Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer Read Free Book Online Page A

yeah, I heard they were big fucking assholes.” Big fucking assholes. I wrote this on my brain.
    In truth, I was flabbergasted that the hero did not have any legal hearings and tribulations with the border guards. They have an unsavory habit for taking things without asking from people on the train. Father went to Prague once, as part of his toiling for Heritage Touring, and while he reposed the guards removed many premium things from his bag, which is terrible because he does not have many premium things. (It is so queer to think of someone injuring Father. I more usually think of the roles as unmovable.) I have also been informed stories of travelers who must present currency to the guards in order to receive their documents in return. For Americans it can be either best or worst. It is best if the guard is in love with America and wants to overawe the American by being a premium guard. This kind of guard thinks that he will encounter the American again one day in America, and that the American will offer to take him to a Chicago Bulls game, and buy him blue jeans and white bread and delicate toilet paper. This guard dreams of speaking English without an accent and obtaining a wife with an unmalleable bosom. This guard will confess that he does not love where he lives.
    The other kind of guard is also in love with America, but he will hate the American for being an American. This is worst. This guard knows he will never go to America, and knows that he will never meet the American again. He will steal from the American, and terror the American, only to teach that he can. This is the only occasion in his life to have his Ukraine be more than America, and to have himself be more than the American. Father told me this, and I am certain that he is certain that it is faithful.
    When we arrived at the car, Grandfather was loitering with patience as Father ordered him to. He was very patient. He was snoring. He was snoring with such volume that the hero and I could hear him even though the windows were elevated, and it sounded as if the car was operating. “This is our driver,” I said. “He is an expert at driving.” I observed distress in the smile of our hero. This was the second time. It had been four minutes. “Is he OK?” he asked. “What?” I said. “I do not make to understand. Speak more slower, please.” I may have appeared noncom-petent to the hero. “Is . . . the . . . dri . . . ver . . . heal . . . thy?” “With cer-tainty,” I said. “But I must tell you, I am very familiar with this driver. He is my grandfather.” At this moment, Sammy Davis, Junior, Junior made herself evident, because she jumped up from the back seat and barked in volumes. “Oh Jesus Christ!” the hero said with terror, and he moved distant from the car. “Do not be distressed,” I informed him as Sammy Davis, Junior, Junior punched her head against the window. “That is only the driver’s Seeing Eye bitch.” I pointed to the shirt that she was donning, but she had masticated the major of it, so that it only said: officious bitch. “She is deranged,” I said, “but so so playful.”
    “Grandfather,” I said, moving his arm to arouse him. “Grandfather, he is here.” Grandfather rotated his head from this to that. “He is always reposing,” I told the hero, hoping that might make him less distressed.
    “That must come to hands,” the hero said. “What?” I asked. “I said that must come to hands.” “What does it mean come to hands?” “To be useful. You know, to be helpful. What about that dog, though?” I use this American idiom very often now. I told a girl at a famous nightclub, “My eyes come to hands when I observe your peerless bosom.” I could perceive that she perceived that I was a premium person. Later we became very carnal, and she smelled her knees, and also my knees.
    I was able to move Grandfather from his repose. If you want to know how, I fastened his nose with my fingers so that he could