CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
‘Why don’t you go to sleep?’
‘I haven’t yet learnt to sleep by your side.’
…
‘Shall we have you come one more time, gently?’
‘I’d rather stay where I am.’
‘Well, shall I pretend that I’m asleep, and you will…’
‘As a special agent!’
‘Or a maniac r****t… I would really like to hold back as long as possible, ‘cause as soon as you came today, I did too, I rushed…’
Did he and Lora really have conversations like that? Did they really talk this happy nonsense? Did they just. And the feverish whispering, with the apple breath flowing from mouth to mouth, and the pungent odour of their mutual love sweat were more real than this eyeless mummified separation. But even when Sidelnikov unexpectedly fathomed the horrible thing that would have been better not known by anyone, h
