took effect. Aman-Jalil looked at the sprawled bodies with satisfaction. The driver froze in horror.
– Did you poison them? – he asked Aman-Jalil in a hoarse voice.
– Nonsense, I swear by my father! Can't you hear the widow snoring?
– I see! – the driver sighed calmly.
– I see that you fancy her too; take her, take her to another room, do whatever you want with her for half an hour, then dress her as she was, and come to me with the camera…
The driver carried the widow to the neighboring room. Aman-Jalil slowly undressed Gulshan and violently assaulted her unfeeling body, then quickly undressed Sardar Ali, placed him next to the widow's daughter, and smeared blood on him: "Now say you didn't harm the little girl." Sardar Kareem groaned in his sleep. "Moan, moan; you'll cry in the morning." Aman-Jalil froze, staring greedily at Gulshan's exposed beauty. "Take her to the city?.. No, it's dangerous; she might say something wrong and ruin everything, they'll remove Sardar Ali, then I'll try." But his eyes avidly caressed the exposed, disgraced body of the underage girl.
The driver entered the room holding the dressed widow.
Aman-Jalil hissed quietly:
– Fool, I told you to bring the camera, not the widow. Leave her in the neighboring room quietly and quickly come back with the camera; mine's getting cold, and the nights aren't warm, you understand.
The driver hurried. Gently placing the widow in the adjacent room, he dashed to the car for the camera. When he returned, Aman-Jalil hissed at him again:
– Fool, how will you take pictures in the dark? Are you a troublemaker?
The driver looked at the three burning candles in the antique candlestick and realized there was indeed little light. Attaching a flash to the camera was a matter of minutes…
Aman-Jalil posed in various positions, every trick he had learned in his life, with Gulshan's and Sardar Ali's naked, motionless bodies, while the obedient driver carefully photographed them. He had been obedient since childhood, and obedient people, as he had learned, lived well. He was ordered to carry out any task by this youth; he did so. He was told to keep an eye on him in both eyes; he did.
The driver finished the roll, but Aman-Jalil made him load a second cassette.
– Keep shooting, don't be lazy. What if the first roll is spoiled, we'll ruin everything; there are dangerous Sicilian men and troublemakers abroad, only dreaming of harming our mountainous state.
The driver obediently loaded and clicked the second cassette. His eyes lit up at Gulshan; he moved towards her, but Aman-Jalil sent him to the widow.
– Don't get attached! The widow is a person too, deserving of tenderness; how she treats us, listen.
The driver, glancing angrily, which was not visible in the darkness, obediently went to the widow, while Aman-Jalil blew out the candles and for an hour warmed Gulshan's chilled body.
– What beauty, – Aman-Jalil rejoiced, – does this pathetic vilayat deserve such a beauty? I won't leave here!
Sensing it was time to leave, he kissed her soft lips once more, hungrily and for a long time, and suddenly felt a reciprocal kiss. Aman-Jalil, holding his breath, dressed in the dark and, quietly whistling to the driver, left the house for the courtyard. The large southern stars winked playfully at him; at first, the moon was not visible, but then it crawled out of the clouds, illuminating the path to the car. Dressing on the go, the driver rushed out of the house, then dove back in to emerge with the camera and flash in hand, silently hiding everything in the car, avoiding looking at Aman-Jalil, angry with him, and sitting behind the wheel, almost silently leaving the village.
"I realized in the dark that it was him. Only his thin but hot lips could have been, only he could have bitten as if he wanted to suck out his soul. He sucked it out, damn it; it hurts in the lower abdomen, I'll never know the very first feeling of intimacy. What will happen next, I don't know, maybe nothing, maybe a new life, not only for me but also for me. Poisoned, damned, "tea from the country of Ind," from the country of devas, faster… What will I tell my mother?… But nothing, swearing won't fix anything, there's no Gulshan and there never will be… But he'll be back! His eyes are so firmly attached that he won't be able to live far from me for long… So I won't tell my mother anything, I'll wait, what else is left, not to hang myself, not to be the first, not to be the last, if my father was alive, but without a protector… Yes, and where did Sardar Kareem go?… Ah… he also drank this damned tea, lying somewhere without memory… I need to sleep. In the morning, I'll decide: how to be, it wouldn't hurt to consult with my mother, but… Sleep!.. Sleep… "
"When I woke up, I lay for a long time and couldn't understand: where am I?… I thought I was sleeping and dreaming. Children, when they dream that they are already awake, wet the bed. But I'm not a boy anymore, the head of the family… I told my wife yesterday that I would be with guests, so she wouldn't wait, she always worries when I'm late… So what happened in the evening?… We drank tea… yes, tea, and then immediately sleep… Ahmed! His work: he sent a boy to me so that I wouldn't suspect anything. The boy will go far, what a scoundrel, oh, what a scoundrel… Then I immediately realized that something very terrible had happened. I struggled to sit up, so sleepy, my head was heavy, like a kettle of water, and saw Gulshan naked, naked, even though she was covered with a blanket… And when I saw blood on myself, I immediately understood whose blood it was and who was to blame… Poor girl. May Allah see, I didn't want this, but because of me, they ruined your life. Ahmed stumbled, if he uses such dirty tricks. Does he really think he can break me with this?.. Today I will go to the capital, to the palace, to the emir's palace."
Ahmed admired the presented "evidence."
– Look at these pictures, no, just look at them, – he suggested to Aman-Jalil, as if to an outsider. – Titian, Renoir… Listen, did you forge them?
– What do you mean, boss?
– They take a picture of a hooker with a pimp, then paste the faces of the ones they need onto them, and shoot a second exposure?
– I haven't dealt with that yet, boss, sorry, I'm young, I'll learn, but the photos are fresh and real, like those peaches you received, like those grenades, figs, and grapes…
– I believe you've paid honestly.
– Don't worry, chief, everything's by the book officially, but of course, a gift from your admirers, more so from admirers of your talent, from those who follow your path and are happy that it's you leading them.
– Did you get anything for yourself?
– Just a little: a small crate of peaches, an even smaller crate of grapes, a very tiny crate of grenades, and figs, it's embarrassing to say, a tiny one, the driver took a bit too, because of his broad shoulders, hardly noticeable…
Well, you couldn’t say the car wasn't seen. But Ahmed already knew everything anyway. They brought him information about all his supporters who held important positions, too… And now his assistant came in and laid out a summary of reports in front of Ahmed. Ahmed glanced over it briefly, making marks as he went, and suddenly went pale.
