Broken Hearts On Boulevard Unirii novel Chapter 45

Gert had not yet come out of his room. Claudio and Angelo sat on the terrace in the back of the hotel that overlooked the sea, on lounge chairs. I joined them there.

"How do you like the hotel?" Angelo asked.

"It's just fine. Nice clean rooms, close to the sea and best of all, the price is right," I answered.

That evening we decided to leave our cars at the hotel and go into town by taxi. I took along my new Sony camera that a friend of mine brought me from the United States. I took lots of pictures, even of the inside of the pizzeria where we ate. It was not bad considering the ingredients were all local and the pizza made by Bulgarians. What do they know about pizza?

For some reason, the taxi drivers waited for us until we finished eating. Unbeknownst to us, they didn't shut off the meters and they kept on ticking. When we returned to the hotel we were met with a surprise. A ride that had only taken ten minutes cost us fifty dollars.

The next morning, we went into town by car. Angelo was in the lead with his big impressive car. Heads turned at the sight of it. I sat next to Angelo in the front because I wanted to take pictures, while Elia drove the van.

We were lucky to find a legal parking space in the center of the city. Elia had to drive around a bit longer until he found a spot to park.

I hid my new camera under the seat. I was afraid that a thief, wanting to steal the camera, would smash the window of the car. At that moment I didn't imagine that something still worse than that was yet to come.

We met up with Elia and went looking for a good cup of coffee, as the coffee in the hotel was horrible. We saw a café with a mouthwatering selection of pastries and went in, sat down at a table and ordered.

When we had finished our coffee and cake and paid a ridiculously low price, we left the café.

As we headed back towards Angelo's car, he suggested that, since it was a beautiful day, we go to Sunny Beach.

Each of us turned in the direction of his vehicle. As we turned right towards Angelo's jeep, we could not believe our eyes. The spot where it had been parked was empty. The car was gone, as if it had flown away. Angelo called Elena, who rode in the second car, and she and all the others immediately came running. They began to ask passersby if anybody had seen anything, but everybody shrugged and walked away. They went into all the stores in the vicinity; nobody saw a thing. Just then a boy of about fifteen came by and said, "The car was towed away." We breathed a sigh of relief.

"It was most certainly the municipality or the police, but why? We were parked perfectly legally. Perhaps we were supposed to pay and we didn't," I suggested.

We took the van to the police station. Only the men went, they took Elena along to translate. The officer on duty was dozing and Elena's stormy entry woke him up.

"They stole our car," she shouted.

"Who stole your car?" he asked.

"The policeman said that the vehicle will be disassembled and sold to Russia within a day or two. Not a trace will remain and the thieves will never be found," Elena said angrily.

We returned to the hotel completely devastated. The fact that the Romanian insurance was not valid in Bulgaria made matters even worse.

"I have made only five payments and I still have forty-three more to make," Angelo said quietly.

That evening we all sat in Angelo and Elena's room trying to cheer him up and to instill some hope in him that the vehicle would be found and returned.

"Even if they find it, who knows in what condition it will be," Angelo said.

"The most important thing is that they find it. You can always repair it and have it painted," I answered.

As we were sitting and talking, there was a knock at the door. When Elena opened the door she saw the sour-faced lady standing there. She said a few words in Bulgarian and Elena turned pale and began to cry. She closed the door and said, "All is lost." She turned to Angelo and said, "A messenger from the thieves is waiting downstairs to talk to you."