The Prague Orgy by Philip Roth Read Free Book Online Page A

manners? What kind of country permits such a breach of etiquette toward a lady in the lobby of a grand hotel? ”
    “ Madame, I will have to ask you to remain here while I report you for failing to show your identity card. ”
    “ Do that. And I will report you for your breach of etiquette toward a lady in the lobby of a grand hotel in a civilized European country. We will see which of us they put in jail. You will see which of us will go to a slave-labor camp. ”
    1 whisper, “ Give him the card. ”
    “ Go! ” she screams at the clerk. “ Call the police, please. A man who failed to remove his hat to a lady in the elevator of the Jalta Hotel is now serving ten years in a uranium mine. A doorman who neglected to bow farewell to a lady at the Hotel Esplanade is now in solitary confinement without even toilet facilities. For what you have done you will never again see your wife or your old mother. Your children will grow up ashamed of their father ’ s name. Go. Go! I want my husband-to-be to see what we do in this country to people without manners. I want him to see that we do not smile here upon rudeness to a Czech woman! Call the authorities—this minute! In the meantime, we are going to have our breakfast. Come, my dear one. my darling. ”
    Taking my arm, she starts away, but not before the clerk says, “ There is a message, sir, ” and slips me an envelope. The note is handwritten on hotel stationery.
    Dear Mr. Zuckerman,
    I am a Czech student with a deep interest in American writing. I have written a study of your fiction about which I would like to talk to you. “ The Luxury of Self-Analysis As h Relates to American Economic Conditions. ” I will meet with you here at the hotel anytime, if you wil l be willing to receive me. Please leave word at the desk.
    Yours most respectfully, Oldrich Hrob e k
    The guests already taking breakfast watch over the rims of their coffee cups while Olga vigorously declines to sit at the corner table to which we have been shown by the headwaiter. She points to a table beside the glass doors to the lobby. In English the headwaiter explains to me that this table is reserved.
    “ For breakfast? ” she replies. “ That is a fucking lie. ”
    We are seated at the table by the lobby doors. I say, “ What now, Olga? Tel! me what ’ s coming next. ”
    “ Please don ’ t ask me about these things. They are just stupidities. I want eggs, please. Poached eggs. Nothing in life is as pure as a poached egg. If I don ’ t eat I will faint, ”
    “ Tell me what was wrong with the first table. ”
    “ Bugged. Probably this table they bug too; probably all are bugged. Fuck it, I am too weak. Fuck the whole thing. Fuck it all. Teach me another one. I need this morning one that is really good. ”
    “ Where have you been all night? ”
    “ You would not have me so I found some people who would, Call the waiter, please, or I will faint. I am going to faint. I am feeling sick. I am going to the loo to be sick. ”
    I follow after her as she runs from the table, but when I reach the dining-room door, my way is blocked by a young man with a tiny chin beard; he is in a toggled loden coat and carrying a heavy briefcase. “ Please, ” he says, his face only inches from mine—a face taut with panic and dreadful concern— ” ! have tried to reach you just now in your room. I am O l drich Hrobek. You have received my note? ”
    “ Only this minute. ” I say, watching Olga rush through the lobby to the ladies ’ room.
    “ You must leave Prague as soon as possible. You must not stay here. If you do not leave immediately, the authorities will harm you. ”
    “ Me? How do you know this? ”‘
    “ Because they are building a case. I ’ m at Charles University. They questioned my professor, they questioned me. ”
    “ But I just got here. What case? ”
    ‘ They told me you were on an espionage mission and to stay away from you. They said they wilt put you in jail for what you are