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̒Here you are,̕ Vozabal was shaken from his memory by the voice of his wife, who had just come out of the kitchen. Her hair was loose and the apron was gone. This merry welcome did not belong to him however, he could only spectate now.

̒When you called me from the hospital this morning to send someone to pick you up, I thought somebody was playing a joke on me.̕ She stroked her son's brushy hair. She hugged him and broke into tears. ̒I almost buried you.̕

Roman squezed her. He did not cry, he was thinking about all the hardship this petite woman must have come through. After all, there was a moment when he himself did not know who he is. Due to his head hitting that stone, he suffered not only a concussion, but short term memory loss. Everything was alright now however. They let him out of the hospital, on his own responsibility, where his mother's brother had picked him up.

̒Well then, let me look at you,̕ said Olga, and without letting him go, she looked him over.

̒There's nothing to see. The lump is almost gone. And those few stitches they took out too.̕

̒That's good. If I could lay hands on that son of a bitch... How could he do this to you?̕ With tears in her eyes, she started to lay kisses in him.

Roman felt her wet love all over his face, which was kind of uncomfortable. ̒Mom, come on,̕ he stopped her. He pulled away.

̒Have you called Annie yet?̕ his mother asked.

̒We broke up. She's with.... Someone else.̕

̒I am sorry.̕

̒Don't be. It's not going to last long for them either.̕

Olga was looking at him, as if she were examining a painting.

̒You have so much hair.̕

̒Yeah,̕ he said and his gaze wandered to the kitchen. ̒I am also pretty hungry. They cooked only swill in the hospital.̕

̒Sorry, I'm so happy I almost forgot.̕

They moved to the kitchen and Vozabal watched his son sitting in the same chair that lieutenant Horak occupied only a couple of days ago.

̒I still don't get it,̕ Olga spoke, as she was putting schnitzels on his plate. ̒How could they mistake you for Pavel? It's no small thing to pronounce someone dead.̕ She turned to Roman and showed him a plate with two slices of meat and a mountain of potato salad.

̒I wanted to leave this for dinner, but why wait? Now's the time to celebrate. And since I know how you like it. Will this be enough?̕

̒It won't, but I can always get seconds, right?̕

̒You know it.̕ Olga put the food on the table and went to get her own.

̒It's simple. The year before last, me and Pavel had a wager that we would grow our hair, if Sparta didn't win the title. Well, they didn't. Then we went to get our ID pictures with all that hair. And then, after we had gone to get our hair cut, nobody could tell us apart from those pictures. When they found us, we didn't have our jackets. I had Pavel's and he had mine.̕

̒And why was that?̕ Olga faced round to look at him, licking the salad from her middle finger.

̒Proof of our friendship. It was stupid. It was supposed to hold together during that fight. We had our IDs in our breast pockets that they used to identify us with. God, those guys from Plzen really blew us apart. I didn't know what was going on. Terrible chaos. Pavel must have got isolated...̕ his voice broke.

Something about his son's story did not add up to Vozabal. He did not know exactly what, but he never heard any truth from Roman's lips. Just lies and excuses. This time it sounded false as well.

̒Don't describe it to me. When I imagine what all sorts of things could have happened to you. Pavel's poor parents. What must they be going through? And during Christmas as well. You had more luck than brains. Such a stupid thing! If that taxi driver had not found you on that field lane, you could have ended up like Pavel. Dear God, my heart is beating. I am telling you, starting right now, you will not leave this house, you understand? And don't look at me like that. I've made of my mind. If your dad was here...̕ she stopped herself.

She never wanted to utter this threat ever again.

̒Where is he anyway?̕ asked Roman.

̒Who?̕

̒Father. Did they find him?̕

̒I don't know and I don't want to talk about him. He ceased to exist in my mind. Since the time those policemen came for him, he disappeared like last year's snow. It's like he's sensed it, that good-for-nothing,̕ she said and thought for a while.

̒It was strange with those police guys. They ring, they beat at the door, shout their ‚Police, open up!' and when you open the door for them, they're gone.̕

̒Maybe they saw him jumping out the window and ran after him.̕

̒Maybe,̕ again she paused and so did Vozabal. How could Roman know that he escaped through the window? Was it deduction or did she tell him? Olga let that thought go out of her head and continued: ̒Let's talk about nicer things. There are so many terrible things in the world. Only tonight, right here at a tram station, some bastards jumped a tram driver and run over some poor guy farther up the street. He was completely dismantled. But enough! Let's enjoy your return among the living and let Martin burn in hell.̕

̒I think hell would have been more merciful to him,̕ Roman sneered and Vozabal shook with horror. What did he mean?

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