THE FORTY-SECOND
When it became clear that evening that Martin wasn’t coming over, Monika actually breathed easier. This had been her first peek inside the Vrána family and even now, after her bath, after a little wine (which she’d actually bought for Martin), even with a little wine in her head and her gaze fixed on the lit windows of the buildings far across the way, she was still agitated. This was a feeling not entirely unlike that which once took hold of her after some scumbag had tried to r**e her in the park. He threw himself on her from the rear, and with his horrid arms and his horrid words overcame her at first. Up until then, Monika had never known that she could scream so loudly. That scream, which must have been heard all the way on the other side of town, saved her. And when
