The Priest Who Refused to Bow Before the Wind

-- 1 -Whats Laliki? Well, its a very small village located right at the bottom of Mount
Pochodzita. In the Beskidy range, in the southern part of Poland, not far from Katowiceabout
sixty kilometers away. Thats about all there is to say as far as geographys concerned. Lets
dig a little deeperlets analyze its associations. The name sounds cheerful, like a childrens
ditty, and it sounds a lot like the word for lilac, whose flowers smell honey-sweet. So the
name suggests a happy place, full of smiling blonde girls and tall, strong highlanders. Meadows
with black and white cows, wooden houses, a clear blue sky, and sparrows chasing clouds. Or
clouds chasing sparrowsits hard to be sure.
But that isnt Laliki at allthe name is entirely misleading. The village consists of a
few old houses, inhabited by geriatricnot to say ancient, or even prehistoricresidents. The
younger ones left, took off along the recently-built black highway, jumping from one mountain
to the next and disappearing into tunnels the way a tongue disappears into a mouth. From time
to time they come back, but only to flee again as soon as possible. To escape boredom and a
species of sorrow, a longing you could say. Longing for something undefinedthats so
typical of Laliki. Sometimes tourists, attracted by the funny nameit sounds funny in Polish
and probably in English as wellcome here unbidden, on impulse, just like that. Lets go to
Lalikilike Waikiki. They come, and then immediately see how wrong they were to think it
would be fun. Apart from those rare visits, nothing goes on here.
The village is perched atop a small hill, surrounded by larger ones that look down upon
Laliki like children gazing in fascination at a worm theyve caught. In the local dialect we call
this place a gronie, which means a pass. You can get here across the bridge that leads to
1

Koniakw, a city famous for its hand-made lace, or by using the potholed switchback from
Kamesznica. In the very heart of townexactly on the peak of a hill that resembles nothing so
much as a large eggtheres a church, white and modest aside from two huge stained glass
windows on the front wall. A few steps farther along we have the presbytery, where the parish
priest lives and works.
For a very long time Laliki didnt have its own church. Church authorities had bought a
piece of land in the middle of the villagealong with the small house that stood upon it, which
was perfect for the presbyteryand then ran out of money. So Laliki residents mostly prayed at
a chapel that hung on the wall of the building. Then, on Sundays, they would go to the wooden
church in Pochodzita, where a priest from Wisa would say Holy Mass for them. Finally, tired
of the laborious pilgrimage, which was especially exhausting in the winter, the people of Laliki
collected enough money to build their own church right in the village. It would be all theirs,
with their own priest. And to have ones own priest is, here, a very, very important thing. A
demonstration of the quality of the town and something of a security policy at the same time.
In 1978, I was asked to supervise the construction of the church in Laliki. I was a
newly-graduated engineer dreaming of powerful bridges and slender skyscrapers. I treated the
small church in Laliki as an insult, a boring task that no one wanted to take care of. Moreover,
the church was almost finished. I only had to check the few remaining floors and the
counterforts of the church tower. Easy, boring, and well below my ambitions. Typical stuff for
an intern.
As a novice I could grumble deep in my heart of hearts, but I didnt make a fuss. Since
I was stuck with it, I tried to find a good side to this hopeless situation. Summer had just begun,
so it was a chance for a nice trip. In Katowice, where I lived, it was already hot and stuffy. I

needed fresh air. A short journey to this village in Beskidy would be a perfect opportunity to
wander through the forest, to tan my pale skin, to eat fresh raspberries, and perhaps to find a
few mushroomsthe yellow chanterelles would be out already.
At that time the parish priest in Laliki was Micha Buba. He was only forty years old,
and my workmates told me hed arrived in the village from a previous institution in Cracow. He
turned up in the new parish, in circumstances that were unclear, and zealously began work on
construction of the church.
The idea that the highlanders might accept him is undoubtedly a little unbelievable
they tend to be suspicious, especially of newcomers from the lowlands who want to move in.
But later I learnt that hed come from the Tatra1 mountains, which for the local people made
him one of them rather than a lowlander. When the temperature was minus twenty degrees,
he walked through Laliki in nothing but his cassock, and when the occasion called for it he
didnt mind a few drinks. He was also able to swear professionally when necessary, so he
immediately gained the respect of the entire village. Apart from that he had a medallion, a
magical object that guarded and defended the entire village. Ill talk about that in a moment.
For the entire summer I tried to set up an inspection of the construction site with the
priest, but Buba thought up a new excuse every time. He went for pilgrimages, organized the
visit of the image of the Czstochowa2 Mother of God to the parish, disappeared to meetings in
curia, or participated in important funerals in the district. He sent me short notes on how the
work was progressing, saying that everything was finethats it.
In the end, after one more laconic letter from the evasive priest, I got nervous, and I told
him that if he didnt let me into the building site I would stop all work and I wouldnt stamp the
1 The highest cordilliera in Poland.
2 The largest monastery in Poland.

construction diary. Without the stamp, Buba couldnt get permission to use the building. It
seemed to frighten him a little bit, because he called me the following day and invited me to
Laliki.
I went by intercity bus at the beginning of September. Although the school year had
already begun, for me this time of year was the essence of summer, with fields baking in the a
heat that they breathed in deeply, and leaves looking as if theyd been washed in bleach. The
bees, drunk on the fragrance of late-blooming flowers, flew through the open windows of the
bus. I caught them in my handkerchief and threw them back outside. And the air shimmered
over the hot highway as if we were crossing a desert.
The bus spat me out at the foot of the hill. I started to climb without hurry. I was
carrying a bag stuffed with plans and reports, so I couldnt have gone any faster if I wanted to.
Warm air fanned my shoulders and made me drowsy, a feeling that was deepened by the
silencea real silence such as you never experience in the city, where theres always some
artificial sound in the background. So I walked more and more slowlyalthough normally,
when I was in the city, I moved at a near-run. I plodded forward, step by step, until at last I
reached the top.
I found the presbytery easilyits white walls shone in the late morning sun like
floodlights beckoning. Having made sure that there was no protective dog in Bubas courtyard,
I entered through the gate and took the stone footpath that led to the door. I went past a small
Fiat car, as green as tinned peas. I peeked curiously inside it and saw that keys were in the
ignition.
Ridiculous, I muttered under my breath, and shifted the weight of the bag on my
shoulder.

I walked around the back of the presbytery to find the office, where the priest was
supposed to be waiting. When I got to the rear of the building, I noticed an orchard full of old
apple trees behind it, a little bit downhill, with branches clenched like arthritic fingers, laden
with applesstill unripeof the type we call gugula, and even farther off was a small
graveyard, with graves that looked like beds placed amidst the deep grass. Not scary at all.
Behind that were the mountains, so stunning that I gaped at them with my mouth open as I
walked, oblivious to anything else. Not looking where I was going, I stumbled and fell.
Shit!
I got up, checked to make sure nobody had seen me fall or heard me curse, then decided
to focus on what I had come for. I walked to the door of the presbytery, knocked briskly, and
without waiting for an invitation, enteredpassing into such a surprising darkness that I had to
blink for a few moments before I could see anything.
Buba sat behind a table covered with old parish documents, as yellow as butter and
covered in dust. He had on a black cassock, specked here and there with yellowish egg stains.
He was as bald as my knee and looked strong. With a well-rehearsed, officious movement he
flipped through some paperwork. Unlike the clerks in the city office when I went in, he put
them aside and came to greet me.
Welcome! Welcome, my dear engineer! he said in his very deep voice. Later I learned
that hed been a tenor singer, with a glass-shattering high C.
Good day! I answered mechanically. Zbigniew Linert. From Ino-Ster. For the
construction inspection.
I know, I know! the priest waved a hand. Sit down, boy! Well settle one matter and
then well go look at my church.

Obediently, I went to a corner and sat down on a wobbly chair. For a moment I
pretended that I was searching my bag for something, and then I stopped because Buba seemed
to have no interest in me, just sat muttering at his pieces of paper. I leaned my head against the
wall and my feet against my bag, and had almost dozed off when I heard the squeaking of the
gate. I looked out the window and noticed that an older couple were coming toward the
officethe woman and man looked so similar that I was sure they must be married. A close
relationship can make people look alike.
God bless you! they said entering the office.
Good day! I answered them, in a lay spirit. They took no notice, not even looking at
me. Instead they sat down stiffly in front of Buba and were silent.
I shrugged my shoulders, having realized that it wasnt my attention they wanted. I
shifted my gaze to tops, and then to a poplar, on the peak of which sat a magpie. Meanwhile,
Buba went out for a second, then returned with a purple stole draped around his neck and a
book in his hand. Around here purple means death. Well, what could I say? It happens. The
couple probably wanted to arrange a funeral.
God bless you! And the eternal rest you give him, said Buba, his voice almost
inaudible. It surprised me how quickly he changed from a jovial parish priest into this solemn
version of a clergyman. Without drawing anyones attention, I started listening.
We came because of Janek said the man in a trembling voice, then glanced at his wife.
She was silent. After a moment she sniffled. I looked. She was crying. I started to feel a little
strange, like a voyeur. I wanted to leave, but it would have been very impolite.
Yes, Mr. Szalbot. I know, sighed Buba.
Our Janek. He hanged himself. In the forest, said Szalbot.

I went numb. Buba looked as if he were in shock, although I was sure that hed known
in advance what the matter was. But no one could have heard this report without feeling a deep
pity. He wiped his forehead with the scrap of stole, rested his hands on the desktop, and
breathed deeply. He looked as if he wanted to burst out crying. I felt sorrow for him and for
Janeks parents. Just as I was about to break the silence, the priest finally spoke again.
I know, he paused momentarily. Terrible story. I can do the funeral this Sunday. Will
you be all right?
Yes, father. But hes a suicide. Where will you bury him?
With us, behind the presbytery. In our graveyard, Buba answered calmly. He held the
book hed brought a moment before and found the entry for the Szalbot family. Holding his
finger on the relevant line, he looked at his guests.
Thank you, parish priest, whispered the woman. No more words were needed. The
couple simply left, disappearing around the corner.
I sat in my spot, and Buba wrote something in the book. Curiosity burned in me with a
real fire. I knew that it wasnt polite to question Buba about his guests, but I couldnt resist.
What are you writing? I asked, barely keeping myself from getting up and peeking
over his shoulder.
That it was a manslaughter.
What manslaughter? I asked, surprised. After all, I had heard perfectly clearly that it
was a suicide. Just as I was about to mention this, Buba explained.
Janek would still live if there were no wind. He is not the only one killed by the gale.
Whenever it arrives, bad things happen. Some evil, some spirit, is angry with Laliki. But
enough about that! He closed the book with such a crack that I jumped in my seat. Lets go

have a look! He got up and, throwing the stole over the back of his chair, he left. What was I
supposed to do? I wanted to learn what this evil spirit was that he was talking about, and what
was up with this wind, so I followed him.
We went quickly toward the construction site. I ran a few strides behind Bubaslowed
down by the heavy bag, I couldnt keep pace with him. He, meanwhile, didnt even look my
way. He rushed along, hurrying without seeming to tire, though I could barely catch my breath.
Finally, as exhausted as a horse at the end of a cowboy movie, I reached the church
walls, which seemed to be in the midst of climbing up the scaffolding next to them. They were
as even as glass and perfectly straight. I nodded, acknowledging a level of quality I hadnt seen
in a long time.
You have good bricklayers, I said.
Good, answered Buba, a little absent-mindedly, or perhaps he just wasnt inclined to
chat.
The bricks are exactly aligned, straight as an arrow, I added.
Quite even, muttered the priest.
And fairly good plaster. What did they add to it to make it sparkle like that? I asked.
I dont know.
Where can I find the construction manager?
Well Buba didnt seem to be really listening to me.
When can I meet him?
Next time.
A reliable truss! I said, insistently trying to draw the priest into a conversation, but he
ignored me.

Oh, yes, he replied, shaking his head, as if trying to come out of a stupor. Were
done! he decided. Were going. He turned on his heel. His cassock billowed behind him like
a giant tulip. Off he went like a shot, and before I could even move he was already almost at the
door of the presbytery. Are you coming or not? he cried out, impatient, stopping for a
moment. Im hungry! He opened the door and disappeared inside.
I understood that it was pointless to simply stand where I was, and that the parish priest
wasnt going to let me say anything about it, ask anything about it, even touch itthe church
was the most important thing in his life. He guarded it like the griffin guarding Apollos
treasure. I shrugged my shoulders. Sooner or later he would have to cooperate with me if he
wanted to be able to use the building. Comforted by the thought, I moved to the presbytery.
I found Buba in the kitchen. He was cooking. Drops of water leaped from a pot that sat
on the gas and fell into flames with a hiss. The priest, meanwhile, cut a roll of dough into
rhombi with a large butchers knife.
Potato dumplings. Cottage cheese dumplings, he said briefly, gesturing with his chin
in the direction of a jug standing on the table. Then he went back to focusing on his work.
I sat down and poured myself some cherry compote. Sipping it, I watched Buba. When
hed finished cutting, he threw the dumplings into the boiling water, then gently stirred it with a
colander. He was as attentive as a sorcerer over an alembic. In the pot his potion bubbled, and I
could smell starch. Steam wafted up to the ceiling and escaped through a window vent to the
backyard, already hot from the sun. I smiled at the viewthe steam was somehow pretty.
The soft bubbling and the warmth started putting me to sleep again. A lot of this day
had been about sleepiness, probably due to huge doses of fresh air. I slid down in the seat of the

chair and let my hands hang down. My head lolled from one side to the other. I struggled not to
fall asleep.
You have a nice home, I mumbled with an effort, trying to stay awake and be polite.
Then I went to sleep for real.
I had almost slipped to the floor and come to rest under the table when Buba banged his
spoon against the edge of the pot. I woke abruptly and looked around with bleary eyes.
What happened? I asked.
Done! Buba answered, putting two plates full of dumplings on the table. And the
roux! he said and quickly stir-fried a fistful of sugar and breadcrumbs in butter. He put the hot
frying pan on the table and sat down. Help yourself! he said, raising his fork.
I poured roux over the dumplings. It smelt like a freshly unwrapped lollipop. Buba
helped himself, too, scraping the remains of the sugar out of the frying pan, and we began to
eat. The flavor of the dish reminded me of afternoons at my grandmothers, in ywiec. Shed
made dumplings just like this. Everyone here knows the recipe. Simple and tasty.
Buba ate quickly, and after a moment his plate was empty. Aware that I was lingering,
distracted by old memories, I swallowed the last mouthfuls and drank the compote. The priest
put the plates in the sink.
Nice weather today, he said. Shall we take a walk? We can discuss the construction.
Great! I answered, surprised. I had thought that the new church would be a taboo
subject.
Ill show you around, he said.
Excellent! I was really glad. Ill leave my bag here, okay? I threw it the under the
table.

10

Sure. Done. Buba wiped his hands. On his cassock, of course. Lets go!
By this time I had gotten used to the fact that Buba would immediately start doing
whatever he was talking about doing. Now he said lets walk, and simply left. He marched
with long steps, so that by the time I ran up to the gate he was already quite a ways away. He
was headed toward Pochodzita.
Now that I wasnt being slowed down by the bag, I caught up with Buba easily and we
walked on together, in silence, through a coniferous forest. The trees swayed in unison, like
people listening to music. The warm forest cover smelled of Christmas dumplings, along with
mushrooms and sandneither of the latter being related to Christmas, of course. From time to
time, somewhere a jay cried out, or a woodpecker tapped.
After a short march along a fairly flat road, we began climbing an incline on stones
slippery with moss. The top of the mountain was getting closer. It was quite steep, so I focused
on carefully choosing the places where I would put my feet.
Eventually I raised my eyes and saw a pile of rocks in front of us. I was surprised, since
Id expected a flat area, maybe covered with dwarf mountain pine or low bushes. Rocks like
these were an anomaly here. We went around them. When I leaned to look around the last rock,
I saw a small lake. It was the light blue of the Mediterranean Sea on a postcardthe color
suggested that it must be unusually deep.
Twelve meters, Buba confirmed, and pulled his clothes off. Embarrassed, I turned in
the direction of the village. The priest entered water as if nothing had happened. Dont stand
like that! Cool off! he shouted to me, and swam away snorting like an elephant seal.
I thought that hed probably gone mad. A bit angry, I sat down on the grass and waited
for him to be done with his swimming. Buba, meanwhile, dove and surfaced, spitting water,

11

and then started humming sea shanties. The songs somehow chased away my bad mood.
Enchanted by the priests huge voice, I took off my clothes and jumped into the water. It was as
icy as in the blowhole. I began to struggle like a fish on a line, moving my hands and legs in a
desperate attempt to warm up, and Buba laughed.
A lowlander. Not very fond of the cold, yeah? he said, and dove again.
I came back to the shallows and sat on a stone that was just under the surface. The water
was here a little bit warmer and I finally stopped shaking. I fixed my eyes on the light blue
depths while Buba frolicked like a young seal. Eventually he got tired and swam up to me. He
sat down beside me and shook water from his hair. He was drenched and his eyelashes were
glued together.
Andwhat? Did you see it, at the bottom?
What? I asked surprised.
Couldnt you see?
No.
Ill tell you everything.
Buba lay down on his back in the shallow water and started talking.
-- 2 -At one time a married couple by the name of Kopyciok lived in Laliki. Wadek and
Basia. His parents came from herethat is, from Lalikibut hers were from Radziechowy.
They got to know each other at a party at the firehouse one summer and quickly got married.
She wore a white dress embroidered here and there with peonies, while he wore the obligatory
black. I administered the sacrament myself.

12

They lived in a house on the border of the village, a nice peasant cottage, which Basia
took care ofshe was a good housewife. She also broidered napkins, which she sold as folk art,
making a little money out of it. Wadek, meanwhile, did what he had always donehe was a
woodcutter.
I must say, he was suited to his work. He was big and strong, like an ox. He had a wide
chest, shoulders like stumps, and always seemed to have needleswhich fell from the pines
in his auburn hair. At one time some director had wanted him to star in a film he was making
about Ondraszek, a kind of local Zorro if you dont know, who robbed the rich and helped the
poor. Wanted him to play the main character. But Kopyciok didnt want tohe preferred his
forests.
Although you can meet really nasty creatures in the backwoods, including the devil
himself, Kopyciok wasnt afraid of anything.
Im not scared of black, horned beasts. Im not afraid of ghosts or goblins. Theyve
never attacked me and Im certain they wont, so whats the problem? I dont do them any
harm, I dont annoy them, I dont steal their treasure. Theyll leave me alone and Ill always
return to Basia alive and well, he said.
I asked him not to say this, not so loud. He was right. Of course he was, because he was
fair with the wood and with nature, unlike other woodcutters. He never tried to take more than
was necessary, he wasnt greedy. He didnt step on animals and plants, he didnt try to catch
birds or squirrels. So hed never been hit by a branch or a falling tree, didnt cut his hands or
legs, and never fell down a hill, even though he was sometimes under the influence, if you
know what I mean. But he teased the evil, he challenged it. And eventually the evil decided to
show him who rules the wood.

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One day, at the end of autumn when you could smell burnt grass and leaves in the air,
Wadek went to a felling on the southern side of the wood. Since he had quite a bit of work to
do he didnt check the time and didnt notice that afternoon had come, which at that time of the
year usually brought a sudden chill. The abrupt cold reminded him that it was time to go. So
Wadek looked around, checked the sky to see if it foretold rain or wind, since it isnt safe to
walk through the wood during storms, and started walking down to the place where he had left
the tractor. A valuable piece of equipmentwe only had one in the whole village. But despite
the fact that he knew the woods as well as the back of his own hand, he got lost.
He was dreadfully angry with himself over this. Swearing furiously, he walked amidst
the goldenrods, looking for the road. Night began to fall, and if he missed the sign that he was
getting near to the tractor hed have to stay overnight under a tree. But he had absolutely no
clue where he was and where the tractor was. No clue at all.
Wadek slowly began to accept the fact that hed have to sleep on the ground, but he
was still cursing full-blast when, between the trees, he glimpsed human profiles.
Hi! Good evening! Hi! cried a delighted Wadek, running in their direction. He heard
laughter, and then whitish skin flashed again between the branches. Hi! Whos there? he
asked, speeding up, and after a moment he came to a little forest clearing.
In its centre there was a bonfire, burning high, throwing sparks up to the peaks of the
tall spruces. Around it danced four women, completely naked. They had large breasts and
buttocks and nicely rounded thighs, Wadek told me. They swept the green turf with their hair,
spun around like tops, and laughed. When they saw their guest, they immediately surrounded
him.

14

Welcome, welcome, our nicest! they said. Come to us, come, sit down in the
warmth. Eat with us, drink! they whispered, kissing him and stripping his clothes off. You
wont regret it, we will play with you all the way to morning! they promised, fawning over
him like kittens.
Wadek, stunned and anxious, wasnt going to let them seduce him. At home Basia was
waiting for him, and he loved her more than life itself. So although women writhed sensuously
and stroked him where they shouldnt touch him at all, he freed himself from their embraces
and escaped. He fought his way through forest for half a night, only to knock at my door and
confess the sexual urges hed felt. He begged for forgiveness and prayed that God would never
expose him to such a temptation again, because wouldnt be able refuse these seductive women
the next time.
Hey, it wasnt God who beguiled you with young girls! I told him. Not God.
Who then? he asked.
The fiend. He prepared this orgy for you.
What for?
Youd have found out if theyd been able to use you, but you escaped. And thats the
problem.
But why? What do you mean? Im here, theyre there! said an irritated Wadek.
Because now the evil wont rest until he gets the best of you. Beware! Watch Basia! I
warned him.
But Wadek wouldnt listen. He shrugged his shoulders, snorted, and went home. He
didnt tell Basia what had happened, nor did he warn her that something evil was sniffing
around their house. I told him at least three times that the devil would want to take his wife

15

away from himprobably to change her into a naked nymph. But Wadek still didnt tell Basia
anything, probably because he was afraid shed be jealous. He pretended that hed just been
late, as sometimes happened, and that was that.
He didnt have to wait long to see what an angry devil can do. Basia, whod always
been healthy and strong before, became weak. When the weather was normal, she worked as
she always had. But when it began to blow she endured absolute agonies. The moment the
foehn wind started battering the door of the barn and pulling at the laundry drying on the line,
she would suffer an unbearable migraine. She would lie on the sofa or on the bed and literally
howl with pain. Her voice rang out balefully, like the crying of a wolf caught in a snare, and
could be heard all the way to Laliki. I visited her more than once to try to remedy these pains,
but neither holy water nor incense helped. Wadek might have been able to do something about
it if hed been willing to appease the fiend, but he didnt want to hear about it, so each time
Basia suffered and slithered as if she were afflicted with a stroke or some inexplicable palsy
until the wind would finally cease.
One day in October, when Wadek went to the forest and Basia was collecting
sunflowers in front of the house, she felt the first breeze. She knew very well what was coming
and that she had only a few minutes before the headache seized her. She threw the heavy
flowers to the ground. Seeds sprinkled from them into grass, and Basia raced off home. Not
bothering to take off her clothes, she got into bed in their bedroom and began to cry into the
pillow as the pain grew from hour to hour.
In the end, evening came. The sun drowned in the pass and dusk fell. Branches, winging
in the wind, scratched the windowpanes, and the foehn wind raged. In spite of the noise, amidst
the booming and thrashing, Basia clearly heard a knocking at the door. She was going to ignore

16

ither head ached so badlybut it came again. Once and once more. Like it or not, convinced
that it was a neighbor, Basia managed to get up and open the door. But instead of a neighbor or
a woodcutter, a stranger stood on the doorstep. He was attired in a black coat and a shabby hat
with a cocks feather. Green. He was, of course, a devil. At last, he had come personally to get
his victim.
Good evening! he said and bowed slightly. May I come in and stay the night in the
barn? Such weather.
Certainly, Basia replied, barely able to stand in the open door. She invited the stranger
to stay in the barn, mindful of highland hospitality. But she didnt want to let the guest into her
homeshed also been taught highland wariness as a child. Behind the house you go right.
You may draw some water from the well, she said, concealing her suffering with an effort.
Are you ill? asked the stranger. He had dark skin and penetrating eyes as black as
coal.
Yeseveryfoehn, answered Basia.
Perhaps I can help? suggested the stranger. There was something strange in his voice.
A spell of sorts, or such a generous promise that Basia, wracked with pain, hesitated for only a
moment.
Please, come in, she said in the end and opened the door.
The stranger went straight to the kitchen. There he took off his hat and removed the
feather from his hatband. He turned it in his fingers and then put it on the table.
A glass of water, he asked. Basia immediately filled one and gave it to the devil.
You wont hurt me? she asked.
Dont worry. It will get better! he answered.

17

You know what? Just go! Ill be fine! Basia said.

No, no, darling. Those who let me in are never sorry. Nowlook.
The man snapped his fingers and suddenly, from nowhere, a candle appeared. Another
snap summoned a faint flame to it. The fiend raised the feather and, having breathed on it, put it
into the fire. The flame leaped immediately to the soft down and in a blink of an eye the feather
was consumed and black ash fell onto the table. The healer murmured something to himself,
collected the black scraps into his cupped hand, and put them into the glass.
Drink! he ordered Basia, and she obeyed.
When she had swallowed the last drops, she felt the pain decreasing. As she put the
glass away the old agony still smoldered a little behind her eyes, but in another moment it had
blown over. Basia was cured. Forgetting her earlier anxiety, she rushed to thank the man in a
highland manner by offering food, but he turned it down.
Time to go, he said, and left.
As soon as the wind closed the door behind him, Basia felt a strange weakness in her
belly. Something whirled in her head, and she leaned against the wardrobe. The entrance hall
seemed to dance a lively Polish dance. Clinging to walls, Basia approached the door to follow
the healer and ask for help, but he had already disappeared and she was getting worse. And
worse still. She felt a fire inside her. Down in her belly there was a strange, powerful heat.
She decided to go and find her husband. Wadek should still be in the area where hed
been working that day so that he could wait for an end to the gale. She knew the spot. So,
stumbling and reeling, she walked through Laliki toward Pochodzita. She would probably have
gone through the village unnoticed, if not for old Pysz. This old grandfather is strange and likes

18

the wind, so he sat in front of his house and exposed his old bones to the warm drafts. Seeing
Basia, he grabbed her by the skirt and pulled her toward his bench.
Where are you going, my dear? Are you sick? he asked, seeing that she was shaking
as if with a fever.
I have to find my husband in the forest! whispered Baka. I feel so bad! This heat!
Something is eating me from the inside! She began to cry. Some terrible desire is boiling
inside me! I must find Wadek, let me go! I need his help! she tightened her fists on the edge
of her sweater.
Now? Its blowing! The wind will kill you out there! A widowmaker branch will get
you, or a toppling tree! replied Pysz.
But I have to! Basia said, struggling.
But what happened? asked the grandfather, alarmed by her restless eyes.
Devil! There was a devil after us! He poisoned me! I have to go! said Basia. And
then, by pulling away when he didnt expect it, she managed to break free and escape.
Of course the grandfather rushed after her, but his legs were old and clumsy. He fell
over after a few strides, rolling into a ditch and losing consciousness. And he lay there still,
under the burdocks, when Wadek finally made it back to Laliki. Through the entire night,
chased by the wind, he had driven his tractor through a forest full of uprooted trees, trying to
save the equipment. In the end, having hidden his stuff under some large beech trees, he went
on foot to Laliki. He should have stayed, but he went backstrange, but true. You should
always try to hide when its windy, but he didnt.
The wind went quiet, and the weather actually became nice. Wadek thought that soon
he would doze off, probably the moment he had something to eat. But disappointment waited

19

for him at homenobody was there. Of course Wadek immediately came running to the
presbytery.
Parish priest, Basia isnt there! Is she here? he asked in a single, hurried breath.
No, I havent seen her since yesterday I replied, and we raced back to search the
house.
We didnt find Wadeks wife, but we found old Pysz. He clambered out of the ditch,
sprinkled with foliage and pasted all over with ooze, and confessed that hed seen Basia
running in the direction of the forest.
She said that she was running to find you, said Pysz.
It wasnt hard to put two and two together: the wife and the husband had missed each
other in a forest thrashed by the wind. In the hail of sharp twigs and bark that had been sheared
from the trees, Basiaunused to getting around in the backwoodscould easily go the wrong
way, even though the place where Wadek had been working wasnt far away. Where was she
now? God only knew.
I started ringing the bells. They swung furiously, calling the residents to come and help.
The weight of the dangling heart tore the rope out of my hands, but I didnt care. I rose off the
ground, hanging loosely from the thick rope, and hammered the bell. After a moment, people
began to pour from their cottages. Everyone rushed to the church to answer my call.
I divided the residents into four teams. Alone, having exchanged my cassock for
trousers, I went with one of them, with the one who mattered, with Wadek. We moved as soon
as possible into the woods. We climbed, going along the bench on Pochodzita, searching thick
brushwood and calling Basia! Basia! Our words died somewhere in the bushes, unanswered,
but we kept going.

20

We wandered around for three days, eating anything we could and sleeping almost not
at all. Is seemed as though Basia had sunk into the earth. I was tiredI, and the rest of the
teambut we didnt give up. Sometimes even in midwinter someone from Laliki would get
lost, and then would be found, just like that, when he or she is deserving of the protection of
some of the good spirits that also live here. So we looked behind every tree, under every
branch, in hollows and caves. Nobody allowed themselves to think that Basia was dead.
In the end, we reached the lake, this one that were bathing in right now.
Go by the water and have a look around, we told one of the younger men. We sat
down on a tree that had blown down and started talking in hushed tones about nothing: me,
Wadek, Heniek, and two other men from the village. We had just laughedinappropriately,
given the serious situationat Henieks problems with his leg ever since his horse stepped on
it, when a scream came over the water. We looked at each other and raced off to the lake.
In the middle of the bright blue waterfrom the smooth, slippery depthsa body came
to the surface. Small, a womans. The figure was face down, as if she were examining the
bottom of the lake. Her hair waved in the delicate eddies. Her sweater swelled outward like a
ray. Basia. She had plunged into the icy depths, trying to extinguish the flames that had infected
her.
Wadek went pale, and I thought he would pass out. I came up to him, rested my hands
on his shoulders, but he pushed me away roughly.
No, no, no, no, no! Wadek cried, clutching his head. I have to save her! he
screamed like a madman, and rushed between trees. We caught him, but he broke free easily,
pushing us to the rocks. We fell like blades cut down with a scythe. He was strong, this
Wadek. Basia! Im coming for you! he called out, and leapt into the forest.

21

We got to our feet and returned to the stump on which wed been sitting. We didnt
chase Wadek, thinking that he would come back when hed cooled down and rethought the
situation. We sat, upset and tired. Silent, nothing to talk about. Even prayer seemed pointless.
None of us wanted to go to the water.
After half of an hour or so we heard the tractor. We could tell by the sound that it was
going fast. The engine raged, forcing the steel mastodon up a hill. We got up to see who was
coming.
The red tractor literally leaped from between the trees, dragging a trailer full of wood. In
the cab was Wadek, not quite sitting, not entirely standing, partly hanging from the steering
wheel. He headed toward the lake. We dodged to either side and he went by, ignoring us
completely.
Ill help you! he screamed over and over again.
He drove onto one of the flat rocks by the waterjust about there, look, on that one.
The tractor leapt into the air. It flew along with the trailer for a few meters, then tumbled down
into the water, dropping as quickly as a stone. For a moment we could see Wadek silently
shouting something under the surfacethen the water flooded his mouth. He drowned with the
machine. After a moment the surface calmed down and the body of the woman sank to the
bottom and settled on the tractor, snuggling up to the body of the man.
I swear that then, among the trees, something croaked. Frightened, we scattered about
the forest like quail chased by a kestrel. One by one we made our way back to the village. I
arrived last. For many hours I walked around the lake, fulminating against fate and wondering
how I could have been so recklesshow I could have failed to prevent a tragedy that I fully
expected to come.

22

Eventually the bodies of Wadek and Basia rose to the surface. I buried them behind the
presbytery. A few months later another wind blew their cottage away and dropped the pieces on
the peaks and passes. The basement vanished into the ground. The field became overgrown
with weeds. And so this terrible history ended.
-- 3 -I jumped out of the water like a crayfish leaping from boiling water. Trembling more
from terror than from chills, I wiped myself with clumps of dry grass and got dressed. Buba
lazily turned over by the waters edge. I didnt understandhow could he take a bath in this
cursed place? Callous! I fulminated deep in my heart.
Lets walk! I have to get back! I said in the end, having found my shoes.
But why are you in such a hurry? Buba rose from the water in a leisurely way.
The bus is coming soon.
Calm down. Well be in time. I have to get dried off.
He flung his cassock on, lay down on the grass, and closed his eyes. I thought he was
sleeping. A pair of ants marched across his belly. I walked from the bank of the lake to the trees
and back a few times, then finally sat down beside him. I didnt know the way home too well,
and besides that damn Buba had scared me and I was afraid to go alone. I had to wait until he
got up, calling him the worst names in my thoughts.
Eventually he decided it was time for us to go back. He got up, put his feet into his
running shoes, and smiled at meand I winced. I dont think he noticed it, because he said
something to me and we slowly moved back down the way we had come. It was very late, with
the sun almost down behind the mountains, and I froze in the coolness of the evening.

23

In the presbytery I quickly filled in the construction diary, not caring about the details. I
closed it as soon as possible and dashed off to the bus stop.
The bus arrived, puffing out black smoke, a little bit late. I have never been so pleased
at the sight of it. I got on, happy, and the vehicle moved onand in that moment I felt the
wind. It pulled fiercely at the grass. It bent the trunks of the trees to the earth, and then suddenly
attacked the bus. It slapped at the panes, rattling them and hurling sand at the sides of the bus.
Damn it! the driver swore loudly. Im not going to stop now or itll knock us down
the hillside! He stepped on the gas in order to get out of the pass.
The wind caught up with us easily. It hit the intercity bus straight in the windscreen,
then tore the left mirror away. It flew underneath and banged against the chassis, lifting the bus
onto two wheels. I caught the seat and prayed to be rescued. Then the driver stepped on the gas
again, rushing lower and lower as quickly as he could.
That turned out to be a good decision. We half drove, half slipped down the hill. At this
the foehn wind finally gave up. It got quiet. This wind will get me someday! I thought. It waited
for mebloody hell! Goddammit! And all the way to Katowice I sat up straight with tension.
When I finally saw the familiar blocks and streets, I cooled down. The city calmed me,
and I began to mock myself. How could Buba know about some devilish charm? After all, he
hadnt been at the Kopyciok house when the devil supposedly visited them! How would he
know so many details? Come on! He lied! I came to regard the entire story as a highland fairy
tale. Buba probably wanted to scare me so badly that I wouldnt come back to his building site.
Oh, over my dead body! I thought, angry with myself for having had such a panic attack. I
decided that Id go back.

24

-- 4 -About a month later I had to go back to the building site. I arrived very early on an
autumn morning, as lazy fogs came up from the meadows. They drifted into the sky, smoking
the sun out. The mountains looked like a miragea mirage in strange colours: yellow, red,
brown. I had the feeling that this view would disappear in a momentit was so delicate and
ephemeral.
I met Buba in the orchard behind the presbytery. He padded amongst rennet apples that
had been knocked down from trees. Lying side by side, the apples resembled cobblestones.
Buba collected them and threw them into baskets.
The wind blew, he explained briefly when I approached, then sighed, straightening up
with effort. Everything in the orchard smashed. Shall we sit down?
I agreed, and we sat down on the warm grass. Under my thigh I found a ripe rennet
apple. I bit it lustilyit tasted sweet. I delighted in the crunching of the fruit and Buba, being
Buba, started talking.
-- 5 -The foehn doesnt just influence peopleit affects animals, too. There was a family that
lived here two years ago. They arrived from SilesiaKatowice I think. Bronclik was their
name. They didnt live here full-time, they just liked the mountains and the fresh air. From time
to time they came by car, packed to the roof with stuff, to bake a potato casserole[KM2], drink
some homemade alcohol, and talk loudly in a Silesian dialect. They irritated everyone, but since
they lived in Laliki we had to put up with themthey were neighbors.
One day a dog wandered up to them, as big as a horse and pitch-black. Im sure this
beast had some wolf in himthey roam around the village in the winter. He had bristly hair
25

and his eyes were hypnotic, with a golden gleam. Im telling you, wolfIm sure of it. And he
may have been magic or enchanted. They named him Karino.
Karino looked like he was born to kill, but he was unusually calm. He never barked,
never attacked anyone, and never even glanced at the chickens that traipsed around Laliki. He
fawned on everyone and loved to eat wild raspberries. He stuck around the Bronclik family so
long that they decided to take him home. From then on Karino travelled back and forth with
them.
One day, when they were excitedly preparing for a barbecue, the wind came up. The
lowlanders looked fearfully at the sky, hurriedly collected their salads and bottles, and ran
home. For a moment this left their three-year-old son alone in the courtyard with Karino, who
would let the kid do whatever he wantedstick his fingers into Karinos eyes, grab his tail, and
so onthe usual stuff little kids do to big dogs.
But not this time. As soon as the adults disappeared inside, the dog bristled as if an
electric current had been sent through him. He straightened his tail, bared his fangs, and without
any warning attacked the child. He tore at the boy with his teeth, shredding his clothes and
mauling his tender skin. Of course the toddler shrieked, and the mother came running to help.
Driven by a mothers love, she leapt onto Karinos back.
The dog was strong and agile. He flipped over, knocking the woman to the ground, and
attacked her next, leaving the little boy alone for the moment. The kid sat down on the grass
and howled as if he were being skinned. The father bolted out of the house and was greeted by
an unbelievable sight.
The animal didnt kill the woman right away, though he could have. Karino attacked as
if he wanted to devour the woman alive. He would look, carefully choose the spot he was going

26

to aim for, and dive in, jaws open, tearing meat from the womans shoulder or some other spot
that looked tasty. Hed toss the piece into the air and gobble it down, choking on blood,
gnashing his teeth and licking his lips. When the father tried to approach, Karino rushed back
toward the child, threatening. I will kill him, if you come closer, he seemed to say. His eyes
glowed as if they burned.
I heard the familys screams from my office. At first I thought that it was some new
raucous game of theirs, but I realized after a moment that I could hear excruciating pain in
every sound. I sprang out of my chair and ran toward their house. Even from a distance I could
see what was happening. Im telling you it was a horrorblood, there was blood everywhere.
Without stopping, I passed them by and ran to grandfather Pysz, who was sitting in front of his
house as he always is.
Grandfather, get your shotgun, quick! I yelled at himhe was already a little bit deaf,
and besides I was shaking with adrenaline.
Without a word, Pysz grabbed his weapon. At one time hed been quite a hunter. By
this time he was ninety-something, but he still liked to shoot something from time to time.
Hoping for an opportunity to use his gun, he hobbled along behind me. As soon as we rounded
the fence, the foehn wind caught Pyszs hat and blew it off his head.
By the time we reached the Bronclik courtyard it looked like a slaughterhouse. The
woman lay face down, motionless, uttering small groans. Karino sat by her. From time to time
he would lower his head and tear another piece of her away. He ate the meat greedily, keeping a
close watch on his little hostage. The boy cried quietly and called for help. The father was
nearby, standing flat against the wall of the house, barely daring to breath because any
movement brought a deep bass growl from Karino.

27

Shoot him! I ordered Pysz, and he nodded. He slowly took the weapon from his
shoulder, released the safety, and took up a firing position. For a moment he stood utterly
stillI never even saw him pull the trigger.
The double-barreled shotgun barkedthen everything seemed to happen at once. Pysz
fell into the dusty road, thrown back by the guns tremendous kick. Karinos head exploded,
splattering the child and both parents. The mother rolled onto her back. The child ran toward
her with a shout and began pulling at her hands, begging her to get up. The father vomited
violently. And I froze on the spot, deafened by the shot and filled with a sudden relief that the
terrible butchery had ended. The large body of the dog slumped to the ground with a sigh.
The Bronclik family left the same day, having dressed their wounds as well as they
could with some help from me. A few weeks later they sent an agent. The man cleared out the
house, then sold it to some foreigner who made a hobby of collecting horrors. Fortunately this
voyeur of pain and danger never actually turned up in Laliki. And we threw Karinos body into
the river. It splashed and then sank.
-- 6 -As soon as the priest finished his story, the wind came up. It seemed to arrive from
nowhere, uninvited and unexpected. It thudded down from between the mountain peaks, rattled
the bald branches of the apple tree, tumbled down low to the ground to pull at the late autumn
flowers and scare away the bees, then rose again to soar over the village.
The devil has come in the wind, Buba muttered and got up. Something will happen,
youll see, somethings going to happen, he said, gathering his cassock with one hand and
running in the direction of the church.

28

Surprised, I followed him. I told myself that the story about the dog must have upset
Buba and that in a moment he would regain his usual, jovial moodbut my hopes were in vain.
As soon as we reached the presbytery, two people ran up to us breathlessly from the direction
of the village.
Dear priest, get in the car, were going to the bridge! they said, and immediately got
into the Fiat 126p, which stood in its usual place outside the presbytery. They got in the back
and caught hold of the headrests, gearing up for a rough ride.
Buba jumped behind the steering wheel and I got into the passenger seat.
Whats going on? Why are you running around shouting? Talk! he ordered severely.
Because Szalbot is fighting with Fajferek on the bridge!
Whats unusual about that? When they drink they fight.
But they werent drinking!
RightIm sure no one here has been drinking! the priest said, irritated.
Really, they didnt drink! the two of them smacked themselves on the chest, as if to
insist that they were telling the truth.
Whether they drank or not, whats the problem? Theyll fight for a while and then
stop.
We dont think so.
Why?
Because Szalbot has a knife and hes threatening to kill Fajferek. Its the devil again.
Hell really kill him, as sure as the sun rises. Hes furious and wont listen to anybody. He
chased him the length of Laliki, then caught him, knocked him down, and said that hes going
to slaughter him like a pig!

29

Damn it! Buba swore at the news and started the engine. He put the car into first gear
and shot forward as the car uttered a groan of agony.
We raced off in the direction of the bridge. It joined the two sides of a deep ravine that
opened just behind the village. It wasnt far, but wed get there faster by car, especially with the
pace that Buba squeezed out of the Fiat. So within a minute later I could see the bridge, with a
sizeable crowd on it and more people approaching from Laliki. But we were faster. We
overtook a large group of locals and reached the spot first.
Leaving the engine running, Buba jumped out of the car. He hurried into the crowd,
where everyone tried to talk to him at once.
Priest! He went mad! said one man.
No, it wasnt his fault! The wind, the wind drove him crazy! yelled another.
Let the priest chase away the evil! The one thats inside Szalbots head! said a
woman.
Buba approached the men on the bridge. Fajferek lay on his back, as flat as he could
make himself. Szlabot sat on his chest with a knife to his throat. Im not used to this kind of
thing so my knees were shaking, but the priest seemed calm.
Let him go! he ordered.
No way! the highlander replied.
Let go, before you piss me off or youll be sorry! Buba threatened.
No.
Son, the priest said quietly. Wake up! In the name of the Father and of the Son. Are
you going to murder an innocent?

30

Him, innocent? Szalbot laughed. His cow keeps coming onto my land, eating my
rye! Do I get any compensation for it? No! Szalbot glowered with bloodshot eyes.
Uh-huh, Buba seemed satisfied with this explanation. Thats true. He should pay for
the damage. So kill him.
Kill?
Uh-huh.
Really?
Yeah. You said yourself that its got to be done.
But can I?
You can do anything. You have free will.
Wellno. Itd be better to kill myself! Szalbot jumped to his feet, ran two steps to the
fence, and put the knife on his own throat.
The crowd hissed and went quiet. Horrified women covered their mouths with their
hands and hid children in their skirts so they couldnt watch. Men waited to see what Buba
would do. And I waited too, fixing my eyes on Szalbots shivering hand.
The parish priest looked at his feet, then slowly took a rosary out of his pocket. He
kissed the cross and tightened his hand on it. Then I noticed that in addition to the rosary,
something else hung thereit looked like a locket. It flashed, shining gold and then
disappearing between the priests fingers. I didnt see it well, and I didnt have a chance to ask
what it was before Buba began to speak.
For the sake of your Mother, he began, Im telling you: give it up, son! A breeze
filled his cassock. You dont deserve death, neither you nor anyone else whose time hasnt yet

31

come. Evil is stirring up this fight. Evil is leading you. Dont listen to it! I am telling you:
disobey! Buba shouted loudly.
This seemed to bring Szalbot around. He staggered a little, rubbed his cheeks with a free
hand, and dropped the knife. Two of the bystanders immediately rushed to him. One kicked the
knife away, knocking it over the edge and deep into the valley, and the second twisted the
madmans arm and pushed him against the barrier.
Quiet down, neighbor! he said in a calming tone. For your own good.
Buba breathed and wound the rosary into a ball. I noticed that he closed his hand on the
locket and shook it twice, as if shaking someones hand in greeting. Apart from me, no one
seemed to notice. The crowd watched Szalbot, astonished that he was now as calm as a lamb.
A few applauded.
Who has vodka? asked the priest.
I have! answered a young man hastily, handing the bottle to the priest.
Drink! Buba ordered Szalbot, handing him the booze. When Szalbot put the bottle to
his mouth, Buba took hold of the bottom and held it up at an angle, forcing Szalbot to drink
several large gulps, so bitter that he had to shake it off.
Kociniak! shouted Buba to the horse-lover from Laliki. Take him away! he waved
his hand more or less in the direction of Szalbot. To Laliki. Tie him to the cherry tree in your
backyard. Firmly. I will take the engineer to the bus stop, and when I come back I will take care
of him. Lets go! he urged and turned to me. Get into the car! he said. I heard fear in his
voice. I hurried to get in and in the process clumsily banged my shin with all my might. I swore
under my breath.

32

Whats wrong? I asked the priest, who jumped behind the wheel. The wind battered
itself against the car door, startling me, and I hurried into the passenger seat.
Hes searching for a victim! muttered Buba, tidying up his cassock.
What? I screamed terrified. Searching for what?
Victims!
Whos searching?
The wind.
What do you mean? What the hells going on here? I gritted my teeth in irritation.
The wind brings disasters. It wanted to the end someones life. Since it failed with
those two, it will attack someone else.
Who?
You.
Me?
Uh-huh.
Nonsense.
I dont think so. The car shivered, shaken by the wind, as if it were agreeing with
Buba.
Why?
Because youre the weakest. We have to run! We have to get out of here! Buba put
the car into first gear, turned it around virtually on the spot, and ran it down the hillside while
singing a church song in his deep voice. When in a bad hour the wind will blow straight into
the house, my house on rock will be standing!

33

Seeing that we were fleeing, the wind went mad. It slammed against the windscreen,
tearing the wipers off. It hurled dust and gravel and burdock leaves against us. It rocked the car
in every direction, trying to topple it over. But Buba remained focused, going down and down.
He craned his neck like a hawk, tightening his hands on the steering wheel and somehow
holding on to the road. The car slid for a moment onto the shoulder and stones rattled against
the chassis. I tightened a hand on the door handleafraid that I might accidentally open it,
given the way the car was shaking and the worn-out state of the doorand held my breath. At
that moment the engine stopped, the wind stopped, and it became quiet.
Hey! I laughed vacantly. It gave up! I was relieved, but Buba shook his head.
The worst is still before us, he said gloomily.
Unfortunately, he was right. The car, without any more resistance from the wind, sped
up on the incline. The road was very steep, so in just seconds it was going at a dangerous pace.
Trees whistled past. The car went faster and faster and then faster still. And then I felt
something more. In a last murderous attempt, the wind had started to blow at our back, making
us careen even faster.
The Fiat dashed downhill at more than eighty miles per hour. The landscape on both
sides merged into a single, smeared stain. For a moment I actually considered jumping out, but
it seemed like certain death. I dug my fingers into the seat. The body of the car creaked as it
shook. I started to scream and Buba sang in a raw voice:
Oh, please protect us, Father in the sky, we, your children entrust to you our fate. You
will bless us, save us from trouble and protect us from evil, when a blow is threatening!
Whether the water is calm, whether waves are booming out, you care for your children. We
offer you our prayers, today to your glory, because you are our shield, God our Father!

34

The speedometer was tilting toward its upper limit. The car approached the bottom like
a rocket. Buba still more or less managed to steer it, heading toward the little square for
intercity buses. I stopped screaming for a moment. Then, on the right-hand side, a tractor-trailer
loomed up from a dirty road.
The semi was carrying a load of logs, which gleamed like oiled skin. Under them there
was maybe two meters of spacewe might just manage to get through. The priest put his
weight on the brake, but the car didnt even slow down and we rushed directly at the truck.
Buba never stopped singing, while changing gears to try to control the car. I went quiet and
waited for merciful death, staring at the approaching semi. A shout from the priest shook me
out of my stupor.
Head down! Buba yelled. Without a thought I bent to the floor. The priest forced
himself down low in his seat. I heard a short, deafening grating sound when Buba pulled as
hard as possible on the handbrake. The car spun twice, revolving on its own axis, and stopped.
We had passed under the load of wood without harm.
I got out of the car feeling as if my legs were made of jelly. I barely managed to slam
the door shut.
What was that? I asked with a whisper.
The wind.
The wind? Whats that supposed to mean? I demanded.
The windits always been like this with the wind here. Buba shrugged his shoulders
and also got out. The wind hates Laliki. Why, no one knows. Evil isnt always logical.
Anyway, if it doesnt cause a catastrophe here from time to time, it goes crazy. If it plans a fire
or a downpour, a fire will burn and the rain will pour down. If it wants to kidnap somebody,

35

itll lead them astray so they walk off into the wild. It wont rest until it destroys crops. When it
decides to kill someone, it has to kill someone, Buba threw a furious glare upward, But not
this time! The wind howled contemptuously and then went quiet, as if acknowledging that it
had lost the skirmish.
And what about Szalbot? I stammered out hoarsely
What does it mean? Nothing.
Isnt he the one whose son hanged himself? I asked, recalling the man from my first
stay in Laliki.
The same. He misses Janek, hes just overwrought. He goes crazy from time to time,
and each time I have a hard time telling if its from grief or from the wind. Every couple of
days I have trouble with him. Buba rubbed his forehead. Well, this is his fateto suffer.
What about an exorcism? I suggested. The priest waved a hand.
Useless. Hell stay tied to the tree for a while. The devil cant stand boredom. Kociniak
isnt going to untie him. By tomorrow people will forget the whole thing. See you! he said
suddenly, jumping into his car and driving away.
I stood looking after him and wondered whether I would ever come here again. It didnt
feel likely.
-- 7 -What I felt didnt matterI had to go to Laliki. The construction project required a
summary report and the completion of thousands of forms. Buba couldnt do it alone, so I
packed about ten kilograms of papers and took the bus back to Laliki.
When I arrived, the bell swayed in the wind. But the breeze was gentle for the moment.
The malicious wind was gathering its strength, waiting to blow people from the treetops. It
36

lurked amongst the passes and waited for a strategic moment, temporarily teasing the cows in
meadows.
I sat down with Buba in his office and we went through the documents. We had just
checked the entries in the calendar when a deep silence fell: the birds went quiet, the insects
stopped buzzing, the grass stopped shushing.
Whats going on? Buba muttered. He was already on his way to the window to have
a look when the wind came up.
It exploded suddenly, attacking the village without warning, blowing down trees and
tossing branches at people. The citizens of Laliki, shielding their heads with arms, rushed to
their houses as if to hide from an air raid. The wind roared like a mad tiger. Personal belongings
flew everywhere: clothes, garden furniture, tools. Blowdowns, brooms, buckets, plants and
flowerpots, fences and shinglesliterally everything what wasnt firmly attached to the ground.
This is going to be really bad! Buba prophesied. But contrary to his fears, as
suddenly as it had started, the wind stopped blowing.
Thats it! It was a bit stupid of me to rejoice so prematurely. Buba looked at me as he
might at a foolish child, shaking his head.
I dont think so. Look at the road. he nodded toward the window.
I looked. I was speechless. The road into Lalikiand out of itwas entirely covered by
rubbish that had been blown there by the gale.
Yeah, youre not going home today. Buba shrugged. Our old friend is probably
planning a show for this evening and he wants you in the audience! he laughed. Well, dont
worry, we will clean up a bit and then youll have a nap at my place. Theres no other way.

37

Working with the rest of the townspeople, we managed to finish clearing the village of
rubble just as it was getting dark. Then, after a supper with Buba, I went to his guest room. It
was on the first floor, above his officea modest room equipped with a narrow bed and a
bedside table. A Bible lay on the cupboard. In the corner I found a bowl and jug, which I filled
with water from the well. I splashed myself a little bit, then lay on the bed, which smelled of
hay. Pleased, I half-closed my eyes and watched the light of the moon as it crawled along the
grey walls. The night was completely quiet. The rays of light wavered soothingly. I closed my
eyes and sighed deeply. I was exhausted from clearing wood and other debris from the road and
I needed a good dose of sleep.
And of course just then it started blowing again. At first gently, seductively, as if evil
wanted to apologize to me for the events of the afternoon and was trying to help me to sleep.
Nice I thought, covering my back more completely with the duvet. But after a moment the
foehn wind began to get angry. First it scraped through the courtyard with steel bucket, then
howled between the poplars. Seeing that I was ignoring it, it slammed the shuttersonce, then
again. I covered my head. It lifted a large piece of corrugated iron from the construction site
and hurled it against the wall so firmly that that the building shivered.
This was way too much. I jumped out from under the duvet and opened the window,
where earlier the wind had come knocking.
What? What do you want? Go away! Night is for sleeping for Christs sake! I
screamed, but the wind of course didnt listen. It blew and blew, howling mercilessly. Helpless,
I rushed back to the bed. There was no chance I would fall asleep. I was still angry, tossing and
turning, when amongst groans and hisses of the wind I heard a distinct call. The voice came

38

from the chapel. I could hear it, but I wasnt able to distinguish words. I sat up in the bed. The
voice cried out again.
Come here, come here! it said. Whats happening? I thought. A trap? But the voice
called again, more and more insistently. After a moment of hesitation, I got up and decided to
force my way to the church.
I put on my jeans and cautiously opened the door of the room. Soot suddenly puffed
from the vents in clouds that looked like dancing devils. I shouted in surprise, but I didnt back
down. These were cheap theatrics, not real threats. I slowly went toward the stairs.
I slipped down noiselessly and put my ear to the door. Outside, the wind raged. I sighed.
I have to go, I told myself and hurried out into the courtyard.
The wind immediately swept me off my feet. I fell onto my back, then turned onto my
belly and grabbed the grass in order not to fly away. I pulled my knees up, and on all fours I
moved through the courtyard.
Help, help! another cry reached me.
I was sure that it was Buba, whom I hadnt seen since leaving the guest room. I waded
arduously through the storm, the cool earth sticking to my knees. The wind attacked from every
side, but I didnt stop. In the endI couldnt say how much laterI reached the church. I
grasped the door and pulled myself up until I was standing. I pressed the door handle and
almost fell inside, shoved by the wind. Behind me the solid door slammed shut, as if yanked
into place like a marionette, and a deathly hush fell.
I reeled a little, making my way into the new chapel, which I had helped to build. From
the stained glass, the faces of the saints watched me. Pleasant by day, the figures now seemed
to be laughing at me.

39

Parish priest! I cried out. My voice echoed. The silence became even deeper. The
saints in the windows looked at me as if I had told a foolish joke.
Just as I was about to begin laughing at myself for my own stupidity, a wall of air with
the strength of a tornado struck from the south. It smashed a fist through the stained glass,
which shattered into hundreds of pieces and showered me with a brocade of dust. I instinctively
closed my eyes or I would have been blinded. It ached. It baked. I felt that blood was pouring
from all the areas of my skin that hadnt been shielded by clothing. Chips of glass jingled upon
the floor and then their sound died away. I looked reluctantly at my arms.
Shit! I looked like a hedgehog. I had covered my face with my arms, so they had been
hit hardest by the hail of glass shards.
I tilted my head and listened closely. I was sure this wasnt the end of it, and I wasnt
wrong. The wind came quietly, on its toes, rounding the church and hitting it from the north,
crashing into the stained glass window that portrayed the Holy Family. Shattering glass
exploded and sprayed in all directions. I fell to the floor and crawled toward the altar, searching
for sheltera board, a scrap of cardboard, anything I could use to cover myself. But there was
nothing like that in the empty chapel. The wind, meanwhile, headed to the east, to the next row
of windows. It would bury me alive under glass. Or maybe wait until I died of blood loss. I was
afraid. GodGod, help me! I began to pray deep in my heart. And then I heard Bubas voice.
Who the care of God accepts, and with all his heart frankly trusts him, may say with
courage: I have a defender, no terrible terror will come to me! The priest waded with
crunching footsteps through the broken stained glass of the windows. He dragged a sack full of
cartons and boards. Get up boy! Lets save the front section! he cried out. I felt I had no
choice but to fight the foehn windif I sat moaning it would surely kill me.

40

We rescued just two stained glass windows, covering them with cartons and boards. The
wind attacked, trying to destroy them, but in the end they were safe. Nor could it do anything to
us. Tired and dirty, we spent the entire night singing church songs, over and over again, while
the wind raged, shrieked, and fulminated, finally leaving at dawn.
-- 8 -We slept till the noon. Then Buba pulled me out of bed and fed me fried eggs with burnt
butter. It tasted great, though it stank a little.
After breakfast we dressed our wounds while the locals began to clean up the village,
which looked like the battlefield, and the chapel. I filled out the reports Id come to complete,
signed my name to the last one, and started collecting my things to go home.
Buba accompanied me to border of Laliki.
Goodbye Zbyszek! he said, embracing me. Thank you for your help. You have a
great gift, boy. The wind respects you now. Earlier it attacked you, thinking you weak, but
today its willing to get rid of you and your power. And not everyone can chase it away. One
way or another you must eventually take thisresponsibility, he concluded. I didnt know
what to answerI had no idea what he meant.
I waved to Buba and started down a route covered with pine needles, jumping over tree
trunks. I looked at the treetops. They looked innocent, those fluffy pines and soft beeches. What
lives there? What does the wind want? I asked myself as I went down.
-- 9 -I returned to Laliki a month later. The first frost covered the grass, crunching underfoot.
The very air coagulated, as if it to wrap up the mountains. On the trees, the leaves had gone
missing, and in front of the church the mallows were already gone. And there was no car.
41

Undeterred by the possibility that Buba might be out, I headed straight to the office. I will wait,
I decided.
I entered with a Good morning and stopped, surprised. A strange priest sat at the
table. He looked like a tired stick insect.
Wheres Buba? I asked him, not very politely Im afraid.
He left. Now Im here. Stanisaw Kukieka. He introduced himself without getting up.
Hed probably decided that if I was going to be rude, he would be too. I was reminded of the
importance of good manners.
Zbigniew Linert. Im an engineer. Supervising construction. I introduced myself
hastily. I arrived for the receipt. I explained.
Well, answered Kukieka. Lets get it over with. He sighed and took me outside.
And where is Buba? I repeated.
He prayed too little and played games too much. said Kukieka, and pulled the belt of
his cassock more firmly shut.
He wasnt very forthcomingId never find out from him where the other priest had
gone, so I walked over to find talkative old Pysz.
Ah, well! said the old grandfather. They sent him abroad. They said he had a
mistress. I dont believe itthe one they say was his mistress, shes as ugly as sin. But they
told Buba to leave. He left in a flash and that was it.
I was surprised. I couldnt see Buba with a girl. He didnt seem interested in anybody,
didnt even have a housekeeper. I ignored Pyszs explanation, but nobody was able to tell me
anything more believable. People had invented all kinds of bizarre grounds for his dismissal.

42

So I went to the curia. They ordered me to leave the matter alone and to mind my own
business.
Matters of the church arent secular matters! said the priest whom I asked about the
circumstances of Bubas disappearance from Laliki. Mind your own business or youll be in
trouble! He threatened me so fiercely, I was actually afraid.
I shook my head and forgot about Laliki. I had finished the construction, after all. I
signed the technical approval documents and left Laliki as the first snow started to cover the
mountains.
-- 10 -December came. On Christmas Eve, full of my mothers carp and vegetable salad, I
walked back home through snowdrifts that looked like meringues. The snow came down thick,
and the air was so freezing cold that my fingers and toes went numb despite gloves and kneehigh boots. I was relieved to reach my own block.
When I opened the door downstairs I almost couldnt feel my nose. I stopped in the
vestibule, and the warm air of the corridor seemed to burn my cheeks. It smelt of cabbage and
sparklers.
I glanced at the post-box, forgetting for a moment that it was Christmas Eve and the
postman wouldnt have come. But a letter lay in my section. I reached for it, curious as to how
it had come to be there and who had written it. In one move I opened the creased envelope.
Inside there was a postcard. A typical Christmas picture was printed on the front, with a
Christmas tree and carolers singing. A Christmas mummer disguised as a barnyard animal had a
brocade star in his clutches. After glancing momentarily at the art on the front, I quickly turned
the postcard over to see who had sent it. Micha Buba, I read out, then looked at the text.
43

Dear Zbyszek! the priest wrote. Ive left Laliki to go to Lithuania. My superior sent
me. He couldnt bear this matter of the foehn windit isnt worth writing about Buba said of
his conflict with curia. Laliki is cursed, he continued. The wind wants to destroy itto
scour the hill, leaving no trace of the village. My job was to defend the place, but they wouldnt
let me because it wasnt being done in a Christian manner. They dont understand that this is
essential. Anyway, after I left I didnt reach my intended destination. Where am I? Not
important. Im looking for some help thats stronger than what I have now. I will come back to
complete the matter with the wind once I figure out what to do. Meanwhile, do my work.
Defend Laliki. I am leaving you the medallion. Carry itit will protect you. Without it, you
will dieboth you and the village. Yours truly, Micha Buba.
I read the message three times before I more or less understood what he was saying. A
talisman! I grasped meaning of the medallion on Bubas rosary. I shook the envelope. A small
medallion fell out of it, on a thin chain. There was a Mother of God on it. Beautiful, surrounded
by stars, and above her head were a moon and a sun. She resembled the image of the Tarot card
The World, which Id seen in my grandmothers deck.
I went to my apartment and made some tea with lemon. I sat in the armchair and
decided to think this through carefully for at least an hour. But there wasnt that much to think
about.
Well, what am I supposed to do? I asked myself after three minutes. Go there? Live
there? Give everything here up for some bizarre story? I shrugged my shoulders and shook my
head. Not happening!
I put the postcard between two books and the medallion in a large jar of buttons. After a
few months, I forgot. About Laliki. About Buba and his strange stories. And about the wind.

44

-- 11 -In Beskidy I built a dozen or so churches. The success of Laliki motivated nearby
parishes, so I went from the village to the village, checking, measuring, and verifying the
compliance of each building site with its plans. I heard many stories about the wind and the
ominous creatures that ride it. With time I got used to the highlanders fantasy, and during the
foehn wind I started treating reports of two-headed calves and trout raining from the sky as
harmless chatter. In Beskidy the wind blows almost all the time, and in the end I barely noticed
it. And then, what an irony, the foehn wind got me.
Two years after first meeting Buba, I began construction of the church in ka, near
Laliki. It was a large-scale project, which would produce a church similar to Jasna Gra in
Czstochowa. I was responsible for calculating the carrying capacity of the structure and
supervising compliance with legal requirements. Proud of having such a prestigious task, I
moved to ka in order to track the progress of the work on the spot.
Before the diggersas slow as crabsgot down to gnawing holes into the ground, to
later be filled with concrete, I made some calculations regarding the structure. I was supposed
to assign a thickness that would support any load that might be requiredbearing walls and
ceilings that would stand even the bitterest wind and the weight of mighty pipe organs. We
couldnt have the church collapsing, after all.
As always, I was careful, going over everything twice. I wrote all the steps in my
calculationsusing my precious thin pencilon scrolls, which I call support sheets. If theres
any problem on the site, the support sheets let me check my chain of reasoning and, if
necessary, return to my calculations.

45

As I sat looking at my sheets, I heard the wind. It lashed at the window and I got up to
close it, looking outside as I did. In the distance, the tips of the spruces were almost combing
the grass. Thats a strong windany moment now itll be in the village! I thought, then went
back to my work. It was going slowly and laboriously, but I persisted. About midnight, I went
to bed. The foehn wind hammered at the door, but I ignored it.
In the morning, on the basis of my support sheets, I filled in the main sheet, and a few
weeks later we went forward with the structure. The walls climbed higher and higher at a crazy
pace. Id never seen an army of builders like these. They worked so fast! They slammed down
brick after brick as they constructed walls, all the while pouring concrete on the ground beams.
I was proudthe pride of the creator.
When the uppermost, final floor was complete, I proudly stuck a bouquet on it to
celebrate the end of construction.3 The only thing that was left was the roof, on which the
wooden bell tower would stand. Excellent! I was happy, so happy.
I carefully climbed down the ladder and glanced back up. Fast-moving clouds
disappeared behind the building. I began to feel anxious. At a higher altitude a wind was
blowing. Down on the earth I felt nothing, but the fleeing clouds showed that something was
going on with the wind above our heads.
I decided to say something inspirational to my team. I turned to them and smiled. I
hadnt even opened my mouth to speak when I heard a dull grinding noise, then another. I
whirled around to look at the building and saw exactly the terrible thing that those sounds had
led me to fear: two huge cracks now ran along the main wall.

3 Its a Polish custom, when a building is finished, to mark the occasion by putting flowers

or fresh tree branches at the top.

46

They wouldnt have been a big problem if they had only affected the plaster, but I could
see clearly that they reached much deeper. Its going to collapse, I thought, and exactly that
happened. Cracks started to open slowly in the top floor, crushed under the weight of the
ceiling. It was beautiful and terrible, all at the same time.
Prop it up! Prop it up! I screamed, although I knew that it was already too late.
The bricklayers, instead of trying to rescue the construction, hurried away, and I stood
and stared open-mouthed, watching for the inevitable climax. It came in a fraction of second.
With a huge booming noise, cracks broke open as if they wanted to swallow me. The building
moaned like a tired strongman whos reached his limit. The structure rocked, and for a last
moment tried to keep its balance. Then it tumbled down, throwing a shower of concrete chips
into the sky and smashing the walls to pieces. Miraculously, I managed to get far enough away
not to be killed.
I stood amidst the debris for a long time, coated with white dust, simply staring at the
rubble. It seemed unreal, like a nightmare. Local people walked around the building site, the
priest came and went, and still I stood there, silent and disbelieving. I finally shook off my
shock that evening.
I am going to recheck my work, I announced to the faithful audience of gawkers, and
on stiff legs I walked away.
I went to my flat and took my calculations out of the cupboard. I went to the bathroom,
washed my face with cold water, and commanded myself to concentrate. I sat at the table and
began checking, from the very beginning, line by line. I examined every step, but everything
looked right. Every digit fit perfectly with the previous one. I inspected the work more than
once. If theres a mistake somewhere, it must be in the support calculations! I realized.

47

I found the additional sheets where I had put them, rolled up in a rubber band in a
drawer. I unrolled them and straightened them with my hand. I exclaimed wordlessly. My
calculations had been erased, as if someone had poured milk over the digits and, in their place,
written new ones. Incorrect ones, idiotic ones. I hadnt done it. I had only corrected a few
mistakes and then built the church.
Everything whirled in my head. Half conscious, I entered the bathroom and vomited. I
rinsed out my mouth with cold water and looked at myself in the mirror. I was a dreadful sight.
Just be glad youre alive and not crushed beneath your bloody church! I said to myself
and began to pack up.
-- 12 -The foehn wind may have brought shame to me, but it didnt manage to kill me. I was
immune to it, like Buba. After the incident in ka I knew that I could no longer ignore his
postcard, the medallion, the wind. It had challenged me, and I accepted its challenge.
I gave up my job in Katowice. I packed my things, hung Bubas medallion on its chain
around my neck, and moved to Laliki.

48

ABOUT ME
I was born and raised in the south of Poland, but a big part of my family lives
in the US and Canada. As a child, I always assumed that my English-speaking uncles and aunts must feel terribly lost in Poland, since speaking Polish
is something of a superpower. So, I resolved early on to master Englishthe
first word I learned was teddy bear.
I began my writing career in 2012, after leaving the IT industry. Several of my books were published in Polish, and were all successful and wellreceived. In 2015, I made the decision to switch to self-publishing and start
my international career. This was a tough decision, but I assumed that since
I can say much more now in English than just teddy bear, I might succeed.
My first book published in English was Absolute Sunset. I still wonder
how I managed to complete this projectI think it was a matter of meeting
the right people at the right time. I have always been lucky to meet people
who are really committed to their work. When I saw my book on Amazon

24
for the first time, I took a selfie with my computer screen in the background.
I look at it almost every day. Working on Absolute Sunset was a lot of fun,
so I decided to go ahead with translating and publishing all of my books in
English.
And, of course, I continue to write. I am seriously considering switching to writing directly in English. Ill probably give it a try, and my editor will
likely go crazy. But I have a strong need to keep moving forward, to learn,
to develop, to try things that at first glance seem impossible to accomplish.
This is probably why I love CrossFit and distance running. Im short
and thin, but I can lift heavy weights and finish a marathon with a pretty
good time. Im training to run a 100-miler next year, and Ill probably also
try a triathlon, and maybe something more extreme, like skydivingI love
to push the limits. Even better, all of my family members are willing to join
me. Our motto is Coollets give it a try!
When I write I like to push the limits too. I dont stick to one genreI
like to mix them to achieve the effect I want. I dare to do that because I have
my lucky sweater that I always wear when I work, even in summer. It is blue
and very thick. Whenever I leave the lucky sweater on a sofa or chair, my dog
Rafa uses it as a blanket. He is a small pinscher and loves warmth, so most
of the year he suffers and shakesPoland is really cold. His favorite place at
home is the floor in front of the fireplace. He also likes to step on my notes
and sometimes drinks tea from my cup. And eats my chocolates. He is not
a good assistant.
On the whole, I am a professional dreamer. What I want is to be able to
write till the end of my life. And to win a few awards, of course. I think one
should always dream big, it does no harm, and maybe one day the dream
can be achieved. I am steadfastI will keep on doing my job and keep on
dreaming.

25
Dont forget, you can visit me online at www.katamlek.com, where you can
catch up with my latest news on my blog.
You can also find me on:
t
Facebook at www.facebook.com/KataMlek,
t
Twitter at twitter.com/KataMlek,
t
Instagram at instagram.com/katamlek, and
t
Pinterest at www.pinterest.com/katamlek.
Stop by and let me know what you think of Absolute Sunset!

26

MY OTHER BOOKS
ONE GOD

Miran Zielinski has had enough of ethics and laws getting in the way of
progress. Nothingnot governments, not the church, and certainly not
lesser mencan hold back Mirans vision for humankind: immortality.
Miran will need wealth, brilliance, and ruthlessness to achieve his goal.
Andreas can provide wealth, but must be paid in his own currency, and his
price is high. Satia has brilliance and ruthlessness to match Miran, but their
mix is volatile.
Opposed on all sides, Miran will not waver from his goal of immortality.
The question is not whether he will succeed, but who will be left alive when
he does.
Based on real-world developments in biology and genetics, this sci-fi thriller
rolls relentlessly through unexpected twists and continuous shifts of power,
leading to a tempting, disturbing, and altogether-too-likely vision of the future,
where one corporation gains almost total control over the world.
Already a hit in Polish, the English edition will be published in 2016.
For updates visit www.katamlek.com/one-god or follow my blog.

LALIKI

Before the wind comes, you can feel in the air that something is going to
happen. When it rolls down the hills and races between the slopes, even a
tiny spark is enough to start fights between neighbors. The people are on
edge, animals are skittish, and plants wither and die.
Who is responsible? The one who rides the wind and comes to Laliki village
to trouble its citizens.

28
Is it possible to get rid of the devil, along with other problems, such as
nymphs, talking animals, cursed ponds, never-ending forests, demons, and
of course stubborn guys from Laliki? Youll have to read the book to find out.
A collection of short stories and folklore. Available in Polish, with an English
edition coming in 2016.
For updates visit katamlek.com/laliki or follow my blog.

LONG DREAM OF FALLING

Artists make poor mates. For example, take Kata and Lukeshe a writer, he
a photographer. Both married to non-artists, both emotionally dependent
yet completely self-absorbed. Both completely devoted to their craft, their
escape from reality.
Reality: the artists bane, banished by drinking, cocaine, and one-night
stands. Reality: constantly present in the forms of their stable, boring
spouses, whom they simultaneously need and betray.
Will Kata and Luke change their ways? Or will they sacrifice everything that
makes a person whole, in exchange for the freedom every artist needs?
A burning hot novel that gives an intimate glimpse into the life and work of
a writer and photographer; full of real-world events; following the lives of
extraordinary people who think they are worthless.
For updates visit katamlek.com/long-dream-of-falling or follow my blog.

THE 9TH OF JULY

Who can say if love is right or wrong?

Andrzej loves her daughter, to the exclusion of everything else. Helena loves
her son, although he is far from being a good man. Renata loves her dog
Orionshe has nobody else, and when Orion is gone, she plans to leave this
world as well. Antonina loves the arts more than people. Daniela loves her
dead husband.

29
And Janusz... and Ela... and others... All of them ordinary people, trying
hard to love in the right way.
Full of humor and unexpected twists, this novel explores what our lives are
really about. Through the eyes of different characters, it asks a simple question:
are we all the same? Do we all need love to survive?
For updates visit katamlek.com/the-9th-of-july or follow my blog.