Waltz for K. - читать онлайн бесплатно полную версию книги . Страница 3
She was buried at Saint‑Genevieve-des‑Bois. There, where so many endlessly strange Russian fates have ended. There, too, visiting her grave, I once met a former Soviet engineer, now a voluntary Paris clochard. And the nicest possible life-loving clochard he was. I gave him a lift back into Paris, and when we were already sitting in a cafe, just about to part, he suddenly said to me: “They say those who could fly, once they get to the West they simply lose the ability.”
He was a merry soul, and his smile, hanging in the dimly-lit cafe, reminded me of the Cheshire cat—one of ours.
Koktebel: Traditional gathering place, on the Eastern shore of the Crimea, for Russian literati interested in occultism and the ideas of Rudolf Steiner. To some extent the tradition is still alive today. —Translator’s note
In the Soviet Union people are required to eat fish on Thursdays. —Translator’s note