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– It's a kind of ritual. Say in Russian: «Ты меня уважаешь?»[75]

– Ты… менья…

– Уважаешь?

– Ты менья увадьжаешь?

– Great![76]Я тебя уважаю.

– Я… тебья… увадьжаю…

– That means you are respecting me and I'm respecting you. We are respecting each other. Therefore we are drinking together. Let's drink![77]

– Cheers![78]

Максимус и Петер выпили ещё по стакану водки.

– I'm sure, you will not fuck your friend, whom you respect, Peter.[79]

– Never, I'll never do that, Maximus![80]

– So, please, tell me about pills.[81]

– What pills?[82]

– Those pills, Peter, pink pills in a carton box I brought you today, fucking pink pills.[83]

– Fucking pills?[84]

– Yes, fucking pills![85]

– Fucking pills?!![86]

– So, come on, tell to your friend about pills![87]

– Fucking pills! Fuck these pills! It's a fucking business![88]

– Oh, yeah! Drugs?..[89]

– What?..[90]

Петер даже слегка протрезвел, огляделся по сторонам и приложил палец к губам в интернациональном жесте конфиденциальности.

– No, Maximus. No drugs. Drugs are not our business. Our business is potatoes.[91]

– But why pills?![92]

– Pills are potatoes.[93]

– What do you mean?[94]

– Fucking potato pills. Our business. Have you seen the marking? PTH-PI. Positive Thinking – Potatoes Illusion. That is what our pills are. First you have to think positively. To be a happy consumer. Then you can dream of particular goods.[95]

Теперь уже Максимус смотрел ошарашенно, а голландец начал говорить увлечённо и громко:

– Can you believe that we are really growing these millions of tons of potatoes for feeding the entire world in our little country? Imagine how it could be possible?

Have you ever been in Holland? We have no space for farms. But we are great in chemistry.[96]

– You mean, we are swallowing these pills and hallucinating of potatoes?[97]

– Hallucinating, yes. But you don't have to swallow… it's a kind of complicated process… sometimes it is enough to smell… or here commercial… radio waves… pills are almighty. I'm not much in details. I'm just a salesman. Our engineers know better… you think of eating potatoes… and you even become fat because of this… then you buy another pill to lose your weight… and again… full circle… that is our business… and everyone is engaged in it in Europe.[98]

– Everyone?!![99]

– Yeah, some are selling illusion of cars, others are selling illusion of designer clothes, or beverages. You drink but become more thirsty. Everything is like this. We are producing ideas, thoughts, illusions. Ever since Marx and Freud. And now we can concentrate ideas in pills. For easier transportation and consumption.[100]

Голландец замолчал и уронил голову на стол. Максимус смотрел застывшим взглядом поверх голов пьющих и танцующих посетителей бара. Он всегда подозревал нечто подобное. И, тем не менее, услышанное от Петера наполнило его душу тоской и злобой.