(no subject)

[yakov_a_jerkov]

Продолжаю цитировать отрывки из Боланьо к записи "Про бродячих собак".

The next morning I went in person to fetch the police chief at his house. On the sidewalk in front of my office, eight policemen gathered, joined by four of my men (one of my secretaries, my driver, and two clerks) and two farmers, volunteers who were there simply because they wanted to participate. I told them to act with dispatch and to return to my office to inform me of what had happened. The sun wasn't up yet when they left.
At five in the afternoon the police chief and my secretary returned. They looked tired. They said everything had gone according to plan. They had stopped at the old tannery and left town with two brigades of sweepers. They had walked ten miles. They had turned off the road and headed with weary steps toward the hollow. And there the deed had been done. Was there chaos? Did chaos reign? Did chaos prevail? I asked. A little, they answered sulkily, and I chose not to press them.
The next morning the same operation was repeated, with a few changes: rather than two volunteers we had five, and three policemen were replaced by three others who hadn'ttaken part in the previous day's labors. Among my men there were changes, too: I sent the other secretary and no clerks, although the driver remained part of the contingent.
Midway through the afternoon another two brigades of sweepers disappeared and that night I sent the secretary who hadn't been at the hollow and the fire chief to organize four new brigades.