"THE SHADOWLESS" "Sweep the floor!" "Step over." "You're looking a little shaggy again, Nuri Bey." "Just give my moustache a trim." "Leave the rest." "Leave off!" "Don't expect any money from me!" "It's full of skeletons out there." "What's his problem?" "Step over, sir." "Just take off the beard." "His problem?" "What do you think?" "Everyone has the same problem." "They want to be here and faraway both at the same time." "Where is that faraway place?" "It must be a blessing." "A blessing..." "I'm going to get some tea, Mum." " Selam aleykum." " Aleykum selam." "Selam aleykum." " Tea?" " Tea." "And water please." "Who is this new arrival?" "Break it up now!" "Come on!" "Who are you?" "Where have you come from and where are you going?" "I'm a barber." "That's my profession." " He's a barber." " A barber?" "A barber..." "A barber." "Our barber in the village here, Nuri..." "Jingle Nuri..." "He disappeared years ago." "Have you heard the name before?" "I used to know a Nuri." "A small man, rather shaggy." "He'd talk about skeletons and weird stuff like that." "He'd come to my barber's shop every now and then." "A small man..." "A small man." " Where's the shop?" " Far away." "And where's that faraway place?" "Various rumours have done the rounds since Nuri disappeared." "Some say he went to the Middle East." "I told the gendarmerie." "But the mighty state couldn't make sense of it either." "His wife has worn herself out asking every passing stranger about Nuri." "His wife..." "Has worn herself out." "Yes." "Your plans?" "Will you stay around here?" "The village has been barberless since Nuri left." "His shop is just as he left it." "If we talked to his wife, maybe for a small rent..." "To his wife?" "We'll talk to her." "Shall we?" "Talk to his wife?" " Are you the barber who knows Nuri?" " I used to know a Nuri." " But I don't know if it's your Nuri." " How can you not know?" "Describe him!" "Why don't we show him the stop first?" "It's a bit dusty but ignore that." "We'll have it spotless in no time." "We can put up a curtain there and throw in a bed." "Then you can sleep here if you want." "Until Nuri's back of course." "The point being the stop isn't empty, that it serves a purpose." "When Nuri gets back you'll have to leave." "When Nuri gets back." "When he gets back." "How long has it been, Kadriye?" "And if he does come back, will he still be the same Nuri?" "I've asked everyone every stranger to the village if they've seen him or know of him." "But the peddler said he'd seen him in Istanbul." "We haven't has peddlers here in years!" "You're making it up, Kadriye." "No, I'm not, Mukhtar." "Cennet's son spoke to him." "Cennet's son?" "Our Cennet's son?" "Cennet's son is a hopeless romantic." "He gets those dreams mixed up with reality." "Güvercin Abla!" "Will you be staying?" "We're out of shaving blades." "We're out of blades." "Run and get five packets." " OK, boss." " Come back!" " Make sure you get Permasharps." " OK." "Did you draw that?" "Yes, I did." "You ask me the same thing every time." "No, really?" "Have I asked you before?" "Yes." "Last time." " About the dove?" " About the dove." "Güvercin's gone." "She's disappeared." " Güvercin?" " Güvercin." "Wait." "I'll be right there." "The village has been barberless all the years since Jingle Nuri left." "If you go too, we'll be barberless again." "I'll be here for a while yet." "You need an apprentice." "Take one on." "Train him up." "I can't be bothered with that." "Anyway, there are no customers here." "He's has a long journey." "He's a bit worn out." "What's up?" "Güvercin's gone." "Disappeared." "Ramazan, you stay here." " There's no trace ofher." " Everything leaves a trace." "A trace..." "For sure." "Her trousseau?" " Is her trousseau still there?" " Yes." "Well, was she sweet on anyone?" "Or was anyone sweet on her?" "How would you know?" "Have you asked her mother?" "Yes." "She doesn'tknow." "She doesn't know." "Find her, Mukhtar!" "Have you heard what's happened?" "Yes, I have." "Güvercin's disappeared." "How did you hear so fast?" "Come and sit down a moment." "Now have a think." "Who in this village could make off with a girl?" "Our forefathers used to talk about a bear making off with a bride." "Could it be that a bear made off with Güvercin?" "Come again?" "A bear." "Could it be that a bear made off with Güvercin?" "But there aren't any bears in the hills around here." "Well who?" "Who was it then?" "Have you thought?" "Yes." "Who?" "Cennet's son." "Cennet's son?" "Cennet's son." "Now off you go and see what Cennet's son is up to." "Haven't you given the boy his medicine?" "Yes." "Buthe's being cranky." "It's not working." "It's not working for some reason." "As if that were a mystery!" "The reason's obvious." "Go and check up on the boy." "The whole village has to listen to him." " You, the belle of the village..." " Don't do." " And me the best-looking man." " Husband." " The bravest." " Don't start all that again." "Who'd have ever thought we'd produce a freak?" "Good night to you." " You too." " Good night, Baki Abi." "I can't sleep, Hodja Efendi." " I'm losing my mind." " Talk to me." "You'll feel better." "Nuri..." " I keep dreaming about Nuri." " You still haven't forgotten him?" "No, I can't." "But that's not what you said..." "... the other night." "Talking to you calms me down, Hodja." "But as soon as I'm alone the demons descend by the dozen." "What if Nuri's alive, if his mind is on this place?" "What if he shows up?" "Didn't I tell you Nuri is no longer with us?" " The Almighty turned him into a bug." " A bug." "Who knows what crevice he lives in now." " There's no way he'd show up." " No way." "Even if he tried, he'd never get across the village boundaries." "Your prayers and my call to prayer..." " ...would corner him wherever he was." " Corner him." " And send him flying into the heavens." " Into the heavens." "It must be a blessing." "A blessing..." "Selam aleykum." "Nuri?" "Baki." "I found some Arabic money!" "I roamed piles of molten plastic and prayer beads." "I tripped over goats' feet." "And cat skeletons." "There were mirror-laden birds on the horizon." "And I knew." "If I caught up with them I'd find myself." "Nuri." "Yes?" "Jingle Nuri?" "That's me, Mukhtar." "Don't you recognise me?" "Kadriye?" "Look at them lined up like prayer beads." "God!" "Oh God!" "Oh my God!" "Oh God!" "Is he asleep?" "Yes." "We've lost him." "Perhaps he's dreaming." "Let's see if he remembers when he wakes up." "Where on earth has that apprentice got to?" "Have you heard what's been happening?" "Yes." "Güvercin's disappeared." "She's disappeared." "Jingle Nuri's come back." "This time his wife's disappeared." "There are strange things going on in the village." "I've come here for advice." "From a blind man of 90?" "You must be desperate, Mukhtar." "I am." "Very desperate indeed." "There's no trace ofher." "Not the slightest trace." "What's happened to the girl?" "Have you heard of Dazzling Fatma?" "The name sounds familiar." "From my childhood." "Dazzling Fatma was a dazzling bird." "I never saw her myself." "But her eyes..." "I can still picture them like two dark grapes." "Dazzling Fatma was at once a whore and a saint." "Groups of deserters would slip between her legs during the days of the Independence War." "She was a mother to them, a wife, a sister, a confidante." "Then there was Hamdi the Soldier." "The bravest, most manly man around." "All on his own he wasworth a whole company of soldiers." "He had nine wives in the village and numerous children." "It was because of them that he deserted." "Of course Hamdi had heard talk of Dazzling Fatma's feminine charms." "If Hamdi's virility was fabled, it was nothing beside Fatma's virtues." "A bond was forged between them, which made their meeting inevitable." "You can work out the rest for yourself." "They consumed each other, devoured each other." "They sucked the life out of one another." "And afterwards neither was good for anything." "Fatma was glimpsed making off much the worse for wear." "Some say she swore off her old ways and became chaste." "Others say the angels whisked her off to heaven for services to war veterans." "Hamdi's rigid body was found by some shepherds in Fatma's house." "It was as if the blood had been drained from him." "Then two soldiers arrived." "They were after Hamdi." "Hamdi was dead." "Buthe was a deserter, you see." "They picked up his corpse and took it away." "In a matter of months word arrived in the village that Hamdi had fallen at the front." "Why are you telling me this?" "My mind's a muddle too, Mukhtar." "If the Hamdi who fell at the front was the real Hamdi who was the man who died here?" "Who was the man who sucked Fatma dry of her feminine charms?" "Was he an illusion that melted into Fatma's dazzling charms?" "Where did Fatma go?" "Where did she live out the rest ofher days?" "And let me ask you this." "Consider it carefully." "Hamdi the Soldier had a yardful of children from his nine wives." "What became of those children?" "Who do you think they are?" "Damn it!" "God damn it!" "Have you heard of Hamdi the Soldier?" "Yes." "He had a long twisted moustache." "A long twisted moustache." "Long, twisted." "What of the yardful of children Hamdi fathered with his nine wives?" "Where did they go?" " He had children?" " A whole yardful." "They say he had nine wives from this village." "If he had three or four children with each wife, work it out yourself." "What became of them?" "I've no idea." "Everyone in the village is disappearing these days." "They must have disappeared like Güvercin." "Like Güvercin." "Think before you open your mouth!" "A person needs to exist in order to disappear." "Maybe no one by the name of Hamdi the Soldier ever existed." "Maybe you don't exist either." "Don't grin as if you revel in the idea of disappearing." "Now go and keep an eye on Cennet's son." "He's all we've got left." "We don't want him disappearing too." "Mum." "Mum!" "Yes?" " Where's the girl?" " What girl?" "Where's Güvercin?" "Out with it!" "Where did you make off with her?" "I haven't made off with anyone." "You haven't made off with anyone." "You haven't made off with anyone." "What's this?" "A letter." "A letter." "A letter." "A letter." " Take him to my office." " Why?" " Maybe he'll tell us something there." " Leave the boy alone, Mukhtar." " He hasn't done a thing." " Look, Cennet." "If you know something..." " What would I know?" " If you're hiding something..." " There's something you know." " Despair has blinded you, Mukhtar." " There's something you sense." " Don't do this, Mukhtar." "'Love dies too but won't accept that it dies.'" "'So people end up dragging around their dead romances.'" "'They become love porters.'" "Did you write this?" " Yes." " Fuck you!" "Who to?" "Nobody." "Nobody." " Nobody." " Nobody." "'Flowers blossom in the urn of love out in the cool shade.'" "'Where do wild flowers wander?" "'" " I suppose this is to nobody as well?" " Yes, nobody." "Nobody." "I know those nobodies." "You think I wasn't young once too?" "That I didn't burn with desire?" "That I didn't fall in love from afar?" "That I didn't dream of making off to the mountains with my beloved of quenching my desire for three nights and marching back into the village to get married?" "You think wild flowers, love porters and that mean nothing to me?" " Of course not." " Then who are you telling what?" "Nobody." "I'll massacre your nobodies!" "Where did you make off with the girl?" "Where are you hiding her?" "Huh?" " I didn't make off with anyone!" " You didn't, huh?" " You didn't make off with her?" " I didn't make off with anyone!" " You didn't?" "Where is she?" " I didn't make off with anyone!" "Nobody." "Nobodies." "For all the people in this village there are as many nobodies again." "They talk to nobodies." "Everybody has a nobody." "They write letters and things." "About bees and flowers." "Then they vanish and become nobodies." "A whole army of nobodies." "The nobody army." "Mukhtar!" "Give me back my son!" "Give me back my son, Mukhtar!" "Mukhtar!" "They're here, the nobodies!" "They're all here." "Mukhtar!" "Give me back my son!" "Give me back my son, Mukhtar!" "Sweetheart!" "Come here, sweetheart." "Come to me, sweetheart!" "Sweetheart, son, precious, come here!" "It's too bad what they're done to Cennet's son." "An oddball with his head in the clouds wouldn't dare make off with a girl!" "No one from this village could have made off with her." "All the men of the village are here." "No one's gone anywhere." "Couldn't someone be hiding her in the village?" "Not a chance." "The Mukhtar's had the whole place searched." "Every inch." "When?" "I haven't seen anything like a search." "But a search that's done openly, you can't call that a search!" "One neighbour calls on another, supposedly asking for salt or mallow." "This way, everyone's been busy sounding out everyone else." "Nobody's looked in my shop." "That's what you think." "Behind the curtain?" "Yes, sure." "I looked there too." "For goodness sake!" "Where's that apprentice got to?" "You hardly have to go to Timbuktu to get shaving blades!" "Sorry." "I'm going to have to keep you waiting a bit longer." "Let me go look for that apprentice." "OK, OK." "Isn't Nuri Usta around?" "Which Nuri?" "What do you mean, which Nuri?" "Jingle Nuri." "The barber." "I expecthe's at home." "Don't give me that!" "He was here just yesterday." "Giving the Mukhtar a shave." "Nuri's gone." "I'm here now." "Really?" "Are you here?" "Don't you see me?" " Well, why does snow fall then?" " What?" "Snow..." "Why does snow fall?" "Why does snow fall?" "Why does snow fall?" "Why does snow fall?" "Snow..." "Why does snow fall?" "Snow..." "Why does snow fall?" "Why does snow fall, huh?" "Snow..." "Why does snow fall?" "Son..." " Son!" " Snow..." "Why does snow fall?" "They've broken my son!" "He's gone!" "My son's gone!" "My son's gone!" "Up you get and let's go home, my love." "Let's go home, my love." "Come on." "Please!" "Keep away, Mukhtar!" "It's you who did this to my boy!" "Don't come near me!" "What's he doing here?" " Go dig a hole for yourself!" " Cennet!" "Cennet, take him home!" "You've robbed an innocent of his mind!" "You've ruined his life!" "To hell with your village!" " Snow..." "Why does snow fall?" " Dig a hole for yourself!" "Snow..." "Why does snow fall?" "Snow..." "Why does snow fall?" "Shut the door." "Close the curtains." "Don't mess with that boy anymore." "He's joined the land of the fairies." "There's no telling what he'll do." "To tell the truth I wouldn't mind being Cennet's son." "Being a nobody." "He looks at us from far, faraway." "Far, far away." "Husband?" "I'm going to join the men." "For umm..." "For a chat." "Snow..." " Fuck!" " What's up, Mukhtar?" "I thought I saw Cennet's son at the window." "You think he'd snatch my niece and then show up at my window?" "He may be mad, but he's not that mad." "I thought I saw someone's face." "Look at the window long enough and that always happens." "You see a face." " Where have you been?" " I'm here now, aren't I?" "Where is he?" "Drinking in the store." "With the Mukhtar and that lot." "I've missed you." "Really missed you." "You haven't been here for ages." "You see the mess we're dealing with." "You know what's been going on." "But you still didn't come." " Hacer..." "Is Ramazan asleep?" " Yes." " He's really grown up." " Yes, he's really grown up." "Have you heard of Hamdi the Soldier?" "My grandmother used to talk about him." "He had nine wives." "And a yardful of children." "Where are they then?" "Who?" "Hamdi the Soldier's children." "Where have they disappeared to?" "How do I know?" "People are born and grow up right under our noses." "Then they vanish into thin air." "Without us realising." "So?" "Forget it." "Snow..." "Why does snow fall?" "Snow..." "Why does snow fall?" "Beat it!" "Snow..." "Why does snow fall?" "Aren't you going to do my shave?" "I'm not the barber." "He's gone looking for his apprentice." "What are you talking about?" "You did a shave here just now." "The guy bolted out babbling something about skeletons." "You're mixing me up with the barber." "You had a long sleep there." "I expect you're still waking up." "A long sleep?" "I just nodded off for a minute." "Who could sleep like this?" "Look at me!" "You are asleep at least an hour and a half." "I can't be dealing with you now." "I've got work to do." "Unbelievable!" "I've never seen a barber like it!" "You're off the wall, you know." "Living in fantasyland." "Where's my son?" " How would I know?" " Give me back my son, Mukhtar." "I don't have your son, woman." "Now get out of here!" "He's gone." "My son's gone." "First it's his mind, now his life." "And you go and throw him in some hole!" "I will take your life, too." "Get the horse tacked up." "I'm off to town." "It's time the state stepped in and dealt with this business." "Get me looking half-decent." "I have to go to town." "To town." "Don't take down the flag." "Let it fly till I get back." "I don't want anyone going into the office either." "Seriously, why does snow fall?" "So you're not a barber." "It's not like anyone comes here either." "I just don't get it." "What do you do for a living?" "I'm a postman." "But I don't like calling it that." "Messenger sounds better." "Messenger." "Yes." "Yes." "I'm a messenger." "Oh God!" "I'm so late." "I've got a telegram to deliver." "Someone's missing." "Or so it says." "I have to get out of here fast." "Are you staying here?" "I'll only just make it in time." "Goodbye then." "I was at the barber's somewhere faraway." "Everyone was missing." "So was I." "There were two other people in the barber's besides me." "One had a string of jet-black prayer beads." "The other was a quiet man who kept looking in the mirror." "The barber wanted to cut my hair." "He was cutting away and my hair was growing." "He kept cutting but my hair kept growing." "There were thousands of skeletons walking by in the street..." "Stop!" "I told him to stop." "Selam aleykum, gentlemen." "Aleykum selam." "Where's the Mukhtar's office?" "There's a telegram." "The Mukhtar's nothere." "He's gone to town." "Give it to me." "I'm the village guard." "Give it to me." "OK." "Hey, open it up." "Read what it says." "Sit down and have a tea." "You've come alongway." "No." "I should be on my way." "I have a long trip ahead." " Goodbye." " Goodbye." "Hey, we're dying of curiosity here." "Let's hear what it says." "Nuri." "Here, look." "The telegram's about you." "But it's kind of late getting here." "Someone wrote it years ago to say they still hadn't found you." "You see?" "The good Lord works in mysterious ways." "You can treatus to a tea then." "See?" "You're still missing." "I'm not around." "So how can I order you tea?" "My wife's missing too." "And the children." "I'm not around." "I'm missing." "And I've got the paper to prove it." "Look!" "There's agovernment stamp on it too." "That'll be tea all round." "It's on Nuri Efendi." "A government-certified missing person!" "Count me out." "A good evening to you." "I'm not around." "I'm missing." "Not around." "Reþit, come over here." "There's only one thing left to try if we want to find Güvercin." "What's that?" "The imam." "The imam could find anything just like that if he wanted." "Let's ask his advice about the Güvercin thing, huh?" "Look, you never do anything by the imam's book." "What's suddenly brought this on?" "I drink and don't go to the mosque so you brand me an infidel right away." "Right!" "You've been a devout Muslim all these years and I never noticed." "Reþit..." "I'll drink and burn in hell." "But that doesn't mean I don't believe." "The man's prayers are real prayers." "He has an open heart." "He's smart." "Let's have him pray for my niece." "For God's sake, just drop it." "Suppose I prove it to you." "How are you going to do that?" "Ramazan..." "Sit down." "You want us to find Güvercin, don't you?" "Yes, Dad." "Of course I do." "But how can we?" "There's no hope left." "There is, there is." "There's one last hope." "But your uncle needs convincing too." "What's that, Dad?" "Is this one of your crackpot ideas again?" "Go to your Unle Reþit tomorrow." "He'll give you a lock of hair." "Whose hair?" "I don't know." "Neither of us will know." " Then take the hair to the imam." " Rýza!" "Tell the imam you're head over heels and dying of love." "But be serious so he believes you." "Say you've brought him a lock of the girl's hair." "He has a prayer for love which he'll chant over the hair." "And the girl whose hair it is will fall in love with you." " OK, Dad." "But..." " Wait." "Just listen, son." "There's no other way of convincing your uncle." "If a girl we've never heard of falls in love with you if the imam can swing this, and he will then we'll have convinced your uncle." "He'll go to the imam, get him to say his prayers and Güvercin will be back in the village with in two days." "That's if she's alive, of course." "If she doesn't come back, we'll just have to grin and bear it." "God will strike you down!" "The demons will get you." " You've started all over again..." " Hacer!" "Well, with it be a girl from this village, Dad?" "If she's from another village..." "Son, you don't have to marry her!" "I have no idea where she'll be from, what village, what family or whatever." "That's for your uncle to decide." "Here." "That's it?" "Come on." "We're all done." "You must keep the hair in your pocket all the time." "From now on the girl will love you too." "You'll be as close as earth and water." "To love is the highest station in life." "So you love the girl that much?" "Who is the dark beauty?" "Hodja..." "When will this thing work?" "You shouldn't interfere with the ways of God!" "We've lit a spark in the girl's heart." "You may find the fire erupts in two months." "But then you may find she comes runnig as soon as today." "You've no need to worry now." " Did you get it sorted?" " Yes, Dad." "Go and tell your uncle." "What's up, Ramazan?" "What's going on?" "Nothing, Baki Abi." "I'm on my way to Uncle Reþit's." "Uncle Reþit!" "Uncle, I've been to the imam..." "Father!" "Father!" "Brothers and sisters in Islam!" "We'll now perform funeral prayers." "So let us pray together." "Let us pray for God." "Let us pray for his blessing on the Prophet and the young man here." "Let us pray for our brother." "Listen to the words of the imam." "God is most great!" "Aren't you coming to bed?" "You go." " What are you waiting for?" " The mare." "She'll be back sooner or later." "She'll come home sooner or later." "Who is it?" "I've been thinking for days I need to talk to someone." "So in the end I've come to you." "You did well." "You did well." "But what's the trouble?" "What's happened?" "What hasn't happened?" "If you knew half of what happens beyond these walls, Dede..." "I've pretty much heard." "I know." "I don't know." "I don't know." "Everything's a mess." "It's like we've been jinxed." "It's getting to me so badly I feel like getting out of here." "But I can't." "Don't worry so much." "It'll all sort itself out." "The Mukhtar isn't back from town either." "He was supposed to report everyone who's gone missing." "How long would that take?" "He still hasn't come back." "Or..." " Maybe he can't come back." " What's that supposed to mean?" "This is nasty stuff." "They terrify me, the thoughts I've been having." "What thoughts are those?" "Dede, what I'm saying is the Mukhtar's notback." "Güvercin hasn't been found either." "You don't think it was the Mukhtar who made off with Güvercin?" "Stop that talk!" "Don't go broadcasting it about the place!" "You don't know what you're saying." "Would the Mukhtar do that?" "It was a bear that snatched her." " But you don't get bears around here!" " Quiet!" "It was a bear." "I don't know, Dede." "I don't know anything anymore." "And on top of that there's this smell to deal with." "Smell?" "What smell?" "The smell of death." "Anyway even if the Mukhtar does come back he doesn't know anything." "He thinks Ramazan is still alive, for example." "He thinks Ramazan rides his horse that he helps Rýza in the shop that he dances the halay at weddings that he smokes the odd cigarette in secret." "Are you there?" "Ramazan was my son." " It's a blessing." "A blessing." " A blessing, my ass!" "I've found Güvercin!" "I've found Güvercin!" "Put her down!" "Put the girl down!" "Fuck you!" "Put her down!" "Don't move!" "Don't move or I'll shoot, I swear!" "Baki Abi, I've found Güvercin!" "Break it up!" "What happens to him?" "Should we let him get away?" "The boy's in my charge till the Mukhtar gets back." "Baki Abi, I didn't snatch the girl." "I swear I didn't!" "Shut up!" "Güvercin!" "My love!" "What have they done to you?" "Güvercin." "Güvercin!" "Güvercin." "Was it this bloke who snatched you?" "Say something, girl!" "Was it him who snatched you?" "You think I wouldn't kill you, jerk?" "Get back, Rýza." "Get back!" "The boy's in my charge." " Charge?" "Why's he in anyone's charge?" " Get back!" "The bastard's just walked off the hill with Güvercin on his back!" "We have to wait for the Mukhtar!" " Don't do this, Rýza!" " Don't!" "You want blood on your hands?" "Where are you going to keep him, huh?" "I'll come and do him in at night." " Going to stand guard, are you?" " I'm going to wait right here." "Come here, Rýza, my friend." "Come on." "It's all over." "Break it up!" "Everyone go home!" "Reþit Abi!" " I didn't snatch your girl, Reþit Abi!" " Shut up, you!" "This place smells." "It smells." "The mountains don't smell." "This place smells." "Can you smell it, Baki Abi?" "Quiet!" "I know." " But it stinks." " I told you to shut up!" "Cennet, keep out of here." "Mum..." "Cennet!" "Mum!" "I didn't snatch the girl, Mum." "I swear." "I was wandering about." "Then I saw her lying there in the bushes." "Did I do the wrong thing?" "Should I have left her there?" "She was crying, Mum." "I didn't snatch the girl." "They say I snatched her." "But I saved her, Mum." " Look, Baki..." " Don't say a word, Cennet." " For the love of God..." " Don't bring God into this!" "Have your halfwit marry Güvercin." "Do whatever, but clean up this mess!" "I saved her, Mum." " I saved her." " Let the Mukhtar get back." "Then he'll call in the gendarmerie and it'll all get sorted." "Off home with you now." "Go on." "Don't worry." "Nothing will happen to your son while I'm around." "Off you go." "It stinks, Baki Abi." "Quiet!" "We only just managed to hold back Rýza." "I had to lock the door on him and get someone to stand guard." "Otherwise he'd come here and get blood on his hands." "Give him to me." "I'll take him to town myself." "And hand him over to the gendarmes." "If you Mukhtar doesn't come back, it's me who'll take him there." "Güvercin..." "She's pregnant." "Break down that door." "And you, untie him." "My daughter..." "She's pregnant." "I said my daughter's pregnant!" "Reþit, don't!" "Reþit!" "Nobody move!" "Reþit." "I like you." "You're smart." "But calm down." "Be patient for a few more days." "If the Mukhtar doesn't come back, I'll turn in the bastard myself." "Break that lock." "We'll lock him up in there." "So that's what a body looks like if it's left hanging around." "And the tongue... does that." "God forbid!" "He's found peace at last." "But the imam wouldn't give him a proper funeral." "You think he's at space down in the ground?" "He wasn't the kind of man to take his own life." "He had too much respect for the state." "That's what killed him." "How do you mean?" "The Mukhtar got to town." "He planned to report all the goings-on here." "He planned to report the thing with Güvercin." "But these were the doors to the state." "How easy is it to get a foot in those doors?" "They kept him waiting on the doorstep for days." "The doors were like walls." "The rooms inside were like walls." "Eventually, they roared at him, "Come here, you!" "What do you want?"" "So he stepped through the giant doors with their brass knobs and made his way down endless corridors." "And nowhere will you find pictures of Ataturk as amazing as the ones there." "Then he arrived at an office." "And found a man sitting at a desk together with three other man." "We're talking fleshy types with bulging, ruddy cheeks." "And he went, "Chief, I umm..." "I wanted to umm..."" ""Well, it's our Güvercin..." "She's disappeared from the village."" ""Who the hell is Güvercin?" they said." ""A bird?" "Or is that a name?"" "When he told them she was the prettiest girl in the village they hauled these thick ledgers down off the shelves." ""The prettiest girl in the village, huh?"" ""The prettiest girl in the village."" ""The prettiest girl in the village."" ""Here!" "The prettiest girl in the village." "She's yours!"" "The Mukhtar had alook." "There, among the names and ancestry of everyone since Hamdi the Soldier was the thinnest line written in blue ink." "G-ver-cin..." "Mother's name, father's name, date of birth..." "Then he realised that all we are in the eyes of the state is that line." "The state doesn't know good and bad, beautiful and ugly, rich and poor." "It simply isn't interested." "This is your place." "You're the size of a flea's eye." "You're like this." "If you ask me, he came straight back to the village that day." "And he's been hanging there ever since." "I don't understand." "I don't understand anything anymore." "Give me back my son." "My son's innocent." "Give me back my son." "Get up, you!" "Go to your mother." "Cennet, take your son and clear out of this place." "What are you staring at?" "It wasn't that idiot who made off with Güvercin." "It wasn't the state that killed the Mukhtar either." "It wasn't Cennet's son who made off with you." "Who was it then, girl?" "!" "Say something!" "Who was it?" "The baby could arrive any minute." "Where are you going?" "There's been abear prowling about the village." "What bear?" "A bear like any other bear." "It's been down as far as Selim's sheepfold." "He saw it." "The whole village is going out to hunt it." "You don't get bears around here." "Who asked you?" "Half the village has seen it!" "Reþit!" "What are you doing?" "Your daughter's about to give birth." "She's already in labour." "Are you still going out to hunt bears?" " Reþit." " Yes?" "Did Selim really see the bear?" "Sure he did." "He says it's huge." "I'm going to leave this place." "And go somewhere faraway." "Fuck!" "It's like I saw a shadow." "It's like I saw a shadow." "You saw the bear?" "Yes." "I mean, I think so." "Did you get it?" "Güvercin's had the baby." "Nobody could be with her." "She was all alone." "She's alive." "The baby's alive." "And making noises." "More tea?" "No, I'm still going on this one." "Your razorblades." " Anything interesting in the news?" " Not really." "Some bear's made off with a girl in a village somewhere." "# Am I scant, am I plenty Do I exist, don't I exist" "# What am I" "# What am I" "# Am I fable, am I fact" "# Am I flight, am I drift Am I nothing, am I guilt" "# Who am I" "# Am I lesson, am I lunacy" "# A heart bleeding in nothingness A body batting in non-existence" "# A mind melting in emptiness Am I not trouble" "# Or else... or else..." "# Is it me not you Who unravels every betrayal" "# Who justifies every ignorance Who puts a price on every captivity" "# I'm difficult these days I'm desolate in these parts" "# I'm worthless in these lands I'm helpless on native soil" "# I'm difficult these days I'm desolate in these parts" "# I'm worthless in these lands I'm shadowless every day everywhere" "# Am I noise, am I quiet Am I mist, am I haze" "# What am I" "# Am I wizard, am I waste" "# Am I pure, am I white Am I buy, am I sell" "# Who am I" "# Am I good, am I harm" "# Am I not among the ruined Finding the truth among lies" "# Keeping my word among the fickle Standing firm among the treacherous" "# Is it me not you Who has walls built to justice" "# Who has locks slapped on courage Who insists on submission to nobility" "# I'm difficult these days I'm desolate in these parts" "# I'm worthless in these lands I'm helpless on native soil" "# I'm difficult these days I'm desolate in these parts" "# I'm worthless in these lands I'm shadowless every day everywhere" "# I'm difficult these days I'm desolate in these parts" "# I'm worthless in these lands I'm helpless on native soil"