groaned now and then – his head I suppose. He ate some breakfast, and then he
got out fast.’
Wallu smiled. ‘I think he’s afraid of you.’
‘Good!’ Masha said. ‘I hope he keeps on being afraid.’
She sat down while Wallu, hobbling around, served her a half loaf of bread, a
hunk of goat cheese, and an orange. Masha wondered if her husband also
remembered what she’d said to her mother about Benna and the jewel.
He had.
When she went to the bazaar, carrying the folding chair in which she put her
dental patients, she was immediately surrounded by hundreds of men and women.
All wanted to know about the jewel.
Masha thought, ‘The damn fool!’
Eevroen, it seemed, had procured free drinks with his tale. He’d staggered
around everywhere, the taverns, the bazaar, the farmers’ market, the waterfront,
and he’d spread the news. Apparently, he didn’t say anything about Masha’s
knocking him out. That tale would have earned him only derision, and he still
had enough manhood left not to reveal that.
At first, Masha was going to deny the story. But it seemed to her that most
people would think she was lying, and they would be sure that she had kept the
jewel. Her life would be miserable from then on. Or ended. There were plenty who
wouldn’t hesitate to drag her off to some secluded place and torture her until
she told where the jewel was.
So she described exactly what had happened, omitting how she had tried to brain
Eevroen. There was no sense in pushing him too hard. If he was humiliated
publicly, he might get desperate enough to try to beat her up.