When my dogs were young we often played a game when driving either to Budapest or to Vienna to pick up my friends from university
The game was simple the first to see a railway viaduct scored a point and the creature with the most points at the end of the journey was the winner
It was easy even I understood the rules.
But what I did not allow for was that I would become addicted
I thought I could control the habit but it spiralled out of control and if I did not see a viaduct for any length of time I began to shake
I can clearly remember my last sighting on the 12th of September this year or the six viaducts I saw on my birthday a couple of years ago
I am beyond any help and have tried to wean myself off by self-harming but that only brings me to orgasm
But what are viaducts?
Well to put it simply they are structures that span a valley or a gap between two higher points so that trains (mainly trains) can cross safely
They can be built from a variety of material such as bricks and wood
Most viaducts are quite beautiful
I envy their beauty
The viaducts in the main are given female names such as Hanna and Izabella
I suggested this to to my reflection that I should contact the authorities so that a viaduct could be named after her
She was not impressed
May I sit here?
I looked up and saw a rather tall woman standing in front of me
She was dressed in what appeared to be a silver suit
Of course
The railway station gets so crowded at this time of day
This station always seems to be grounded
What are you writing?
I am writing about viaducts
Viaducts I have been obsessed with them for years
I lost my parents in the Bia -Torbagy disaster in 1932
I am sorry to hear that
I have been after the bomber since then
Not a day passes without me thinking of my parents
They returning from Vienna and were due to meet me here at this station
Are you a writer?
No I destroy trains
I suffer from Symphorophilia
We are all fetishists under our clothes
I have no sexual organs
My name is Eszter what is yours?
Szilveszter
Do you have another name?
Matuska
I do not have a second name my name is just Eszter
I looked at the woman’s silver suit which was reflecting the artificial light of the station restaurant
Are you a lesbian?
Why do you ask?
Because your suit is very fashionable almost punk in appearance
Punks do not have sexual organs and are often lesbians
No I have to wear this suit when I am travelling
Where are you headed?
Nowhere in particular
And you?
Berlin I am going to photograph a number of German viaducts and then destroy them
There is one over there
I have already photographed it
It’s strange but I planted explosives under the viaduct over an hour ago but the express passed over the structure safely
Your explosives were most probably damp
The weather is very damp
Maybe
I walked across a viaduct recently
That is against the rules
Nobody saw me
What did you think of the viaduct?
It was an impressive structure
Have you ever been attacked?
No why do you ask?
It is not a good idea to cross viaducts you know
You are an beautiful woman and viaducts do attract the wrong sort
It is one of the two ways I travel
What is the other?
In my spaceship
The woman smiled
I would invite you aboard my ship but you are not a train driver
Does that matter?
Yes it does
So you only invite train drivers aboard your spaceship
Correct
Why only train drivers?
So I can breed with them
Breed with them?
Yes to replenish my race which is dying
Really
You do not believe me
Yes I do
What happens to the train drivers?
The woman looked at me and laughed
You are kidding me
No it was a sensible question
Well I eat them of course
That is why I need endless cups of coffee
Is that what happened to the driver of the Berlin train?
Yes
He looked diseased to me or at least distressed
He had a cold but was medically fit
So you mated with him
I mated with him in the rest room on the second platform
What would of happened if he had been infected?
I would not have mated with him
The only ones I do not mate with are the infected ones
What do you do with them?
I release them
But what happens if they come forward and tell the cops
They will not remember anything as you will not remember this conversation
I am the bomber who killed your parents
You have located me
Are you going to kill me?
No you will kill yourself one out of shame
History will not record you
You will be forgotten
But what about your parents
I have created new parents
They await me in my spaceship
The woman in the silver suit stood up and walked towards the automatic doors
She did not turn
Memo to self
I have just met a woman from outer space who seduces only train drivers and then eats them
No this sounds too fantastic
I have just met the oddest woman who said that she was from outer space and that she seduces and consumes train drivers
I think that she is a little mad
But then again she has poisoned my coffee
In ten hours I will collapse on a train in my own vomit
I will be robbed and my throat will be cut
My assassin will not be a Hungarian
But he will kiss me as I die
Reminder to self
This might make a good short story
It was raining as I crossed the viaduct
As I opened my bag to prime my bomb a wave of nausea swept over me
I fell on to the rails and could not move
I was paralysed
The express was due to cross the viaduct in fifteen minutes and its wheels would decapitate me and a trailing pipe that should have been repaired would disembowel what was left of me
I could not see or hear the train
On wet nights trains could be heard from miles away
It was due to have left for Vienna over two hours ago
I wonder if it has suffered staffing difficulties
Translated by the author