“The world is round,” the old man had said, and that had somehow put an end to the conversation.
Natan heard a distant shuffling behind him. He turned and saw a horse descending from the house with a person attached. It was Daniel, who was trying with some difficulty to drag a huge horse as black as pitch. It took him several minutes to reach the enclosure. The big black horse kept shying and stopping and rushing forwards and breathing through his nose like a train. Digging in his heels, pulling on the rope and slapping the horse’s neck, Daniel tried as best he could to restrain and orientate him.
When he came level with Natan, he told him, panting, to open the enclosure. Natan jumped down from the fence, ran to the opening, lifted the stakes and moved them aside, while Daniel tried to keep the black horse still.
“Go,” Natan said when he had finished opening the enclosure.
Daniel glanced at it a couple of times as if measuring the opening, then in a single movement turned on his heels, ran a few steps, dragging the horse behind him, and threw him inside, untying the rope as he did so.
“Close it,” he said immediately.
Natan rushed to close the enclosure as quickly as he could.
When he had finished, he turned and went to stand beside his brother. The black horse was bucking and kicking inside the enclosure, but gradually calming down. Daniel was leaning on the fence with his head down. His chest rose and fell rapidly as it used to do when they were children and they stopped after a long run.
“What now?” Natan asked, watching the splendid black horse as he gradually calmed down.
Daniel looked up at his brother. The moon and the stars seemed to be reflected in the sweat running down his face. “Do you think they heard us?” he asked, breathing just a little more slowly.
“Let’s hope not,” Natan said.
“Yes, let’s hope not,” Daniel replied, raising his eyes towards the black horse. “Beautiful, isn’t he?”
Natan nodded. “Very,” he said. “Are we stealing him?”
Daniel shot him a glance and smiled. “No, we’re not stealing him.”
“Pity,” Natan said. “He’s a beautiful animal.”
Daniel walked around his brother and carried on to where their horses were. He untied First Deal from the fence and led her back to the entrance of the enclosure. Natan laughed and went to open it.
“If the German finds out, he’ll smash your head in,” Natan said as his brother let the mare into the enclosure.
“Just imagine if we’d stolen him,” Daniel said, happily. Natan gave another little laugh.
Natan and Daniel stood for a while leaning on the fence, looking into the enclosure, where the two horses slowly approached each other, blowing steam from their nostrils.
Natan put his hand in his pocket, took out the tobacco and started rolling another cigarette.
“Where did you get it?”
Natan looked up for a moment, as if not sure what Daniel was referring to. “In the city,” he said.
For a few seconds, Daniel watched his brother fiddling with the tobacco and the little piece of paper as if he’d been doing it all his life. “Will you make me one, too?” he asked.
Natan looked up and lifted an eyebrow, as if to make sure that Daniel was really talking about a cigarette. “Sure,” he said.
For a couple of minutes they watched the two horses slowly approach each other in the enclosure. From time to time their cigarettes would go out and have to be relit.
“It may be best to move the others away from the fence,” Daniel said.
They took the bay and the chestnut and tied them to a tree some twenty or thirty metres further on. They loosened the saddle girths, gave the horses’ necks a couple of slaps and went and lay down on the grass, each with one hand behind his head and the cigarette smoke drifting up towards the stars.
Daniel had never liked smoking, or at any rate had never had any great interest in it. But tonight was different. Tonight it was as if the city Natan had talked so much about was in the smoke that passed through his mouth and into his lungs.
It was as if all his brother’s stories about the mixture of people and smells and sounds and colours had condensed into that thick tasty air that pounded his lungs and made his head feel light. This must be what being in the city was like: feeling dirty but happy. Over the years, whenever Daniel wanted to think about his brother, he would simply light a cigarette.
“It’s good,” Daniel said at last, lifting the cigarette slightly towards his brother.
“Yes, it’s not bad,” Natan said.
Daniel turned for a moment to look towards the enclosure, then stretched out again with one hand behind his head. “Have you ever done it?” he asked.
“What?”
“That.”
Natan turned his head towards his brother, and saw that he was pointing behind them. He leant on his elbow and looked back. In the enclosure, First Deal seemed crushed by the huge black stallion, who was making great thrusts with his hind quarters. Natan gave a half-laugh and lay down again. “Sure,” he said.
“Really?”
“Of course. There are loads of girls in the city. Loads of whores, too.”
Daniel took a last drag on his cigarette, threw it far away and put his other hand behind his head.
“Why, haven’t you?”
“No.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
Natan thought about it for a few seconds. “You should,” he said.
“Right. And who with? There are no whores here.”
“The pharmacist’s daughter.”
“The pharmacist’s daughter? What the hell are you talking about? You think she’s a whore?”
“Of course not. But I’ve seen the way she looks at you, like the other day when you went to get that stuff for old Pancia.”
Daniel thought about it for a moment. “What do you mean, the way she looks at me?”
“You know, the way she looks at you.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really.”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely.”
Daniel thought about it for another moment. “She’s pretty, the pharmacist’s daughter.”
Natan glanced at his brother and for a moment thought he saw him smile. He nodded. “Very pretty.”
They fell silent again for a few minutes, each thinking his own thoughts.
“And how is it?” Daniel asked.
Natan turned his head slightly, trying to understand what Daniel was referring to. “Warm,” he said.
For another half-hour they lay on the grass in silence. Then Daniel raised himself on his elbow and looked to see what was happening in the enclosure. “Let’s go,” he said.
Natan turned and glanced back, too, then sat up, cracked his spine, and finally got to his feet. If it had been up to him, he would have stayed there till morning. They walked back to the enclosure.
“Take a rope and tie the mare,” Daniel said. “I’ll try and get the stallion.”
First Deal let herself be taken almost at once. The stallion, though, tried to get away a few times, but in the end, with a bit of skill, Daniel managed to grab hold of him.
They repeated the previous operation in reverse: Natan opened the gate of the enclosure and Daniel led the stallion back up. In the meantime, Natan got the other horses and took them back towards the house, where he waited for his brother to return.
As he waited, Natan thought of rolling himself another cigarette. He had barely had time to put the tobacco in the paper when he heard a man shouting from somewhere behind the house. He turned abruptly and saw his brother emerge from behind the wall, running as fast as he could.