RED ESPERANTO
The winter night had draped itself over Warsaw like a shroud, and a sharp sliver of moon sliced the death black sky. I was in the depths of a crawling hangover and feeling more than a little claustrophobic in Olena’s cramped, deodorant-soaked apartment. I poked my trembling fingers through a crack in the dusty slat blinds and gazed out at the constellation of neon signs that lined the bustling avenue.
Sex shops, peep shows, twenty-four-hour bars, booze shops, and kebab shops were pretty much the only buildings that I could see, apart from The Westin Hotel, with its vertigo-inducing glass elevator. Looking at it made my stomach lurch a little. I fought back the acrid bile that burned my throat as I watched a black taxi jump a red light and cut across the road, narrowly missing a rattling tram. A police car’s siren wailed and pierced my pounding head like a stiletto. Another cop car joined the chase, quickly overtook the cab, swerved, and screeched to a halt in front of it.…
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