5. Brother 2

- Ah, - she nodded and forgot the same moment. - Where did you come from?

- Can't you guess?

- No, I don't understand anything in neg ... I don’t understand some things.

- I'll explain to you a bit. There are only four countries like me: Kenya, Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia.

- Where are you from?

- Ethiopia.

"Wow! I'm talking to a real Ethiopian! " She thought.

They came to a cafe on the first floor of a small hotel. It was closed.
For a couple of minutes he stood on the porch, and then again confidently walked forward. Martha walked alongside.

- Where are we going?

He crossed the road and paused at the entrance to the hostel.

- One of my fellow countrymen lives here. Let's go in?

- No way.

- Why not?

- Because we did not agree so.

- We agree now...

- No, I only agreed to go to a cafe.

- But it's closed! .. Come in, we will be guests.

- Well, I'm not going to be a guest!

- Martha, you don’t have to say that. We will drink coffee or tea, talk a bit, listen to some music.

- No, we don’t!

He climbed one step.

- Why do we stand here and argue? It's not good.

- I said: only in a cafe.

- But the cafe is closed.

- It's good that it's closed. I didn't want to go to a cafe either. I wanted to go home and I'm going home.

- Martha! - he carefully looked down at her. - Without human will, - you know will, eh? - nothing happens.

But he just wasted his time and energy. She didn't even want to listen to anything. He partly understood the reasons. And slowly, by and by, she retreated further and further from the porch. He gave up and went after her with a displeased look.

- Where do you want to go now?

- Home. I need trolleybus 27.

- Yeah? Was it the plan from the start? - there was a reproach in his voice and eyes, as if she had deceived him in some way. But Martha did not feel any guilt in herself.

- Yes, of course. I told you right away: I walked a lot, I'm tired, I'm going home. Then I only agreed to go to a cafe.

- Uva! The cafe was closed!

- Well, if closed then closed!

- Well, okay, - Nitram agreed, as if something still depended on him. Martha was struck by his persistence. – What is your phone number?

And while he was writing down her number, Martha looked with curiosity at his face and especially for some reason at his lips - under the brush of his mustache beautifully and clearly outlined, they were not pink, not red, but purple. She couldn't take her eyes off them.

- When will we meet? Tomorrow?

- No, not tomorrow. I have a business.

- Good. On Tuesday.

- No, it's better on Wednesday.

- And on Tuesday?

- No, Wednesday.

- You see, I want faster, but you delay ... It means ... - but what it means, he did not explain. And he added: - I want human relations between us.

- What else they could be?

They got to a trolleybus stop.

- What will you drink? - and in response to her bewildered look he explained: - What wine? I have to buy some.

- Don't buy anything! I do not drink.

- Martha!

“It starts again. Well, what a stubborn guy!"

- I only drink champagne.

- Good. I'll look for champagne. I am expecting you on Wednesday, at six o'clock, where we met today. Just please don't be late. It's cold now.

- Ok, bye.

- Chao.

She waved her hand at him and got into the trolleybus, not sure that they would ever meet again.

At home, she did not say a word about him.

After changing clothes and eating she took a volume of the encyclopedia with the letter E from the shelf and went deep into reading.

Although the information about Ethiopia and its inhabitants was presented in dry scientific language, Martha was glad to learn at least something.

- Do you want to be very smart? - joked Sasha, who was sitting on a small stool near her chair, but Martha did not react - her thoughts were far away.

She remembered his funny round eyes, neatly trimmed mustache, but she could not remember his face, only individual details of his appearance: the sleeves of his jacket, rolled up so that the striped lining was visible, blue striped trousers tucked into light boots, a cap pulled down over his forehead.

"Like Don Juan," she thought... and those purple lips of his!
And then she felt she wanted to see it all again.

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from novel WANDERER/ Роман "Пришелец"