In the second panel,
and
In the third panel,
, and in the fourth,
In the first panel of the fifth page,
, in the second panel,
, in the third,
and
, and in the fourth,
And on and on in that inscrutable vein-
,
,
,
,
,
— until the name
Even as a hasty sketch it was clear she was meant to be strong willed and beautiful.
She was followed by blank pages all the way to the notebook’s back inside cover, which had five identical sketches of a cat, the word
60 cm
56.5 cm
1990 g
Zhenya found the challenge irresistible.
Lotte shook her head. “The sample is too small. I studied linguistics at the university. We can’t possibly translate this with so few symbols, not in a million years.”
“Don’t think of it as a translation, think of it as a game. We have to win a game. Don’t go by grammar, go by your gut.”
“What makes you think that we can do that?”
“Because I’m a gambler. What are the first symbols?”
“An equals sign, ‘blah blah,’ and what could be a cannon or a man in a top hat with a colon or dots and a line under it.”
“That’s a start. If we get a couple of symbols we can triangulate and build a context. Like building a ladder rung by rung.”
“I don’t think that’s possible.”
“Sure it is. Like in the rest of the second panel there’s an ear or half a heart.”
“Third?”
“Some kind of bug and two rings interlocked, which could signify agreement, marriage or handcuffs.”
“Fourth?”
“A fish-”
“Or an early Christian symbol of a fish-”
“Or tongs, a rocket or a plane,” said Zhenya.
“Two B?”
“An address, a room, ‘To be or not to be.’ ”
“First panel of the second page?”
“A box with a stick through it, maybe carrying something hot, or high explosives.”
“Or a box kite?” Lotte said.
“Maybe. Next, a star or a starfish or a Western sheriff’s badge.”
“Okay.”
“The bug; sunrise, sunset, Humpty Dumpty, a sleepy eye, a hedgehog? And a triangle, pylon or nose. In the third panel, the man in the top hat with colon again but without a line beneath, a question mark and crossed swords. In the fourth, interlocked rings and the fish symbol again.”
“But this time under a wave,” Lotte said.
“Right. Then on the third page, the crescent moon or slice of apple or a fingernail. Then arrow down and bug. In the second panel, the ear and equals sign. The third panel, black and white figs or teardrops, and RR for ‘railroad.’ In the fourth, star followed by arrow down, and a fence, RR and capital L. On the fourth page, building blocks, dollar sign and the bug. See, it helps to get a rhythm going.” Zhenya tried to be breezy.
“Really?”
“In the third panel, the box kite. In the fourth, the symbol for radioactivity. Then on the next page, the man in a top hat with colon-”
“With no line under it.”
“With no line. And a spiral, whirlpool or hypnosis. And the third symbol is the ear again, the fourth, the box with a line through it, and an oval shape with an X inside. Then it goes on and on: ending in a crescent moon, fence, wave, arrow pointing down with a loop at the top, the man in the top hat with a line, and the bug, until we get to the drawing of a woman and her name, Natalya Goncharova, the greatest tramp in Russian history, tsarinas excluded, of course.”
“We never hear her side of the story,” Lotte said.
“She marries Pushkin, Russia’s greatest poet, sleeps around and gets him killed in a duel. What that has to do with the Mafia beats me. So, what do you think?”
“Maybe we’re not as smart as we think we are. This isn’t a secret code, not even language, it’s just pictures. The person who wrote it must have had an incredible memory. It’s probably one percent of what was actually said.”
Zhenya sank back in his chair. “So you think it’s impossible.”
“I didn’t say that. These are notes of a meeting, right? A colon tells you who is speaking. Six symbols-Top Hat with a Line, Top Hat Without, Box Kite, Blocks, Crescent Moon and Star-have colons. These are the participants and this is their conversation.”
“Then why did the guy taking notes divide the pages into panels?”
“Why does a chessboard have sixty-four squares? To keep the pieces from running in all directions. The symbols are personal cues. We’ll see where they run.”
Now that Zhenya thought about it there were similarities to chess. Its symbols were as definite as pieces- only a player had to figure out what moves each symbol made, and there was a gun at the endgame.
• • •
