked past them with a tub fullof wet washing.The friend smiled a forced smile.Danny sat down on an armchair and sulked.“Then give it to me,” he ordered angrily.After a short silence the friend stretch
38、ed out his handand took a little plastic bag secured with an elastic bandout of his pocket and threw it onto the table.Brava snatched the bag and left. Passersby lookedadmiringly at his magnificent racing car.At home he clumsily performed all the necessaryoperations and cursed the friend, who always
39、 did them whilehe himself looked on like a king and corrected him.His mood improved beyond recognition. He lay on thesofa and floated.After twenty minutes the friend knocked on the door.Brava, who was sunk in colourful hallucinations, didnthear the knocking. The friend was alarmed, because itourred
40、to him that Danny might have taken too much, and hewent on knocking harder than before. After ten minutes ofcontinuous knocking Danny realized that it wasnt apassing train going choo-choo. He got up and approached thedoor.“Whos there?” he asked.Outside the door the friend wondered whether toidentify
41、 himself or not. Brava asked again, whos there.The friend pressed the button for the lift. Brava movedslowly away from the door and lay down on the inviting sofaagain. The friend heard the heavily receding footsteps. SoDanny had managed by himself, he thought resentfully. Thelift arrived and continu
42、ed on its way without him.He knocked on the door again. Brava grunted a tiredwhos there without getting up.The friend called: “Open up!”Danny opened the door. The friend came in. Danny lay onthe sofa in silence. The friend didnt have the strengthfor these silences any longer and he tried to makeconv
43、ersation. He described something he had seen on the way.“Dont ask what an aident I saw on the way. A bus wasdriving down Herzl and turned right into Balfour. Onesecond after it turned into Balfour a woman crossed theroad. The bus didnt see the woman. I think she saw it butshe was too late to get out
44、 of the way. I heard her scream.It was terrible. I ran away. I cant stand the sight ofblood. I just cant stand it. I ran as fast as I could tostop a taxi. The screams of the people in the bus and allthat. It was ghastly, Im telling you,” he concluded andlooked at Danny.Danny lay on the sofa with his
45、 eyes closed and mutteredunintelligibly. On second thoughts the friend decided thathe was singing. He tried in vain to guess what song it was.He longed to stroke Dannys smooth cheek, but he didntdare approach him.In the end, on an impulse, he sat down beside him.There was no room on the sofa for the
46、m both, and Danny gotup and went to the kitchen. The friend wanted to take thetransistor radio standing on the sideboard and smash it onthe wall, but instead he followed Danny.As soon as he reached the kitchen Danny emerged from itwith his mouth full of food. The friend found himself inthe kitchen,
47、with Danny in the living room. After a momentin the kitchen the friend pulled his face and returned tothe living room too. Danny sniggered. The friend sat on thearmchair. Suddenly Danny got up and went to his room. Heleft the door half open on purpose. He sat on the edge ofthe bed and looked through
48、 the crack between the door andthe doorpost at the hesitant profile of the friend. When hesaw the friend stand up he laughed maliciously.The friend knocked lightly on the half-open door.“Whos there?” asked Danny.The friend cleared his throat.“Its me, darling, maybe you can give me a littlemoney befo
49、re I go?”“How much do you need?” called Danny from the otherside of the door.“Do I know?” said the friend. “A thousand fivehundred will be enough.”“Take it from my coat pocket,” said Danny, “countseven hundred and fifty and take it.”The friend lingered a moment and returned to the livingroom. He loo
50、ked at Dannys coat, which was lying on one ofthe armchairs, and took a neatly folded bundle of banknotesout of the pocket. He quickly counted five thousand and putthem in his pocket. On the way out his eyes encounteredthose of a Japanese woman standing stuck to the wall. Heripped her from the wall a
51、nd crumpled her up.Because what is reality, said Brava mockingly tohimself after he heard the door slam loudly behind thefriend. What is it, if not someone telling you something,and afterwards he says to you, listen, that was a lie, andcorrects himself, and a few minutes later he says again,listen, that was a lie too and corrects himself, andafterwards he says, sorry, that was a lie too. And so onendlessly until you dont know what to think any more.Either you go mad or you bee like me.
