Imitation [1]
Gabriele Wohmann [2]
Translated by xia23
I.
They entered the bar, and he guided her to an intimate corner table. His eyes were affectionate and rough, possessive. She breathed heavily, uncertainty and hope lay in her shining gaze.
- You are pretty sweet, said he softly.
She shook her head, laughed. He swore it to her, encircled her small finger with one hand, asking if she wanted to dance.
They danced, pressed each other together yet still too far apart from each other. Heavy, sweet numbness. The music, his beath, her perfume, eyes, hands, warmness. An intoxication.
He did not disappear. He brought her home in taxi. She lived alone. May I? Oh no. Only a cup of coffee. Please!
He was allowed. Affectionate, tall man, his exciting, wonderful love. Heart pounding, soft, soft, he came closer to her, a few tears, filled only in eyes, ran not down cheeks, her devotion, promised to the viewer in the heat of the eye contact, in the fusion of their lips.
II.
- Want to have another drink?
- Yes, it wouldn’t be too bad.
They entered the bar, and he fought his way, disgruntled through tables, found no good spot. She followed him.
He must seem unsympathetically in his gloomy face and the unhappy lips.
He ordered the cheapest drink, but still found it was too expensive.
- Nice film, said she.
- Well, that was a pretty trick, he grumbled. What do you want? It’s always kitsch.
Being offended, she sat, looked the dancing pair with disdainful melancholy.
- Dumm. Dance in that heat, she said sadly.
He looked up, fixed his gaze on a small charming woman, slender and wiry and half-naked in the arms of her partner.
- It depends, said he.
Severe, bitter disappointment. The music, his firmly fastened glance, that people were not loved, that people did not love. Heat. A weak, quiet, boring torment. It did not go away. They stumbled and disgruntled through the dark streets.
[1]. Imitation, p.14. Mitlesen – Mitteilen. 4th Ed. Rosmarie Thee Morewedge. Heinle Cengage Learning. Australia…United States. 2008
“Imitation” is from her short story Vor der Hochzeit: Erzälungen (Before the Wedding: Stories) (1980)
[2]. Gabriele Wohmann (5/21/1932-7/22/2015).
She wrote short stories, novels, radio plays and poetry.
Her stories depict and expose the artificiality, meanness, and pain of human encounters and relationships (p. 13. ibid.)
In wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriele_Wohmann
