Якби навіть мені хтось сказав, що одного дня між мною і Богданом усе закінчиться, якщо все на цьому світі справді закінчується, бо гадаю, насправді жодна любов ніколи до кінця не закінчується, я б йому, гадаю, відповіла: не верзи дурниць. А мовила б це тому, що з першого дня сама про це знала. Як тільки його побачила, я побачила все, але це не було якесь передбачення, якесь пророцтво чи чаклунство, нічого подібного. Це було чисте усвідомлення того, що певний час ми будемо разом, разом до слини, до останнього подиху, а потім уже не будемо поруч одне з одним, продовжуючи натомість бути разом там, де ти кожної секунди перебуваєш разом із кимось, – у думках. Коли вранці ти збираєшся на роботу, поки чистиш зуби, поки автобусом добираєшся на інший берег Сави, поки перекладаєш – я перекладач, перекладаю фільми, – поки прасуєш і дивишся у вікно на спустілий нічний бульвар Нового Белграда, ти завжди знаходишся разом із кимось, і навіть більше – ти завжди з усіма, кого любив, не знаю, як інші, я саме так.
“I want your life,” wrote the girl I’d never met before.
She isn’t the only one. There have been periods when I can’t go a week without opening an e-mail like this from a woman somewhere between the ages of 17 and 25. I’m not a celebrity, a trendsetter or an heiress. I am an escort.
...
So why would some women want to duplicate my circumstances?
We could blame the usual scapegoats. “Secret Diary of a Call Girl” is a cutesy fantasy full of adventure and expensive fashion. One-time Eliot Spitzer date Ashley Dupre became known to the country as a tan, lanky beauty sporting designer accessories on a yacht. And so-called No. 1 Escort in New York Natalia McLennan recently released a memoir of her days making $2,000 per hour. But I think the causes are far more complex than a few pop culture artifacts. The glamour of prostitution can’t be traced back to the 1970s “Happy Hooker” Xaviera Hollander or the unrepentant schlock of “Pretty Woman.” It’s the persistent symptom of a society that still insists sexual desirability is a woman’s duty, and wealth is the most important hallmark of success. A young woman who is desirable is a young woman who wields power, and that power is often bestowed in the form of cold, hard cash.
Playboy: You want to be with people who live nearby and think exactly as you do?
Vonnegut: No. That isn't primitive enough. I want to be with people who don't think at all, so I won't have to think, either. I'm very tired of thinking. It doesn't seem to help very much. The human brain is too high-powered to have many practical uses in this particular universe, in my opinion. I'd like to live with alligators, think like an alligator.
Playboy: Even if you don't remember it, did the experience of being interned -- and bombed -- in Dresden change you in any way?
Vonnegut: No. I suppose you'd think so, because that's the cliché. The importance of Dresden in my life has been considerably exaggerated because my book about it became a best seller. If the book hadn't been a best seller, it would seem like a very minor experience in my life. And I don't think people's lives are changed by short-term events like that. Dresden was astonishing, but experiences can be astonishing without changing you. It did make me feel sort of like I'd paid my dues -- being as hungry as I was for as long as I was in prison camp. Hunger is a normal experience for a human being, but not for a middle-class American human being. I was phenomenally hungry for about six months. There wasn't nearly enough to eat -- and this is sensational from my point of view, because I would never have had this experience otherwise. Other people get hit by taxicabs or have a lung collapse or something like that, and it's impressive. But only being hungry for a while -- my weight was 175 when I went into the Army and 134 when I got out of the P.O.W. camp, so we really were hungry -- just leads to smugness now. I stood it. But one of my kids, at about the same age I was, got tuberculosis in the Peace Corps and had to lie still in a hospital ward for a year. And the only people who get tuberculosis in our society now are old people, skid-row people. So he had to lie there as a young man for a year, motionless, surrounded by old alcoholics -- and this did change him. It gave him something to meditate about.