The Randomness of Life~Chapter 94 for "A Little Drabble Do Ya" ~ Section VII Drabble Challenge

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Two and a half drabbles today:

Prompted by: He Came To Read ~C.P. Cavafy

He came to read. Two or three books
are open; historians and poets.
But he only read for ten minutes,
and gave them up. He is dozing
on the sofa. He is fully devoted to books -
but he is twenty-three years old, and he's very handsome;
and this afternoon love passed
through his ideal flesh, his lips.
Through his flesh which is full of beauty
the heat of love passed;
without any silly shame for the form of the enjoyment…

                                               


Young Illya Kuryakin sat in the V. I. Lenin State Library, seemingly overwhelmed by the sheer volume of …volumes archived there. The library designated by law was a place to hold a "mandatory" copy of every publication issued in the Soviet Union, but more specifically Russia; it meant there were millions of books for the reading...well almost, as there were some under lock and key as they were on the banned list.

The library had over 275 km of shelves with over 17 million books and serial volumes, 13 million journals, 350 thousand music scores and sound records, hundreds of thousands of maps and others. There were items in over 200 languages of the world, the foreign part representing less than 30 percent of the entire collection.

To say the least, the skinny blond was in his glory. When he was not on duty, this was his escape from from his dreary apartment, and the dull-witted oafs he was forced to live with; some of whom could barely read a newspaper, much less understand it.

Illya sat on one of the many couches made available for those who chose to remain and read there. His book of choice today...Lady Chatterley's Lover that had been translated into Russian. It was written by an English fellow named D.H. Lawrence, though surprised the young GRU agent the book had not been deemed unfit reading and added to the list of banned tomes.

He would not report it...let someone else. Since he was not taking the book from the library, there would be no record he had read it.

Illya dozed off as he read; his dreams were of ruby red lips, passionate kisses and other things, until someone woke him.

"Quiet Comrade. You are moaning in your sleep." A girl said to him as she passed by.

"Sorry," he blushed, returning the book to its proper place, and leaving quickly.

Perhaps such thoughts were better off dreamt in his own bed.

He would have to remember to lock the door...

Comments

[jantojones.livejournal.com]

What a wonderful little insight into young Illya.

Having read Lady Chatterly, I can understand those dreams of his :-) . Definitely better to have them somewhere less public lol.

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

So true. "D

Thanks for the compliment and commenting.

[lindafishes8.livejournal.com]

Having the privilege of free speech in this country makes it difficult for me to fathom other countries that don't.

I like IK's choice. :-D

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

There's been many a book banned in this country depending upon where you live. When I was in school books like The Catcher in the Rye caused a lot of controversy and actually became banned reading....not that it stopped people. (just like IK)

So you liked Lady Chattery's Lover? It was considered pretty raunchy in its time.

Thanks for commenting.