Читать книгу Fly Hunter: The Story of an Inquisitor онлайн

And so, amidst all these tragic events, when the world around him seemed hopeless and cruel, he found solace in his strange hunt.

A plump green fly crawled along the sun-warmed windowpane near the communal restroom at the end of the gallery, stopping occasionally to groom itself. Its bulging eyes closely monitored the strange bipeds, enemies like birds but unlike them, creating an environment for flies with their excrement, food scraps, and piles of garbage. The child remained still, his black, bulging eyes also fixed on the fly, mesmerizing it with an imploring gaze: "freeze, freeze, freeze, freeze"!

And the fly froze. Its front legs flicked, grooming its head, while its hind legs, alternating with the front ones, tended to its abdomen. Thousands of cholera and other dangerous epidemic microbes flew into the air.

Aman-Jalil breathed them in, but even the cholera microbes died as soon as they were sucked into the hump of his nose by the flow of air. Two fingers of the seven-year-old boy's left hand firmly gripped one end of a thick rubber band, while two fingers of his right hand stretched the rubber band across the other end, and his right eye aimed for the target. "In the head, only in the head, dark blood will splatter instantly, short convulsive leg movements, and it's all over … Or maybe in the belly?"

The restroom door clanged open, almost hitting Aman-Jalil. A young man emerged, already completely gray. Spotting Aman-Jalil wiping blood off the rubber band with his fingers, he cried out in despair, just as the fly buzzed:

– Hunting again, you scoundrel? Got nothing better to do?.. Go to the yard, play ball or 'frobbulate', you're learning to kill, let your hands wither…

The man tried to cuff Aman-Jalil, but he dodged and shot back:

– Bam!.. He's going mad…

– Wazir!.. What's gotten into the boy? – shouted the elderly, stout Aman-Jalil's grandmother from the communal kitchen. – He comes out of the toilet without washing his hands, spreading germs, bullying the little one. Mind your own business, everyone's poking their noses where they shouldn't, have your own kids, then deal with their "slaps"… All sorts of strays come here, making decisions…