Chapter V
BuţăTurning to close the gate behind him, Gelu noticed that from its shadow broke away another form, darker and more compact. He recognized, from his slothful gait, Buţă.
“What are you trying to do? Ambush me?”
“No, I was just waiting. Passing by. I saw the light at the window and thought you might be here. Walk?”
“If you like…”
He would have liked to be left alone with his dream, to hold on to the perfume of the room he had left behind. Buţă’s grotesque shape, his wooden indifference, thwarted these subtle joys.
“I’ve got money,” he said after a few moment’s silence. And then, as a way of explanation, yet sombre and without enthusiasm:
“It was a good deal.” “What deal?” inquired Gelu. “Just a deal.”
How Buţă wheedled his money, his friends never found out. He had a numbe
