The black Dacia sped to my side, squeezing closer and closer, trapping me.
My sister jumped out of the car, and Paddle Hands drove off.
Cici’s face burned plum. Her lipstick was smeared. “Pui, let me explain.”
“There’s nothing to explain. You became an informer, a traitor, for perfume and tampons.”
“No, you don’t understand. They were poisoning Bunu. They were serving him irradiated coffee! I had to help him. They promised me medicine and a passport if I would cooperate.”
“Cooperate how?”
“They were badgering Mama for information on the Americans, but she wouldn’t give them anything. They came to me, said if I seduced Van Dorn, they would treat Bunu. But Van Dorn wouldn’t have me. He immediately knew what I was up to. The Secu pressured me. They suggested you might have better luck getting information from the son.”
I stood on the sidewalk, staring at my sister.
“So you framed me. You put the American dollar in my stamp album so they could blackmail me.”
“No, I mean, not exactly. You didn’t let me finish. I felt so guilty, Pui. The day you came home and I was crying, it wasn’t because of an exam at the factory; it was because I knew that the Secu had gotten to you. Bunu was so sick. I knew how much he meant to you, and I—”
“Bunu’s DEAD! He’s gone, but we’re still enslaved to the Secu. And you know what? Bunu knew exactly what you were doing.”
Cici took a step back.
“Yes, Bunu tried to tell me. He knew, Cici, and you know what he said? That it was so painful. That we had a rat in our very own apartment. You got us into this and now Bunu’s dead anyway. Did your agent boyfriend kill him? Or was it the agent who lives in our building? Are you seeing him too?”
And then the realization hit me.
“You asked Alex out. You informed on his family, told them that his father brings bones home from work. It was you. Everything, it’s all been you. You killed Bunu. You killed my relationship with Liliana.”
“No. Please,” she whispered.
“You’ve killed all my plans. You’ve killed—me.”
I turned.
And left her on the sidewalk.
|| OFFICIAL REPORT ||
TOP SECRET
[20 Dec. 1989]
Ministry of the Interior Department of State Security Directorate III, Service 330
Meeting with source FRITZI was compromised this morning by the appearance of her brother, OSCAR. As previously reported, OSCAR is now a liability and must be dealt with. Circulate name and photo immediately.
63
?AIZECE ?I TREI
I made excuses and stayed at Luca’s. Anything to avoid Cici.
During the day, I walked around the city, trying to calm myself. The snow was melting in the warmer temperatures and now resembled lumps of sooty porridge along the roadside. I passed hobbling old people with knees full of rheumatism and faces corroded by fear, people who should have been resting, not prowling for rations. I joined a line for potatoes and got an onion the size of an olive instead.
Betrayal. It’s undigestible. It instantly changes the frequency of things. Every Romanian carried a world inside them, and mine had quickly gone from dark to black.
I took the long route home. Young people loitered, filling the pavement in front of the apartment blocks. Luca’s head towered over a group that had gathered. He spotted me and ran my way.
“Where have you been? I’ve been looking for you,” he whispered.
“Why?”
“Ceau?escu’s back from Iran. He’s going to speak in the square. A group of university students will be there. C’mon, let’s go.”
By the time we arrived at Palace Square, a sea of thousands had gathered. The Aplaudacii were stacked rows deep below the balcony of the Central Committee Building where our leader would appear. Some hoisted red signs declaring long live Ceau?escu and other phrases extolling the glory of communism. The warmer weather had inspired a massive crowd.
“Forget it,” I told Luca. “It’s just another rally of applauding men.”
Communist adulation rallies were commonplace in Romania. Over the years, we had all been dragged from school or work to hold signs and salute the leader. On our own, we weren’t allowed to gather in a group of five, but Ceau?escu could demand fifty thousand gather for him.
The mayor of Bucharest began his introduction over the sound system.
“Our much beloved and esteemed leader of the Party, the eminent patriot . . . has given us prosperity and provided full independence of socialist Romania . . .”