The stoker is jealous. He doesn’t want her to go with other men. He yells: “Doesn’t Rácz give you enough money?” He appeals to her femininity: “Doesn’t Rácz satisfy you?” Silvia can only laugh at that. She’s never had an orgasm with him. Not even the very first time. That’s something it doesn’t even occur to her to think about. After all, that’s not the aim of the exercise.
Silvia has to break off all her previous relationships. She has even had to give up her steady customers. Rácz keeps watch on her for days on end. Silvia is afraid of what he’ll say when Zdravko G. shows up. But fortunately Zdravko isn’t coming any more. Sometimes Silvia feels that all this will drive her mad. Again and again, she assures herself that she’ll get as much money out of Rácz as she can, and when she has enough, she’ll drop him. When she gets enough money, or when she finds the stoker too revolting to bear. Silvia knows that Rácz’s money is hard-earned. But she hasn’t had enough yet. Rácz pays well. Silvia’s lifestyle has been turned upside down. All that remains of her former life are morning rehearsals and night performances. The room she rents on the other side of town is empty most of the week. She spends her time with Rácz; she lets him have sex with her, listens to his speeches and angry outbursts. As a passive spectator, she takes part in his business deals.
Suddenly she can no longer bear it. She doesn’t go out anywhere. She spends entire days lying at home, staring at the ceiling. Or sitting by the window, watching children playing in the sandpit. Occasionally, Edita comes around to tell her what’s new. Zdravko G. showed up. He asked after Silvia. When he heard she was away on holiday, he took up with Wanda the Trucker and spent the whole weekend with her. There was a big raid two days ago. They picked up a lot of blokes. Apparently, the gypsies ratted on them. But Berki said that was all lies. Silvia only pretends to listen. When Edita begins to get too pushy, she gets up and locks the door so that the landlady won’t burst in. She meekly lets herself be undressed and put to bed. Her eyes closed, she submits to her friend’s caresses. After a while she comes to life. She changes position and repeats Edita’s pleasuring. It’s not too long before they both come together.
Sometimes Silvia lies in bed, wondering how to get away from Rácz. She knows that the stoker would never come and fetch her. She is not afraid that one day he might kick the door in, grab her by the arm and drag her back to his place in the Hotel Ambassador. Silvia is afraid of herself. She knows that she will never be able to resist money. Money is what she prizes most: it’s never let her down. That’s how it is and always has been, ever since as a schoolgirl she let older boys touch her for five crowns, so as to top up the modest pocket money her parents gave her. There wasn’t much to touch then, but the boys were excited just by the idea of being allowed to touch her. And today she has made it all the way here. Swan Lake isn’t going to happen. Rácz really doesn’t have to come looking for her. Rácz will calmly and coolly wait for her to come of her own accord. Rácz will wait with a smile.
* * *
One night Rácz wakes up on his bench. He can hear a quiet rustling. He lies for a while, listening, and then he gets up, grabs a poker and goes after the noise. Ever since he’s kept money and goods in his cubbyhole, he’s been careful. He’s had bars put in everywhere; Ďula found a welder. When he enters the dark corridor, two unknown fat men rush him. The fight doesn’t last long. The panting intruders stand no chance against the fast-moving, square-cut stoker who fights viciously and mercilessly in defence of his property. He punches both fat men to the ground. They are stretched out on the floor with their eyes closed. He ties them up tightly with telephone wire and with an enormous effort drags them to the boiler-room. There he gets a better look at them. He knows their faces: they’re gypsies from the mall. He slaps them harshly to bring them back to life. They stop pretending to be dead and look at him out of the corner of their eyes. The stoker begins with an interrogation. He menaces them with a white-hot poker. What were they looking for here?
One of the gypsies licks his lips. They’re good gypsies, they were coming back from the Ambassador bar and lost their way. They got lost.
Yes, they somehow got confused, the other gypsy joins in. Where are they anyway?
Rácz pulls the poker from the furnace and casually runs it over the gypsy’s leather jacket. The leather scorches and smokes.
“Ouch, what are you doing?” the gypsy shouts. A smell of burning fills the boiler-room.
“It won’t hurt the jacket,” says Rácz. “But it’ll hurt you.”
Yes, they came to steal, Berki admits. They’d heard that the stoker was hiding a lot of money, gold, jewellery, and other nice useful things. Berki had no idea what had got into them. But now that they’d confessed honestly, the stoker ought to let them go.
Who told them that Rácz had gold and foreign currency hidden away? Rácz is livid.
Unfortunately, they can’t answer that question. Nobody told them. Everyone says so, though. Everybody respects Rácz. They all consider him a rich and powerful man. They’re all for him. Berki can’t understand how they, the gypsies, could ever have done such a thing.
Šípoš, the other gypsy, says that the only thing he can say in his defence is that he has a swinish character.
Both gypsies start to swear that they’ll never steal again as long as they live. They’ll even give up hustling. They’ll both find work as soon as he lets them go and will start to live an honest life. Berki will even go to night school as well as work.
They fall silent under the threat of the poker. Rácz sadistically enjoys their fear. He is touchy about his property and the wealth that he has acquired with his brains and hands. He knows how to step up his activity and increase his wealth. The boiler-room is too small for him. He has to rise to the surface of the earth and penetrate the circles round the Hotel Ambassador. Stoking is now a hindrance to him. Rácz needs to find someone to do the work for him. By hook or by crook.
Both gypsies agree enthusiastically. What he says makes sense. When they find out that Rácz has chosen them to do his work, they panic. Šípoš has bad lungs and kidneys. He’s not allowed to lift heavy objects. Berki has problems with his head and spine. He often has fits. Especially when working.
Rácz screams at them. He lifts his poker. The gypsies fall silent. They agree. Why doesn’t kind sir let them go? They’ll say goodbye to their wives and children, pack their things and come back in no time at all. Rácz snorts menacingly. Do the gypsies take Rácz for a fool? Could he wait? No! No tearful scenes, goodbyes, etcetera! They’ll stay here from right now. They’ll get a quick training course, and off to work. If they break anything, or forget anything, Rácz will torture them to death with a red-hot iron. For them he will invent tortures that nobody has ever thought of. They’d better not play games with him, or they’ll take whole days to die. Their howls and groans of pain will be heard in the hotel!
The gypsies are afraid of pain. They’re quiet now.
Rácz knows that none of their clansmen will look for them. They won’t be missed by anyone. Everybody will think that they got homesick and took off eastwards, to see relatives in a gypsy camp, to guzzle wood alcohol and sit with their hats on at a table in the middle of a busy camp. Gypsies know all about that. Their clansmen in that camp won’t help them; they’d never guess that Berki and Šípoš were being held prisoner less than a hundred yards from the mall.