March 1st, 2008
Nahili
- The thing that ate
them scared their kids very much. The little girl couldn’t talk after
that.
I was out of touch with reality, but these words brought me back. I was
traveling from Turkmenbashi to Ashgabat in a taxi, and a soldier with a
leave pass, who was sitting next to me, was telling some scary story to
the driver and to the passenger on the front seat.
- Was that a hyena – asked the driver
- I’m telling you hyenas would leave some bones at least. That beast
left nothing of their bodies. First that car breaks in the middle of
that road; the father gets out to check it… Then he just disappears in
the night, so the mother tells kids not to open doors and windows and
gets out to check what happened with her husband. The kids saw that
something took their mother; one was too small to be aware of these
things, and the older one couldn’t talk after this.
- Maybe it was a big wolf – suggested the passenger.
- I don’t know, but normal animals couldn’t do that. Besides, there was
a cemetery close to that place.
The taxi fell silent,
people were thinking about the queer desert around us. Of course life is
either dark and filled with beasts, or light and is filled with friendly
animals. It’s all in the mind, and depends on the person. Further events
and conversations somehow clarified which side was dominating the
soldier’s mind.
- So, what’s your
story boy – the taxi driver was trying to clear the air, and addressed
the silent passenger on the back, which happened to be your most humble
servant.
- I flew to Turkmenbashi this morning to evaluate a job offer. But I
didn’t like the company’s attitude towards local workforce and turned it
down.
- How much they offered you?
- 400.
- And you didn’t take it?
- It isn’t worth it, and I’m going back. It was a hard day, meeting
everyone and seeing how they work, so I’m very tired now.
We changed taxi in Balkanabat. The
soldier asked to lend him some money till Ashgabat. I did.
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