The Stranger - Max Frei [114]
“You don’t know?” I asked, flabbergasted. For some reason I assumed this person was bound to know the answer to my every question.
“That’s not what matters just now,” he interrupted me. “But tell me—do you like it here?”
“Do I? It’s my favorite dream! When I stopped dreaming it I thought I’d lose my mind.”
“I understand. And do you like it there, where you live?”
I shrugged. Around that time problems had been piling up at home. No major difficulties—they were all in the past by then—but dull, trivial, everyday problems. I was the proud owner of a mediocre, uneventful life, and delusions of grandeur about what I actually deserved.
“You are a nocturnal creature,” my conversation partner observed. “And not without eccentricities, am I right? Where you live, it’s a problem when you can’t sleep at night, I suppose.”
“A problem! You’re not kidding!”
Before I knew it, I was unburdening my heart to this sympathetic old man. And when all is said and done, why be ashamed of it? It was only a dream, as I had been frankly informed seven years before.
He listened to me rather indifferently; but he didn’t laugh at me, either, for which I am grateful to this day.
“Well then,” he began, after I had gone quiet. “That’s all quite sad, but I have an excellent proposal for you: an interesting, well-paid job here in this city, which you have already come to love. Moreover, you’ll work only at night—just like you’ve always wanted.”
I didn’t have to think twice. It still hadn’t sunk in that a decision I made there, in my dream, could have any real consequences. But I wanted him to fill me in on the details, purely out of curiosity.
“Okay, let’s say you’ve already won me over. But why do you need me? Do you mean to say that there are no other night owls in this entire city?”
“Of course there are plenty of those,” he said with a grin. “By the way, my name is Juffin. Sir Juffin Hully, at your service. Don’t trouble yourself, I already know your name is Max. And your last name is immaterial to me. You’d be surprised, but I know quite a bit about you already. In particular, I know that you have a certain rare talent that is relevant to the organization I head. It’s just that it hasn’t revealed itself to you yet.”
“What kind of talent might that be? Not a criminal streak, by any chance?” I snickered foolishly.
“You see, you’ve guessed it already! Fine work!”
“Are you serious? What are you, some sort of a Mafia boss?”
“I don’t know what a Mafia is, but I can assure you, what I am is much worse.”
“A Mafia boss is the head of a criminal organization,” I explained. “A big-shot bandit. And what are you?”
“I, on the contrary, am head of the Minor Secret Investigative Force of the city of Echo. Another version of a ‘big-shot bandit,’ you might say, but in the service of the law. By the way, my department concerns itself only with magic crimes.”
“Tragic crimes?” I asked incredulously, fearing I hadn’t heard correctly.
“No. You heard right. Magic crimes. There’s no need to wince. I’m not playing a joke on you. I’m quite serious. But never mind about that for now. If we are able to work together, you’ll get answers to all your questions, and even answers to questions you didn’t know you had.”
“Well, I guess you could say we’re already working together.”
“Really? Well, that’s good. I thought it might be hard to persuade you. I even thought of making a speech.”
“Why don’t you tell me what my job will be, since we’re working together?”
“Nocturnal Representative of the Head of the Minor Secret Investigative Force. You see the Force is usually getting some shuteye at night. So you, Max, will be the Nocturnal Head.”
“Not a bad career for a migrant worker.”
“You’re right about that. Tell me, if I really were this ‘Mafia’ boss, would you nevertheless have agreed to work with me?”
“Oh yes,” I replied honestly. “I don’t know the ins and outs of life here. So for me there’s no real difference between those who commit crimes and those