tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52956478046516537472024-02-19T11:37:17.300+01:00CREATIVE WRITING / FICTIONCREATIVE WRITING / FICTIONKenneth Nwachinemelu David-Okaforhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01053567276751518164noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5295647804651653747.post-34943021013328413032018-01-29T15:22:00.000+01:002018-01-29T15:22:51.836+01:00SHORT STORY — "A Poisoned Hide"<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When this next short fiction was first published, the nomadic Fulani herdsmen/cattle rearers and the settlers/farmers in the Jos-Plateau axis were having relational challenges. This was back in 1999. Several years down the line, what has changed?</span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cattle rearer with herd. Photo credit: theeagleonline.com</td></tr>
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<![endif]-->Copyright <span lang="EN-GB">Kenneth N Okafor </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "courier new";">♠ ♠ ♠</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 2.0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "constantia" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
night black Raven in full flight/</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 2.0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "constantia" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Is
a shroud of dark death in sight/</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 2.0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "constantia" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A
stern warning to the hearts of men/</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 2.0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "constantia" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Of
dread, a foreboding, an ill omen/</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 2.0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "constantia" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Whosoever
defies the embrace of the grave/</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 2.0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "constantia" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">His
sliver of mortal soul would save/</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 2.0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "constantia" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In
that day would come/</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 2.0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "constantia" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
Reawakening Age!</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2.0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "constantia" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>...A
Verse of the Raven Legend</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">“US$250 Million Lost to
Consumption of Cowhide!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">The stranger who clutched the
newspapers in grubby hands spat out the lead caption like an offensive
expletive. He sat up front, close-up to the bald driver who was chewing <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">goro</i> and spiting rust-coloured phlegm,
two rows away from me. When in a gravely voice, he translated the headline
verbatim to our mother tongue, his indignation aroused immediate attention
inside the cramped cauldron of a ramshackle bus in which we travelled.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">“How can they wish to do this
wickedness? Take away the meat of the masses! This is a conspiracy to deprive
our palates of our beloved cowhide. We have lost all exotic poultry, goat, then
ram to their whims and rapacious appetites and they are now after the cowhide.
Madness! Appalling and galling madness!!” He bemoaned the calamity of it all
with appropriate theatrics and infectious angst. He persuaded us he was
championing the cause of the underdogs, the masses. His ardour was completely
believable, totally sincere, and by the time he explained how vast the sum of
money involved was, the whole passengers were in mourning with him.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">How could government be losing
such resources because poor people are happy? How could government determine that
there were holes in their common purse because of ordinary <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kanda</i> which we eat?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My young
mind was baffled endlessly as I became infuriated. It sounded more like a
brutal fabrication, a white lie, a concoction from the fatal edge of vile
tongue.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">“I hope all of you have eaten
your last meals. We should prepare to die if they succeed. These are indeed the
terrible last days!” The newspaper owner proceeded to theorise that this
madness was the latest ploy of an insensitive government to drive happiness
from the lips of the masses and starve them and eradicate them from the country
for the rich to inherit the whole land. Shame on all schemers in all places
they be found. Absolute shame to them! The man’s voice carried deep conviction.
I believed the man because my father had once told me government was not to be
trusted since the made promises only to breach them. They always voted with
their feet when it concerned the followers. Why did government, social guardian
and law enforcer, hate me so?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">Then I remembered they were not
the first to poison the cowhide. The nomads were first!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "courier new";">♠ ♠ ♠</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">They came to our secluded,
bucolic community like a thief in the night. They came with a pressing need;
they were in search of pasture for their livestock. An eclectic bunch of dark-faced
herdsmen, the Wayfarers, and their herds of cattle of various hues – white,
brown and some mottled. In peace, they converged, like visitors of peace.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">A whiff of mystery surrounded
their arrival. The community woke up to an invasion of messes of animal
droppings. Anybody who set out for the farms early, through the bush trails,
apart from the dew of dawn upon the blades of elephant grass which could cause
debilitating cold, had to contend with stepping into the litters of dung as
well as the foul pungency that hung heavily the crisp morning draught. “What
sort of animal dropped its dung along the footpaths while we slept?” people
puzzled. “Was it the bush gorilla?” someone queried, alarmed. “How can it be?
Would there be this many gorillas and the naked eye of the master hunters and
the latecomers from the farm would not have seen them? Ini Quenti always
returned only after the Cockerel has gone to roost, you know that well. He has
never reported any sightings of gorillas.” “I hope that we are not about to
witness another invasion of elephants, the calamity which befell us twelve
seasons back?” “Elephants again? Heavens forbid. Fear not! You see as big as
the elephant is so is its droppings. Onoko the inveterate master hunter who
sees in the dark with cat eyes ever came across one and presumed he was staring at an anthill.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">And so speculations grew rife.
Several days thereafter, the unknown animal, which owned the droppings,
remained an elusive phenomenon. Until the herdsmen decided to stay beyond their
fleeting, nocturnal visits. Their arrival turned out to be an unexpected boon
to our crop yield because of the subsequent discovery that the messy droppings
incorporated into the vegetable beds could produce a fat yield. (Till this day
precisely who made the discovery remained fiercely disputed.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cattle dung soon became the scarcest farm
ingredient.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With little preamble the
nomads they settled into our lives, though they grazed on the fringe, in the
farmlands and the bushes, they were part and parcel of us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We coexisted in delightful symbiosis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And they introduced us to the pleasure that
up until then was not a common fare in the general menu: red meat and cowhide.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">It was Toti, the son of Ini
Quenti, my bosom friend, who turned up at his father’s farmland to discover the
herdsmen in distress, wailing that one of their treasured cattle had died
overnight from a cause which they could not fathom. Toti fled back home to
summon Ini Quenti. The distraught nomads waited for their generous host, Ini
Quenti, who had quartered them in his vast land, to come and showed to him the
carcass which they had already slit the throat to drain the life blood. He
commiserated with them over the irreparable loss and he got the carcass free in
return for his generosity. Again, being a man with a large heart, Ini Quenti
invited the whole clan to share. What great news. People came in their droves.
Some wielding cutlasses, some others brandishing cooking knives. A man and his
household were adventurous enough to try a hoe. Some without implement trailed
behind neighbours to borrow from them. Pa Gromyko earned himself the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">nom de guerre</i> of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Longer
Throat” when he and his boys appeared on the scene hefting a tree-felling
hacksaw.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">Soon the aroma of roast beef
hung tantalizingly in the air as hearths blazed.</span><span lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "courier new";">♠ ♠ ♠</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">For me personally the coming of
the herdsmen turned my world right side up. I approached them to get
acquainted. They answered my gesture with the language of silence because we
were not of the same tongue. But they spoke comprehensively to their thronging
animals. I marvelled at the feat. Also I observed how egrets came in their
wake, cavorting, the white fragile looking birds, trailing the cattle
everywhere, picking ticks from their shivering bodies. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My learning by observation was the least of my
benefits.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">Ini Quenti paid Ini Alesa a
very strange and unusual visit – Ini Quenti was not a man who visited, people
trooped to his compound to pay homage equal to his clout and his standing in
the clan. But he visited Ini Alesa.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">“The coming of the nomads has
been quite fortuitous for my household. Like a man gleaning ears of corn, I have
learned much from their symbols and their deeds. Both little and great things.
I have learned for instance how they are able to make their livestock trek long
distances without appreciable drop in weight. But I consider the best I have
yet learned is how the people ruling us from the land beyond our horizon
attempt to educate them in the ways and knowledge of the Whiteman even while
they graze cattle.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">The revelation caused quite a
stir in me more than in Ini Alesa, my second father, I could tell, tucked away
but within hearing distance. Few things can really inspire the man I have come
to despise. However Ini Alesa was gracious enough to feign interest and show
appropriate incredulity. “How can this thing you speak of be?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">“Do not wear a mask of
astonishment, Ini Alesa. Beyond our borders lies a world growing in directions
that our own generation, yours and mine, cannot fully comprehend. I, myself, do
not see it clearly yet my inner knowing nudges me it exists. The spirits which
guard the whole of creation whisper mysteries to me in confirmation. We have a
saying that wisdom is a handbag and each man carries his own according to size.
Wisdom tells me this is opportunity to seize for the coming generation.
Therefore, I have made the decision that if enlightenment is necessary for the
nomads, then it must be of immense value for my children. In the light of this
thought, I have decided that my eye and the first frits of my loins – Toti will
be sent to the City to acquire such knowledge. Odezi, your ward son, I have
observed, as my son’s steadfast playmate and confidante, is a conscientious boy
that kith and kin praise for enterprise and diligence. As I am assured of your
desire for a better life for him other than this back-breaking undertaking of
farming, I counsel you, in my wisdom, to send Odezi along with Toti. If they
are successful, heaven forbid that they will not be, others will tread their
footprints.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">That very peculiar visit of Ini
Quenti to our home formally marked the beginning, in earnest, the cumbersome
venture for my education. Unfortunately, there were no facilities nearby at the
time to afford us the possibility and access. That discovery brought much disappointment
in its wake. The nomads had also disclosed to Ini Quenti that they were
provided with special teachers who are to trail after them to the grazing
fields and their bush camps. Why could we not have teachers trailing after us about
the vast farm lands as well to impart to us this precious knowledge? Or had the
snail and its shell become separate entities?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">We languished in despair until
a clansman related to Ini Quenti who had long ago fled the community to the
City on self imposed exile showed up unannounced. At the expiration of his
tumultuous homecoming, he suggested that Toti and I migrate in his custody. My
joy was boundless.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "courier new";">♠ ♠ ♠</span><span lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">The rumble of disquiet began
imperceptibly, unobserved, but gradually fermenting. Ini Quenti started to have
minor misunderstandings with the herdsmen which no amount of apology seemed to
be able to reconcile. A little tiff, a heated argument there and a once cordial
relationship began to crack up. Animosities reached a head when the Farmers’
Friends Society came from the City with the amazing white powder they explained
to the villagers was the Whiteman’s manure – fertiliser, I would later come to know
it. The Farmers’ Friends Society members put the powder to the test to
demonstrate its efficacy. Ini Quenti was confronted with the dawning
realisation that he did not need the nomads any longer: the Whiteman’s manure
gave better yield than that of cattle dung. All said and done, when the moment
came for the nomads to vacate the farm land Ini Quenti acceded to them, they
chose to ignore his vacation order. This war of attrition festered until a very
unfortunate incidence.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">Udu bolted into her father’s compound
forecourt one day, dishevelled and disconsolate, raving that the nomads had
groped her while she mulched vegetable beds on her mother’s plot. Udu—as fair
and as radiant as the eye of the morning sun, a gazelle; provocative Udu, with
the jutting nubile breasts—was one of Toti’s siblings. What followed was a
shock: nothing happened.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">I say nothing happened. It was
bizarre. It was unsettling. People heard and insinuated that the man had lost
his manhood. His friends heard and were astonished that Ini Quenti who was so
jealous for his daughters had even been overheard admonishing Udu not to
recount the same story again. Was there something that could happen to a man to
castrate his clout so abruptly and he stopped being a man? At this juncture Ini
Quenti stopped being the principled man I respected.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "courier new";">♠ ♠ ♠</span><span lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">Ini Alesa sat on the superbly
crafted Gourd Seat, the seat of the master music maker, to play his fluted horn
with uncanny skills. Everybody admitted the gods came with pleasure to listen
when he played. The music he made was powerful and evocative. Then I almost
loved him.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">It was the withering look my
mother flung at him that stopped the track of my emotion. She was far from
impressed with his dexterity. My second father, I tried to think kindly, was a
good man overall, only that he was – or so my mother sniggered – born under an
unlucky star and his personal god seemed at odds with him: he worked hard with
little to show. I suspected my mother was secretly disappointed due to
miserable fortunes of the man who took over her consent of marriage from a
deceased relative. At the dead of the night I could swear I overheard her
cursing the ignoble African tribal custom which permitted the brother of the
deceased to take his wife.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">Ini Alesa played music to
inaugurate the commencement preparation for the Feast of Dances. The air was
electric with anticipation of what revelry and feasting to come.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">In the thick of the
preparations, as we returned from the stream one afternoon, Toti told me
something undecipherable, a true enigma. He said:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">“Odezi, most trusted one, does
your memory serve you well to remember the last we got a carcass of a cow from
the cattle-rearers, how you exclaimed that it was like the Feast of Dances?” I
answered that I did. Then he added, “My father says that many days hence the
clan will have many Feasts of the Dances before nightfall.” I pondered the
enigma Toti spoke without understanding.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">One morning, I awoke to
discover a pitch-black Raven perched on the beam of the yam barn. Instinctively,
I reached for a pebble, to cast at the bird. It flapped its wings, dipped into
a dive and flew away. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 2.0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "constantia" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
night black Raven in full flight/</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 2.0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "constantia" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Is
a shroud of dark death in sight/</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 2.0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "constantia" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A
stern warning to the hearts of men/</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 2.0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "constantia" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Of
dread, a foreboding, an ill omen/</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 2.0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "constantia" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Terror
to men!</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">It was not too longer
afterwards that someone scampered into the bowel of the village yodeling the
improbable news that there were rows upon rows of carcasses of cattle littering
the farm lands. Everywhere erupted with wild jubilation and I saw the vengeful
hands of Ini Quenti. Toti’s hint made sense all of a sudden.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">Without any invitation this
time, clansmen trooped to carve meat. Nobody went with small knives or hoes. Pa
Gromyko’s hacksaw was suddenly not big enough. Meanwhile a crisis burst in our
own home which compelled Ini Alesa to decree with the same force as a royal fiat that my mother and I should not go and carve up meat.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">Later stories, though without
proof, point to the fact that it was Ini Quenti who had somehow caused the cattle
to die in their multitude</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 115%;">—</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">total dead, seventeen. Exactly how
remained unfathomable to this day. (Many alleged that the avenging spirits of
the Earth Oracle had come to fight on behalf of its Chief Priest.) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sadly, the outcome was not several Feasts of
the Dances but a horrific Affliction of Deaths. Not since the famine of ten
full moons ago did so many die in one day. Nobody could count the dead. And
there were no tears to weep. The ground was left fallow to bemoan the demise of
the husband man.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">The greatest regret and
wretchedness belonged to the council of elders who sat under the Neem tree to
give their blessings to the settling of the Wayfarers, the cattle-rearers.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "courier new";">♠ ♠ ♠</span><span lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">Toti died. He went with his
dream intact, plucked from the land like a rare mountain Orchid in the dawn of
its bloom, before its petals were fully unfurled; a vanishing mist, escaping
against a clench fist. Toti slept.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">Pa Gromyko, Onoko, Ayodo,
Chidem, Eluem, Kataje, Korio, Udu</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 115%;">—</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">almost everyone</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 115%;">—</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">gone. Ini Alesa perished <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>upon the thighs of his concubine , the death
of a fool, with a mouthful of cowhide, deceived until the very end that my
mother did not know of the unholy liaison he kept; she knew. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">The music from the fluted horn
stopped with a sorrowful dirge. The egrets had gone. And all I have left now
was a ravaging memory of delirious anguish. Ini Quenti was never seen again,
spinning further legend.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">I tried hard to convince myself
that the death of Toti was not in vain since I would carry on the dream. Now it
was five years post-event and I was finally headed for the City to learn the
knowledge and ways of the Whiteman. It was the same bus in which I was that the
fellow with the newspaper sat reading aloud the outrageous article about
cowhide.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">The herdsmen had introduced the
corruption of a potent poison to the flesh of the dead cattle before fleeing,
knowing people could not resist flocking to the carcases to carve up meat </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue";"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 115%;">—</span> and
now the government was poisoning the cowhide with the Whiteman’s money. US$250
million indeed! When will they stop poisoning our meat?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
pitch-black Raven continued in flight alongside the spluttering bus.<span style="font-family: "courier new";"> </span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "courier new";">♠</span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> News Report<a href="http://theeagleonline.com.ng/need-pragmatism-addressing-cattle-grazing-squabbles-ugochukwu-ugwuanyi/" target="_blank"> here</a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: #444444;">Skirmishes between nomadic Fulani herdsmen and settlers/farmers will continue to be a burning social issue until leadership and innovative solutions are applied: ACT NOW TO STOP THESE SENSELESS KILLINGS. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Kenneth Nwachinemelu David-Okaforhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01053567276751518164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5295647804651653747.post-53315081720038387102017-05-31T08:35:00.001+01:002017-05-31T08:35:26.312+01:00New US Writers Museum Puts Modern Spin On Literary History<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuMLoEFALfmViPWNGweElax5tToOpGscNJPMUSIrsW5OqW9rfcILrKIXd55S560EEIaK3UwpyAvxE2_tTBAHv04XJSvoJKFwLHmiqHKekpTXQIHZPafKoIO-Y2Az3WpSbbTjsPlFkPNfY/s1600/1US+writers%2527+museum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="597" data-original-width="900" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuMLoEFALfmViPWNGweElax5tToOpGscNJPMUSIrsW5OqW9rfcILrKIXd55S560EEIaK3UwpyAvxE2_tTBAHv04XJSvoJKFwLHmiqHKekpTXQIHZPafKoIO-Y2Az3WpSbbTjsPlFkPNfY/s1600/1US+writers%2527+museum.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The American Writers Museum in
Chicago is the first of its kind and is dedicated to writers who helped shape
America's history and culture -- from Ernest Hemingway to chef Julia Child to
rapper Tupac Shakur</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue; font-size: 12.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At US City of Chicago's newly-opened American
Writers Museum, Jack Kerouac's biographer tells an audience how the Beat
Generation's bible was inspired by the author's deep affection for his country.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"'On the Road' is a love letter to
America," says Dennis McNally, standing just steps from the 120-foot
(36.5-meter) scroll on which Kerouac typed out his best-known book.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"He loved being an American and he
romanticized it," he said of the novel depicting a post-World War II
generation looking to break out of the societal constraints of the 1950s.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first-of-its-kind museum is dedicated to
writers who helped shape America's history and culture -- from Ernest Hemingway
to chef Julia Child to rapper Tupac Shakur.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"The theme of the museum is to really look
at American writing and American writers, and celebrate them in the way that we
celebrate all kinds of people, like sports heroes and movie stars," said
museum president Carey Cranston.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue; font-size: 12.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Haettenschweiler",sans-serif; font-size: 22.0pt; line-height: 115%;">- An outsider's perspective -<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This museum is in fact the brainchild of an Irish
immigrant. Malcolm O'Hagan, a retired businessman, was surprised to discover
that the United States had no institution dedicated to its authors.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It took seven and a half years to make plans and
raise the necessary funds to get the project off the ground.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYQhbNfuVt6NZRAzDeot5qsx02vFJcouZ6pQr_beCcJeyqrkXeT2cUQOfg4XQijxmcBDt28PFdyBz8cjoC57phVcuPU1dZ5MwVYAfqlU96Fi5daQlhJR88Z1bn0YSRNMwukjhb8NpG-Sg/s1600/2US+writers%2527+museum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="597" data-original-width="900" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYQhbNfuVt6NZRAzDeot5qsx02vFJcouZ6pQr_beCcJeyqrkXeT2cUQOfg4XQijxmcBDt28PFdyBz8cjoC57phVcuPU1dZ5MwVYAfqlU96Fi5daQlhJR88Z1bn0YSRNMwukjhb8NpG-Sg/s1600/2US+writers%2527+museum.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">A timeline representing
500 years of American literary history greets visitors at the American Writers
Museum in Chicago</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue; font-size: 12.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"I think it took someone with an outsider
perspective," said Cranston, adding that Chicago was chosen for its rich
literary past and tourist draw.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The museum's exhibits breeze through hundreds of
years of American literature, culture and history, offering quick glimpses into
the works of writers in various genres and media.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A timeline exhibit begins with Alvar Nunez Cabeza
de Vaca, born in 1490, who penned a memoir depicting Native American life. It
concludes 500 years later with Oscar Hijuelos, the son of Cuban immigrants, who
wrote about assimilating into American culture.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"To see the ways in which the words of so
many people have moved populations throughout time, I think it's really
inspiring," said Nura Mazmabi, 38, who was visiting the museum with
members of her writing group.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue; font-size: 12.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Haettenschweiler",sans-serif; font-size: 22.0pt; line-height: 115%;">- 'We celebrate their words' -<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The museum also includes a "surprise
bookshelf" -- an interactive wall that reveals morsels of information
about authors through video, sound or text.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUSsWKj2mL42sn9PacqMiLYh4v000VuCbTp7DwfccKJiPUD2goZYONJTkU-5Tcz-TrktiAEkq_nxlisntkfvB9gwBQ42kGNYunA2CnhYd3hLtUYqLdoZp7qC4QbLL2sJat2MBLCOnXbN4/s1600/3US+writers%2527+museum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="597" data-original-width="900" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUSsWKj2mL42sn9PacqMiLYh4v000VuCbTp7DwfccKJiPUD2goZYONJTkU-5Tcz-TrktiAEkq_nxlisntkfvB9gwBQ42kGNYunA2CnhYd3hLtUYqLdoZp7qC4QbLL2sJat2MBLCOnXbN4/s1600/3US+writers%2527+museum.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The new American Writers
Museum in Chicago includes a "surprise bookshelf" -- an interactive
wall that reveals morsels of information about authors through video, sound or
text</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue; font-size: 12.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The late rapper Shakur is featured for the lyrics
to his 1995 song "Dear Mama," exploring, as the exhibit puts it,
"the realities of addiction, violence and poverty."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nearby is a tribute to Harper Lee, author of
"To Kill a Mockingbird," the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel dealing
with race inequality.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Even though a lot of people are suppressed
at some point in their lives or at some point in our history, their words are
still out there, and we celebrate their words. And, I think that's what makes
it American," said visitor Alex Messina-Schultheis, 25.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One thing conspicuously understated are books
themselves, as museum organizers wanted to avoid replicating a library.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While there are rooms with books and places to
read, the space is dominated by touch screens, multimedia exhibits and
interactive elements such as manual typewriters on which visitors can hammer
out a few sentences.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"When you think American writing museum, you
think: I'll just be reading a wall of text. But, it's very interactive,"
said Jennifer Depoorter, 24, who was playing a word game on a touchscreen
table.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Also inconspicuous is the museum itself, which
occupies the second floor of a nondescript downtown Chicago office building,
marked by only one sign.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The humble real estate is a function of the
private museum's relatively small annual budget of US$1.9 million and a staff
of 10.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By contrast, the world-renown Art Institute of
Chicago, just a few blocks away, has an approximately US$250 million annual
budget.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: start;">"Our initial goal was to raise enough to build this," said Cranston, adding that plans are for the institution to grow over time.</span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: start;"><br /></span></span></div>
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</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVRHKzrZRs7N62r5Vp29j_EMCfLBv5yYhWtZj5teuChpRMxFcndl3gzyX-yRRns4ZeqT3M_9gqj9SkbPIjX53Gy6Du23QlbPocgD1bCCBzJfI0VMd7QkHnP4LSqsRFzSEaiFXkpNUGAEQ/s1600/0-2Pac+Montage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="386" data-original-width="900" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVRHKzrZRs7N62r5Vp29j_EMCfLBv5yYhWtZj5teuChpRMxFcndl3gzyX-yRRns4ZeqT3M_9gqj9SkbPIjX53Gy6Du23QlbPocgD1bCCBzJfI0VMd7QkHnP4LSqsRFzSEaiFXkpNUGAEQ/s1600/0-2Pac+Montage.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">US rapper Tupac, his
mother Afeni Shakur (Image credit: METRO) and the lyrics of “DEAR MAMA”<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Originally published on AFP</i></span>Kenneth Nwachinemelu David-Okaforhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01053567276751518164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5295647804651653747.post-73327222169720673112016-05-24T09:13:00.002+01:002016-05-24T09:13:27.045+01:00A Share From Facebook: A Little Humour Amidst The Daily Grind<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKAW9sp10BnyqdiHPc6sdo5A8bhXN-3_OEg6Sp0IDblGKewmd4RP3Xyfl27SqFdbsVi1EEF__nLKmmDzZqWG99dDDTUxuYSXqRd9Tw1r69GNhbIsB4Q72kR3strlHvMgpZlt3RGheqbKg/s1600/Susan%2527s+Post.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKAW9sp10BnyqdiHPc6sdo5A8bhXN-3_OEg6Sp0IDblGKewmd4RP3Xyfl27SqFdbsVi1EEF__nLKmmDzZqWG99dDDTUxuYSXqRd9Tw1r69GNhbIsB4Q72kR3strlHvMgpZlt3RGheqbKg/s640/Susan%2527s+Post.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />Kenneth Nwachinemelu David-Okaforhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01053567276751518164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5295647804651653747.post-72841396888013687382016-01-30T09:12:00.001+01:002017-05-31T10:30:40.361+01:00How Reading Fiction Can Help Students Understand The Real World <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8_-e9XyYtY3uS8Y4SvCAsuX5EsYCniXfCJbc9LY4wpwzP8kFfhaSO4T3Dj__LR3_u4ubyYkX8EVD_fZL7KENyV-Wa_yTSUcAfP40HIn8kIi_iR7zG84teOH6a0p8rGBeIWsHYOeuDTY0/s1600/1Nigerian+author+Chinua+Achebe+-+died+in+2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="605" data-original-width="900" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8_-e9XyYtY3uS8Y4SvCAsuX5EsYCniXfCJbc9LY4wpwzP8kFfhaSO4T3Dj__LR3_u4ubyYkX8EVD_fZL7KENyV-Wa_yTSUcAfP40HIn8kIi_iR7zG84teOH6a0p8rGBeIWsHYOeuDTY0/s1600/1Nigerian+author+Chinua+Achebe+-+died+in+2013.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, who died in 2013, wrote stories that offer students from all disciplines valuable insights about the world they want to fix one day. EPA/Frank May</span></td></tr>
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</span></span><span style="line-height: 115%;">Melissa
Tandiwe Myambo </span></span></b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">
</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The
real world is often overwhelmingly complicated. Literature can help. This is
true at universities too: courses in comparative literature offer students new
insights into their chosen disciplines by unlocking new, varied perspectives.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">How
can those studying political science truly grasp the terror of living under a
dictator? Perhaps by reading Mario Vargas Llosa’s <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/apr/06/fiction.reviews" target="_blank">The Feast of the Goat</a>, a magnificent historical novel about the <a href="http://www.history.com/topics/rafael-trujillo" target="_blank">tyrannical Trujillo</a>
regime in the Dominican Republic. Students who read it are unlikely to forget
the dizzying Cold War political intrigues that led the US to first support
Trujillo and then implement sanctions against him.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">In
<a href="http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0005/000596/059694eo.pdf" target="_blank">area studies</a>, students must learn about the politics of postcolonial government.
Chinua Achebe’s 1966 novel, A <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37772.A_Man_of_the_People" target="_blank">Man of the People</a>, explores how rapidly post-independence revolutionary zeal can
turn venal as the corrupt, greedy postcolonial elite seizes the reins of power
from the colonizer only to further strangle the majority.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I
would suggest that teaching these and other subjects - history, economics,
sociology, geography and many others - can only be enhanced by including
novels, short stories and artistic feature films. Students will also benefit
from learning the methods of critical reading that are inherent to literary
study. In this article I will explore why this is the case, focusing largely on
the important but contested field of international development studies.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "haettenschweiler" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 22.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Why
development is about more than economics</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">International
development studies cries out for a literary component precisely because it is
such an ideological and normative subject. “Development” is itself a term that
should demand ideological evaluation. It is more than economics. This is made
clear by the UN’s <a href="http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/" target="_blank">Millennium</a>
and <a href="http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/" target="_blank">Sustainable</a>
Development Goals. These reiterate that “development” also focuses on cultural
change, such as gender equity through empowering women and girls.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">But
the syllabus of almost any international development studies course contains a
heavy dose of development economists: Amartya Sen, Joseph Stiglitz, Jeffrey
Sachs. Or, if the professor is slightly more left-leaning, there will be works
by anthropologists like James Ferguson and Arturo Escobar or brilliant
political science professor Timothy Mitchell. Why only these? This is an area
in which books in the humanities and arts are pertinent, yet one never sees a
postcolonial novel on these syllabi.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">It
is frankly criminal. Development was constituted as a <a href="http://courses.arch.vt.edu/courses/wdunaway/gia5524/kothari.pdf" target="_blank">field of study</a> and area of practice during the years of decolonization after World
War II. This was the very same time period which spawned the birth of what is
today called <a href="http://humanities.wisc.edu/assets/misc/What_is_Postcolonial_Literature_.pdf" target="_blank">postcolonial literature</a>. But international development studies courses seldom broach the
fundamental question of what is truly meant by development. Developing to what?
For whose benefit? Under whose aegis? This question, however, is interrogated
in a vast body of excellent fiction.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I
have prescribed Nuruddin Farah’s 1993 novel, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/books/99/09/12/reviews/990912.12rutalt.html" target="_blank">Gifts</a>
- inspired by Marcel Mauss’ classic ethnography The Gift - to my students. When
development aid from powerful countries is donated to impoverished 1980s
Somalia, a fine line is walked by both the West which “gives” and the Somalis
who “receive.” The book is a long meditation on the tightrope act that teeters
between donation and domination. Certainly my students learned more about how
it really feels to be the recipient of donor aid from this novel than any of
our social science readings, which were mostly written from the donors' point
of view.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "haettenschweiler" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 22.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Exploring
different points of view</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">This
isn’t to suggest that such novels are stand-ins for <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/4410482?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents" target="_blank">“native informants”</a>, who are perceived to be experts about a culture, race or place
simply because they belong to it. Quite the contrary. They should be read as
literature, which literary critics like <a href="http://www.britannica.com/biography/Mikhail-Bakhtin" target="_blank">Mikhail Bakhtin</a>
describe as a jumble of competing viewpoints depending on language that always
struggles to convey actual truth.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Point
of view might be an easier concept for students to grasp at first than Bakhtin’s
theory. It is a basic narrative technique that is explored in Literary
Criticism 101 because it can change the way a story is told or perceived. In
the rich 2006 film <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/14/movies/14bama.html?_r=1" target="_blank">Bamako</a> the
people of Mali put the World Bank on trial to determine why their poisoned
“gift” of development aid has left the country with such a debilitating <a href="http://www.imf.org/External/Pubs/FT/issues/issues34/" target="_blank">debt burden</a>.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">From
the World Bank’s perspective, development might mean one thing but for those
“beneficiaries,” it means something quite different. Art has the power to
convey that point of view with visceral impact. Isn’t this essential for
international development students who aim to help the “other” to “develop”?</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "haettenschweiler" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 22.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Room
for myriad insights</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The
end state of “development,” which is implied but hardly ever explicitly theorized
in international development studies, is “modernity” and becoming “modern”.
This is a subject on which literature and literary theory can offer myriad
insights.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Zakes
Mda’s wonderful 2005 novel <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/373967.The_Heart_of_Redness" target="_blank">Heart of Redness</a> depicts the tale of a contemporary
village in post-apartheid South Africa. Here, two groups of villagers hold
radically different positions on what development means to them. Does it mean
street lamps and a casino resort that will bring tourists? Or maintaining a
more “traditional,” environmentally-sustainable lifestyle albeit with some “modern”
amenities? The villagers’ differing positions are also informed by their
different views on their history of colonization.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">History
is, of course, essential for understanding any subject. For this reason I’ve
not restricted myself to postcolonial literature only in teaching my classes. <a href="http://americanliterature.com/author/daniel-defoe/book/robinson-crusoe/summary" target="_blank">Robinson Crusoe</a>, first published in 1719, is an excellent novel for introducing the
study of British imperialism which is a prerequisite for understanding our
contemporary global cultural economy.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "haettenschweiler" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 22.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Pushing
for positive change</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">In
our globalizing world, the stakes could not be higher. Many of our students
will end up making policy, allocating aid, driving the global economy. They will
change the world. Literature and humanistic thinking enable them to change it
for the better.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><b><i>Fulbright</i></b></span><i><b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">-Nehru
Scholar, Research Associate, Centre for Indian Studies, Wits University,
University of California, Los Angeles </span></span></span></span></b></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><i>Originally published in <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-reading-fiction-can-help-students-understand-the-real-world-52908" target="_blank">THE CONVERSATION</a></i> </span></span></span></span></div>
Kenneth Nwachinemelu David-Okaforhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01053567276751518164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5295647804651653747.post-85768501382658634672015-10-29T18:31:00.001+01:002015-10-29T18:31:55.815+01:00SHORT STORY – “THE BET”<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">By Anton Chekhov</span></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">I</span></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">IT
WAS a dark autumn night. The old banker was walking up and down his study and
remembering how, fifteen years before, he had given a party one autumn evening.
There had been many clever men there, and there had been interesting
conversations. Among other things they had talked of capital punishment. The
majority of the guests, among whom were many journalists and intellectual men,
disapproved of the death penalty. They considered that form of punishment out
of date, immoral, and unsuitable for Christian States. In the opinion of some
of them the death penalty ought to be replaced everywhere by imprisonment for
life. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">"I
don't agree with you," said their host the banker. "I have not tried
either the death penalty or imprisonment for life, but if one may judge <i>à
priori,</i> the death penalty is more moral and more humane than imprisonment
for life. Capital punishment kills a man at once, but lifelong imprisonment
kills him slowly. Which executioner is the more humane, he who kills you in a
few minutes or he who drags the life out of you in the course of many
years?" </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">"Both
are equally immoral," observed one of the guests, "for they both have
the same object -- to take away life. The State is not God. It has not the
right to take away what it cannot restore when it wants to." </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Among
the guests was a young lawyer, a young man of five-and-twenty. When he was
asked his opinion, he said: </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">"The
death sentence and the life sentence are equally immoral, but if I had to
choose between the death penalty and imprisonment for life, I would certainly
choose the second. To live anyhow is better than not at all." </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">A
lively discussion arose. The banker, who was younger and more nervous in those
days, was suddenly carried away by excitement; he struck the table with his
fist and shouted at the young man: </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">"It's
not true! I'll bet you two millions you wouldn't stay in solitary confinement
for five years." </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">"If
you mean that in earnest," said the young man, "I'll take the bet,
but I would stay not five but fifteen years." </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">"Fifteen?
Done!" cried the banker. "Gentlemen, I stake two millions!" </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">"Agreed!
You stake your millions and I stake my freedom!" said the young man. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">And
this wild, senseless bet was carried out! The banker, spoilt and frivolous,
with millions beyond his reckoning, was delighted at the bet. At supper he made
fun of the young man, and said: </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">"Think
better of it, young man, while there is still time. To me two millions are a
trifle, but you are losing three or four of the best years of your life. I say
three or four, because you won't stay longer. Don't forget either, you unhappy
man, that voluntary confinement is a great deal harder to bear than compulsory.
The thought that you have the right to step out in liberty at any moment will
poison your whole existence in prison. I am sorry for you." </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">And
now the banker, walking to and fro, remembered all this, and asked himself:
"What was the object of that bet? What is the good of that man's losing
fifteen years of his life and my throwing away two millions? Can it prove that
the death penalty is better or worse than imprisonment for life? No, no. It was
all nonsensical and meaningless. On my part it was the caprice of a pampered
man, and on his part simple greed for money. . . ." </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Then
he remembered what followed that evening. It was decided that the young man
should spend the years of his captivity under the strictest supervision in one
of the lodges in the banker's garden. It was agreed that for fifteen years he
should not be free to cross the threshold of the lodge, to see human beings, to
hear the human voice, or to receive letters and newspapers. He was allowed to
have a musical instrument and books, and was allowed to write letters, to drink
wine, and to smoke. By the terms of the agreement, the only relations he could
have with the outer world were by a little window made purposely for that
object. He might have anything he wanted -- books, music, wine, and so on -- in
any quantity he desired by writing an order, but could only receive them
through the window. The agreement provided for every detail and every trifle
that would make his imprisonment strictly solitary, and bound the young man to
stay there <i>exactly</i> fifteen years, beginning from twelve o'clock of
November 14, 1870, and ending at twelve o'clock of November 14, 1885. The slightest
attempt on his part to break the conditions, if only two minutes before the
end, released the banker from the obligation to pay him two millions. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">For
the first year of his confinement, as far as one could judge from his brief
notes, the prisoner suffered severely from loneliness and depression. The
sounds of the piano could be heard continually day and night from his lodge. He
refused wine and tobacco. Wine, he wrote, excites the desires, and desires are
the worst foes of the prisoner; and besides, nothing could be more dreary than
drinking good wine and seeing no one. And tobacco spoilt the air of his room.
In the first year the books he sent for were principally of a light character;
novels with a complicated love plot, sensational and fantastic stories, and so
on. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">In
the second year the piano was silent in the lodge, and the prisoner asked only
for the classics. In the fifth year music was audible again, and the prisoner
asked for wine. Those who watched him through the window said that all that year
he spent doing nothing but eating and drinking and lying on his bed, frequently
yawning and angrily talking to himself. He did not read books. Sometimes at
night he would sit down to write; he would spend hours writing, and in the
morning tear up all that he had written. More than once he could be heard
crying. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">In
the second half of the sixth year the prisoner began zealously studying
languages, philosophy, and history. He threw himself eagerly into these studies
-- so much so that the banker had enough to do to get him the books he ordered.
In the course of four years some six hundred volumes were procured at his
request. It was during this period that the banker received the following
letter from his prisoner: </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">"My
dear Jailer, I write you these lines in six languages. Show them to people who
know the languages. Let them read them. If they find not one mistake I implore
you to fire a shot in the garden. That shot will show me that my efforts have
not been thrown away. The geniuses of all ages and of all lands speak different
languages, but the same flame burns in them all. Oh, if you only knew what
unearthly happiness my soul feels now from being able to understand them!"
The prisoner's desire was fulfilled. The banker ordered two shots to be fired
in the garden. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Then
after the tenth year, the prisoner sat immovably at the table and read nothing
but the Gospel. It seemed strange to the banker that a man who in four years
had mastered six hundred learned volumes should waste nearly a year over one
thin book easy of comprehension. Theology and histories of religion followed
the Gospels. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">In
the last two years of his confinement the prisoner read an immense quantity of
books quite indiscriminately. At one time he was busy with the natural
sciences, then he would ask for <span style="color: blue;">Byron</span> or <span style="color: blue;">Shakespeare</span>. There were notes in which he demanded at
the same time books on chemistry, and a manual of medicine, and a novel, and
some treatise on philosophy or theology. His reading suggested a man swimming
in the sea among the wreckage of his ship, and trying to save his life by
greedily clutching first at one spar and then at another.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">II</span></b></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The
old banker remembered all this, and thought: </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">"To-morrow
at twelve o'clock he will regain his freedom. By our agreement I ought to pay
him two millions. If I do pay him, it is all over with me: I shall be utterly
ruined." </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Fifteen
years before, his millions had been beyond his reckoning; now he was afraid to
ask himself which were greater, his debts or his assets. Desperate gambling on
the Stock Exchange, wild speculation and the excitability which he could not
get over even in advancing years, had by degrees led to the decline of his
fortune and the proud, fearless, self-confident millionaire had become a banker
of middling rank, trembling at every rise and fall in his investments.
"Cursed bet!" muttered the old man, clutching his head in despair
"Why didn't the man die? He is only forty now. He will take my last penny
from me, he will marry, will enjoy life, will gamble on the Exchange; while I shall
look at him with envy like a beggar, and hear from him every day the same
sentence: 'I am indebted to you for the happiness of my life, let me help you!'
No, it is too much! The one means of being saved from bankruptcy and disgrace
is the death of that man!" </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">It
struck three o'clock, the banker listened; everyone was asleep in the house and
nothing could be heard outside but the rustling of the chilled trees. Trying to
make no noise, he took from a fireproof safe the key of the door which had not
been opened for fifteen years, put on his overcoat, and went out of the house. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">It
was dark and cold in the garden. Rain was falling. A damp cutting wind was
racing about the garden, howling and giving the trees no rest. The banker
strained his eyes, but could see neither the earth nor the white statues, nor
the lodge, nor the trees. Going to the spot where the lodge stood, he twice
called the watchman. No answer followed. Evidently the watchman had sought
shelter from the weather, and was now asleep somewhere either in the kitchen or
in the greenhouse. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">"If
I had the pluck to carry out my intention," thought the old man,
"Suspicion would fall first upon the watchman." </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">He
felt in the darkness for the steps and the door, and went into the entry of the
lodge. Then he groped his way into a little passage and lighted a match. There
was not a soul there. There was a bedstead with no bedding on it, and in the
corner there was a dark cast-iron stove. The seals on the door leading to the
prisoner's rooms were intact. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">When
the match went out the old man, trembling with emotion, peeped through the
little window. A candle was burning dimly in the prisoner's room. He was
sitting at the table. Nothing could be seen but his back, the hair on his head,
and his hands. Open books were lying on the table, on the two easy-chairs, and
on the carpet near the table. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Five
minutes passed and the prisoner did not once stir. Fifteen years' imprisonment
had taught him to sit still. The banker tapped at the window with his finger,
and the prisoner made no movement whatever in response. Then the banker
cautiously broke the seals off the door and put the key in the keyhole. The
rusty lock gave a grating sound and the door creaked. The banker expected to hear
at once footsteps and a cry of astonishment, but three minutes passed and it
was as quiet as ever in the room. He made up his mind to go in. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">At
the table a man unlike ordinary people was sitting motionless. He was a
skeleton with the skin drawn tight over his bones, with long curls like a
woman's and a shaggy beard. His face was yellow with an earthy tint in it, his
cheeks were hollow, his back long and narrow, and the hand on which his shaggy
head was propped was so thin and delicate that it was dreadful to look at it.
His hair was already streaked with silver, and seeing his emaciated,
aged-looking face, no one would have believed that he was only forty. He was
asleep. . . . In front of his bowed head there lay on the table a sheet of
paper on which there was something written in fine handwriting. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">"Poor
creature!" thought the banker, "he is asleep and most likely dreaming
of the millions. And I have only to take this half-dead man, throw him on the
bed, stifle him a little with the pillow, and the most conscientious expert
would find no sign of a violent death. But let us first read what he has
written here. . . ." </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The
banker took the page from the table and read as follows: </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">"To-morrow
at twelve o'clock I regain my freedom and the right to associate with other
men, but before I leave this room and see the sunshine, I think it necessary to
say a few words to you. With a clear conscience I tell you, as before God, who
beholds me, that I despise freedom and life and health, and all that in your
books is called the good things of the world. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">"For
fifteen years I have been intently studying earthly life. It is true I have not
seen the earth nor men, but in your books I have drunk fragrant wine, I have
sung songs, I have hunted stags and wild boars in the forests, have loved
women. . . . Beauties as ethereal as clouds, created by the magic of your poets
and geniuses, have visited me at night, and have whispered in my ears wonderful
tales that have set my brain in a whirl. In your books I have climbed to the peaks
of <span style="color: blue;">Elburz</span> and <span style="color: blue;">Mont
Blanc</span>, and from there I have seen the sun rise and have watched it at
evening flood the sky, the ocean, and the mountain-tops with gold and crimson.
I have watched from there the lightning flashing over my head and cleaving the
storm-clouds. I have seen green forests, fields, rivers, lakes, towns. I have
heard the singing of the sirens, and the strains of the shepherds' pipes; I
have touched the wings of comely devils who flew down to converse with me of
God. . . . In your books I have flung myself into the bottomless pit, performed
miracles, slain, burned towns, preached new religions, conquered whole
kingdoms. . . . </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">"Your
books have given me wisdom. All that the unresting thought of man has created
in the ages is compressed into a small compass in my brain. I know that I am
wiser than all of you. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">"And
I despise your books, I despise wisdom and the blessings of this world. It is
all worthless, fleeting, illusory, and deceptive, like a mirage. You may be
proud, wise, and fine, but death will wipe you off the face of the earth as
though you were no more than mice burrowing under the floor, and your
posterity, your history, your immortal geniuses will burn or freeze together
with the earthly globe. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">"You
have lost your reason and taken the wrong path. You have taken lies for truth,
and hideousness for beauty. You would marvel if, owing to strange events of
some sorts, frogs and lizards suddenly grew on apple and orange trees instead
of fruit, or if roses began to smell like a sweating horse; so I marvel at you
who exchange heaven for earth. I don't want to understand you. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">"To
prove to you in action how I despise all that you live by, I renounce the two
millions of which I once dreamed as of paradise and which now I despise. To
deprive myself of the right to the money I shall go out from here five hours
before the time fixed, and so break the compact. . . ." </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">When
the banker had read this he laid the page on the table, kissed the strange man
on the head, and went out of the lodge, weeping. At no other time, even when he
had lost heavily on the Stock Exchange, had he felt so great a contempt for
himself. When he got home he lay on his bed, but his tears and emotion kept him
for hours from sleeping. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Next
morning the watchmen ran in with pale faces, and told him they had seen the man
who lived in the lodge climb out of the window into the garden, go to the gate,
and disappear. The banker went at once with the servants to the lodge and made
sure of the flight of his prisoner. To avoid arousing unnecessary talk, he took
from the table the writing in which the millions were renounced, and when he
got home locked it up in the fireproof safe. </span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>NOTES</b></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Byron: George Gordon, Lord
Byron (1788-1824) English romantic poet </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Shakespeare: William
Shakespeare (1564-1616) great English playwright and poet </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">peaks of Elburz: Elbrus,
located in Russia, is the highest mountain in Europe </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Mont Blanc: highest peak in
the Alps </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Russian
writer <b>Anton Chekhov</b> is recognized
as a master of the modern short story and a leading playwright of the late 19th
and early 20th centuries.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><aside class="m-person--groups">Anton
Chekhov was born on January 29, 1860, in Taganrog, Russia. Through stories such
as "The Steppe" and "The Lady with the Dog," and plays such
as <em>The Seagull</em> and <em>Uncle Vanya</em>, the prolific writer
emphasized the depths of human nature, the hidden significance of everyday
events and the fine line between comedy and tragedy. Chekhov died of
tuberculosis on July 15, 1904, in Badenweiler, Germany.</aside></span></span></span><br />
Kenneth Nwachinemelu David-Okaforhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01053567276751518164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5295647804651653747.post-53883430764413168552015-07-01T06:31:00.005+01:002015-07-01T06:31:57.235+01:00Happy New Month!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdG9n17Yny3xqkiTwcAWExVNPAKb-eGKZCtQHb-B2x__9fzO__L87FG2akAeJcxCc-yk7CUaff7CxpMbI0LRXdmZw8K_uzYo4EiE8ITSrU2V1ZO5LUrG3BkwdL1wqC0mTTIXXweEPBD5g/s1600/Happy+New+Month.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdG9n17Yny3xqkiTwcAWExVNPAKb-eGKZCtQHb-B2x__9fzO__L87FG2akAeJcxCc-yk7CUaff7CxpMbI0LRXdmZw8K_uzYo4EiE8ITSrU2V1ZO5LUrG3BkwdL1wqC0mTTIXXweEPBD5g/s640/Happy+New+Month.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">May this other half of the year be more fruitful for you than the first half; Happy New Month!</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Kenneth Nwachinemelu David-Okaforhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01053567276751518164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5295647804651653747.post-6356419138298473082015-03-27T13:19:00.003+01:002015-03-27T13:20:23.005+01:00SHORT STORY: "Waiting"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2pyQyQz5wdDxhtMA6Pn4pA8xRdlq60U_z2kM-Hl2iPQ7I6eglGBxcsI3cUFv1gkG2dKWIDgt4a73a1dtBg2GT31VL643-qve4wJJGv4RHjYs7rywoCLaqqzqQoNL4_V8TMbg_6rbtZbE/s1600/E.+C.+Osondu.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2pyQyQz5wdDxhtMA6Pn4pA8xRdlq60U_z2kM-Hl2iPQ7I6eglGBxcsI3cUFv1gkG2dKWIDgt4a73a1dtBg2GT31VL643-qve4wJJGv4RHjYs7rywoCLaqqzqQoNL4_V8TMbg_6rbtZbE/s1600/E.+C.+Osondu.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="justify"><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">E. C. Osondu - 2009 Caine Prize Winner</span></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: large; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Georgia\,Bold"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">by E.C. Osondu</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">My name
is Orlando Zaki. <i>Orlando </i>is taken from Orlando, Florida, which is what is written on the t-shirt
given to me by the Red Cross. <i>Zaki </i>is the name of the town where I was found and from which I was brought
to this refugee camp. My friends in the camp are known by the inscriptions
written on their t-shirts. Acapulco wears a t-shirt with the inscription, <i>Acapulco</i>. Sexy’s t-shirt has the
inscription <i>Tell Me I’m Sexy</i>. Paris’s t-shirt says <i>See Paris And
Die</i>. When she is coming toward me, I close my
eyes because I don’t want to die. Even when one gets a new t-shirt, your old
name stays with you. Paris just got a new t-shirt that says <i>Ask Me About Jesus</i>, but we
still call her Paris and we are not asking her about anybody. There was a girl
in the camp once whose t-shirt said <i>Got Milk? </i>She threw the t-shirt away because some of the boys in the camp were
always pressing her breasts forcefully to see if they had milk. You cannot know
what will be written on your t-shirt. We struggle and fight for them and count
ourselves lucky that we get anything at all. Take Lousy for instance; his
t-shirt says <i>My Dad Went To Yellowstone And Got
Me This Lousy Tshirt</i>. He cannot fight, so
he’s not been able to get another one and has been wearing the same t-shirt
since he came to the camp. Though what is written on it is now faded, the name
has stuck. Some people are lucky: London had a t-shirt that said <i>London </i>and is now in London.
He’s been adopted by a family over there. Maybe I will find a family in Orlando,
Florida that will adopt me.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Sister
Nora is the one who told me to start writing this book, she says <i>the best way to forget is to remember and the best way
to remember is to forget. </i>That is the way Sister
Nora talks, in a roundabout way. I think because she is a<i> </i>Reverend Sister she likes
to speak in parables like Jesus. She is the one who has been giving me books to
read. She<i> </i>says I
have a gift for telling stories. This is why she thinks I will become a writer
one day.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The
first book she gave me to read was <i>Waiting For
Godot</i>. She says the people in the book are waiting
for God to come and help them. Here in the camp, we wait and wait and then wait
some more. It is the only thing we do. We wait for the food trucks to come and
then we form a straight line and then we wait a few minutes for the line to
scatter, then we wait for the fight to begin, and then we fight and struggle
and bite and kick and curse and tear and grab and run. And then we begin to
watch the road and wait to see if the water trucks are coming, we watch for the
dust trail, and then we go and fetch our containers and start waiting and then
the trucks come and the first few containers are filled and the fight and
struggle and tearing and scratching begin because someone has whispered to
someone that the water tanker only has little water in it. That is, if we are
lucky and the water tanker comes; oftentimes, we just bring out our containers and
start waiting and praying for rain to fall.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Today we
are waiting for the photographer to come and take our pictures. It is these
pictures that the Red Cross people send to their people abroad who show them to
different people in foreign countries and after looking at them, the foreign
families will choose those they like to come and live with them. This is the
third week we have been waiting for the photographer, but he has to pass
through the war zone so he may not even make it today. After taking the
photographs, we have to wait for him to print it and bring it back. We then
give it to the Red Cross people and start waiting for a response from abroad.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I want
to go and join my friend under the only tree still standing in the camp.
Acapulco is raising a handful of red dust into the air to test for breeze; the
air is stagnant and the red earth falls back in a straight line.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"Orlando,
do you think the photographer will come today?" he
asks.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"Maybe he
will come."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"Do you
think an American family will adopt me?"</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"Maybe,
if you are lucky."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"Will
they find a cure for my bedwetting?"</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"There is
a tablet for every sickness in America."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"I am not
sick, I only wet myself in my sleep because I always dream that I am urinating
outside and then I wake up and my knickers are wet because it was only a dream,
but the piss is real."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"The same
dream every night?"</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"Yes."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"Do you
think that if I go to America, my parents will hear about me and write to me and
I will write to them and tell my new family to let them come over and join me?"</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"When the
war ends, your parents will find you."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"When
will the war end?"</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"I don’t
know, but it will end soon."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"If the
war will end soon, why are the Red Cross people sending us to America?"</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"Because
they don’t want us to join the Youth Brigade and shoot and kill and rape and
loot and burn and steal and destroy and fight to the finish and die and not go
to school."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This was
why Acapulco was always sitting alone under the tree: because he always asked a
lot of questions. Sister Nora says it is good to ask questions, that if you ask
questions you will never get lost. Acapulco begins to throw the sand once more
testing for breeze. Pus is coming out of his ears and this gives him the smell
of an egg that is a little rotten. This was another reason people kept away
from him. A fly is buzzing around his ear; he ignores it for some time and at
the exact moment the fly is about to perch, he waves it away furiously.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"I wish I
had a dog," he said.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"What do
you want to do with the dog?"</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"I will
pose with the dog in my photograph that they are sending to America because
white people love dogs."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"But they
also like people."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"Yes, but
they like people who like dogs."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"London
did not take a picture with a dog."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"Yes,
London is now in London."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"Maybe
you will soon be in Acapulco," I said laughing.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"Where is
Acapulco?"</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"They
have a big ocean there, it is blue and beautiful."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"I don’t
like the ocean, I don’t know how to swim, I want to go to America."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"Everyone
in America knows how to swim; all the houses have swimming pools."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"I will
like to swim in a swimming pool, not the ocean. I hear swimming pool water is sweet
and clean and blue and is good for the skin."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">We are
silent. We can hear the sound of the aluminum sheets with which the houses are
built. They make an angry noise like pin-sized bullets when going off. The
houses built with tarpaulin and plastic sheets are fluttering in the breeze
like a thousand plastic kites going off. Acapulco raises a handful of dust in
the air. The breeze carries it away.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Some of
it blows into our faces and Acapulco smiles.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"God is
not asleep," he says. I say nothing.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"There
used to be dogs here in the camp." He had been in the camp
before me. He is one of the oldest people in the camp.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">There
were lots of black dogs. They were our friends, they were our protectors. Even
though food was scarce, the dogs never went hungry. The women would call them
whenever a child squatted down to shit and the dogs would come running. They
would wait for the child to finish and lick the child’s buttocks clean before
they ate the shit. People threw them scraps of food. The dogs were useful in
other ways too. In those days, the enemy still used to raid the camp
frequently. We would bury ourselves in a hole and the dogs would gather leaves
and other stuff and spread it atop the hole where we hid. The enemy would pass
by the hole and not know we were hiding there.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">But
there was a time the Red Cross people could not bring food to the camp for two
weeks because the enemy would not let their plane land. We were so hungry we
killed a few of the dogs and used them to make pepper-soup. A few days later,
the Red Cross people were let through and food came. The dogs were a bit wary,
but they seemed to understand it was not our fault.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">And
then, for the second time there was no food for a very long time. We were only
able to catch some of the dogs this time. Some of them ran away as we
approached, but we still caught some and cooked and ate them. After that we did
not see the dogs again; the ones that ran away kept off. One day, a little
child was squatting and having a shit. When the mother looked up, half a dozen
of the dogs that had disappeared emerged from nowhere and attacked the little child.
While the mother screamed, they tore the child to pieces and fled with parts of
the child’s body dangling between their jaws. Some of men began to lay ambush
for the dogs and killed a few of them. They say the dogs had become as tough as
lions. We don’t see the dogs anymore. People say it is the war.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I
decided I was going to ask Sister Nora. As if reading my mind, Acapulco told me
not to mention it to anyone. He said people in the camp did not like talking
about the dogs. "I am not sure the photographer will still come today," I said.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"Sometimes
I think there is a bullet lodged in my brain,"
Acapulco said.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"If you
had a bullet in your brain, you would be dead."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"It went
in through my bad ear. I hear explosions in my head, bullets popping, voices
screaming, <i>banza, banza bastard, come out we
will drink your blood today</i>, and then I smell
carbide, gun-smoke, burning thatch. I don’t like<i> </i>smelling smoke from fires
when the women are cooking with firewood; it makes the bullets in my brain
begin to go<i> </i>off."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"You will
be fine when you get to America. They don’t cook with firewood; they use
electricity."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"You know
everything, Zaki. How do you know all these things though you have never been
to these places?"</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"I read a
lot of books, books contain a lot of information, sometimes they tell stories
too," I say.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"I don’t
like books without pictures; I like books with big beautiful colorful pictures."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"Not all
books have pictures. Only books for children have pictures."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"I am
tired of taking pictures and sending them abroad to families that don’t want
me, almost all the people I came to the camp with have found families and are
now living abroad. One of my friends sent me a letter from a place called Dakota.
Why have no family adopted me, do you think they don’t like my face?"</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"It is
luck; you have not found your luck yet."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"Sometimes
I want to join the Youth Brigade but I am afraid; they say they give them we-we
to smoke and they drink blood and swear an oath to have no mercy on any soul,
including their parents."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"Sister
Nora will be angry with you if she hears you talking like that. You know she is
doing her best for us, and the Red Cross people too, they are trying to get a
family for you."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"That
place called Dakota must be full of rocks."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"Why do
you say that?"</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"Just
from the way it sounds, like many giant pieces of rock falling on each other at
once.”</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"I like
to go to that place with angels."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"You mean
Los Angeles."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"They killed
most of my people who could not pronounce the name of the rebel leader properly,
they said we could not say <i>Tsofo</i>, we kept saying <i>Tofo </i>and they kept shooting us. My friend here in the camp taught me to say
Tsofo, he said I should say it like there is sand in my mouth. Like there is
gravel on my tongue. Now I can say it either way."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"That’s
good. When you get to America, you will learn to speak like them. You will try
to swallow your tongue with every word, you will say <i>larer, berrer, merre, ferre, herrer</i>."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"We
should go. It is getting to lunch time."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"I don’t
have the power to fight. Whenever it is time for food, I get scared. If only my
mother was here, then I would not be <i>Displaced</i>. She would be cooking for me; I wouldn’t have to fight to eat all the time."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">We both
looked up at the smoke curling upwards from shacks where some of the women were
cooking <i>dawa. </i>You could tell the people that had mothers because smoke always rose
from their shacks in the afternoon. I wondered if Acapulco and I were yet to find
people to adopt us because we were displaced we did not have families. Most of
the people that have gone abroad are people with families. I did not mention
this to Acapulco; I did not want him to start thinking of his parents who could
not say <i>Tsofo</i>. I had once heard someone in the camp say that if God wanted us to say <i>Tsofo </i>he would have given us
tongues that could say <i>Tsofo</i>.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"Come
with me, I will help you fight for food," I say to
Acapulco.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"You
don’t need to fight, Orlando. All the other kids respect you, they say you are
not afraid of anybody or anything and they say Sister Nora likes you and they
say you have a book where you record all the bad, bad, things that people do
and you give it to Sister Nora to read and when you are both reading the book both
of you will be shaking your heads and laughing like <i>amariya </i>and <i>ango, </i>like husband and
wife."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">We stood
up and started walking towards the corrugated sheet shack where we got our
lunch. I could smell the <i>dawa</i>, it was always the same <i>dawa, </i>and the same green-bottle flies and the same bent and half-crumpled
aluminum plates and yet we still fought over it.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Kimono
saw me first and began to call out to me, he was soon joined by Aruba and
Jerusalem and Lousy and I’m Loving It and Majorca and the rest. Chief Cook was
standing in front of the plates of <i>dawa </i>and green soup. She had that look on her face, the face of a man about
to witness two beautiful women disgrace themselves by fighting and stripping
themselves naked over him. She wagged her finger at us and said: No fighting
today, boys. That was the signal we needed to go at it; we dived. <i>Dawa </i>and soup were spilling on
the floor. Some tried to grab some into their mouth as they fought to grab a
plate in case they did not get anything to eat at the end of the fight. I
grabbed a lump of <i>dawa </i>and tossed it to Acapulco and made for a plate of soup but as my fingers
grabbed it, Lousy kicked it away and the soup poured on the floor. He laughed
his crazy hyena laugh and hissed saying: the leper may not know how to milk a
cow, but he sure knows how to spill the milk in the pail. Chief Cook kept screaming,
hey no fighting, one by one, form a line, the <i>dawa
</i>is enough to go round. I managed to grab a half-
spilled plate of soup and began to weave my way out as I signaled to Acapulco
to head out. We squatted behind the food shack and began dipping our fingers into
the food, driving away large flies with our free hand. We had two hard lumps of
<i>dawa </i>and very little soup. I
ate a few handfuls and wiped my hands on my shorts, leaving the rest for
Acapulco. He was having a hard time driving away the flies from his bad ear and
from the plate of food, and he thanked me with his eyes.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I
remembered a book Sister Nora once gave me to read about a poor boy living in
England in the olden days who asked for more from his chief cook. From the
picture of the boy in the book, he did not look so poor to me. The boys in the
book all wore coats and caps and they were even served. We had to fight, and if
you asked the chief cook for more, she would point at the lumps of <i>dawa </i>and the spilled soup on
the floor and say we loved to waste food. I once spoke to Sister Nora about the
food and fights but she said she did not want to get involved. It was the first
time I had seen her refuse to find a solution to any problem. She explained
that she did not work for the Red Cross and was their guest like me.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I was
wondering how to get away from Acapulco, I needed some time alone but I did not
want to hurt his feelings, I told him to take the plates back to the food
shack. We did not need to wash them because we had already licked them clean
with our tongues.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">As
Acapulco walked away to the food shack with the plates, I slipped away quietly.</span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">THE
END###</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">E. C. Osondu is a Nigerian writer known for his short
stories. His work has
appeared in <i>Agni </i>and <i>Vice</i>, and in <i>Fiction</i>. He was a
finalist for the 2007 Caine Prize. His
story "Waiting" won the 2009 Caine Prize for African Writing, for
which he had been a finalist in 2007 with his story "Jimmy Carter's
Eyes". He had previously won the Allen and Nirelle Galso Prize for Fiction
and his story "A Letter from Home" was judged one of "The Top
Ten Stories on the Internet" in 2006.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Osondu's writing has been published in <i>Agni</i>,
<i>Guernica,</i> <i>Vice</i>, <i>Fiction</i>, and <i>The Atlantic</i>. His
debut collection of short stories, <i>Voice of America</i>, was published in
2010.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Epaphras Chukwuenweniwe Osondu was born
in Nigeria, where he worked as an advertising copywriter for many years. In
2008, he was a fellow at Syracuse University in creative writing. In 2010, he
became an assistant professor of English at Providence College, teaching
courses in Creative Writing, Introduction to Literature, and the Development of
Western Civilization.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;">"Waiting",
published in October 2008 by <i>Guernica</i> magazine, describes life in a refugee
camp from a child's point of view. Meakin Armstrong, the magazine's fiction
editor, noted that "it isn't pretentious nor rife with literary trickery.
It's simply a well-told story about a kind of life most of us couldn't even
begin to imagine." In addition to the £10,000 cash award, the Caine Prize
also brought Osondu a month's residency at Georgetown University in Washington,
D.C. Osondu's "Voice of America" is included in <i>Gods and Soldiers:
The Penguin Anthology of Contemporary African Writing</i> (2009).</span></span> </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%;"></span></span>Kenneth Nwachinemelu David-Okaforhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01053567276751518164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5295647804651653747.post-82010440569195844702015-03-11T13:09:00.000+01:002015-03-27T13:20:50.905+01:00SHORT STORY: "The Stout Gentleman"<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Editor’s Note: In 1971, Eli Spiegel, wrote “About this
story, Washington Irving is hardly Dostoievsky, but there is one story by the
American writer in which the unknown as an abiding, unmistakable factor can
plainly be noticed, apprehended, welcomed deeply. That story is "The Stout
Gentleman" of 1822-one of the stories in </span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Bracebridge Hall<i>.</i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> I think it is
one of the great fictional happenings in American literature. It showed, as I
see it, valuable discernment when Somerset Maugham included it, as one of the
few older stories, in his <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Tellers of
Tales</span> of some years ago.”</span></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If I were to teach a creative writing class on The Short
Story, I would include this piece in the must-read selection. </span></i></span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiycR5x3Sr17EEpSbDg40kG7NDHZgWwrgNN-l_9bFpXIA7a3AHq9uF8s2BeYk4__7Ev5pX1x5_wxQCAtT2jVhT5qBIuuT4623pisRGW2dJKo3YusIjT_oLwg8zwGtH3ecF3YPByI-1MSJU/s1600/Irving.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiycR5x3Sr17EEpSbDg40kG7NDHZgWwrgNN-l_9bFpXIA7a3AHq9uF8s2BeYk4__7Ev5pX1x5_wxQCAtT2jVhT5qBIuuT4623pisRGW2dJKo3YusIjT_oLwg8zwGtH3ecF3YPByI-1MSJU/s1600/Irving.png" height="492" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">Daguerreotype of Washington Irving
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">by Washington Irving</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It was a rainy Sunday in the gloomy month of November.
I had been detained, in the course of a journey, by a slight indisposition,
from which I was recovering; but was still feverish, and obliged to keep within
doors all day, in an inn of a small town of Derby. A wet Sunday in a country
inn!--whoever has had the luck to experience one can alone judge of my
situation. The rain pattered against the casements; the bells tolled for church
with a melancholy sound. I went to the windows in quest of something to amuse
the eye; but it seemed as if I had been placed completely out of reach of all
amusement. The windows of my bedroom looked out among tiled roofs and stacks of
chimneys, while those of my sitting-room commanded a full view of the
stable-yard. I know of nothing more calculated to make a man sick of this world
than a stable-yard on a rainy day. The place was littered with wet straw that
had been kicked about by travellers and stable-boys. In one corner was a
stagnant pool of water, surrounding an island of muck; there were several
half-drowned fowls crowded together under a cart, among which was a miserable,
crest-fallen cock, drenched out of all life and spirit, his drooping tail
matted, as it were, into a single feather, along which the water trickled from
his back; near the cart was a half-dozing cow, chewing the cud, and standing
patiently to be rained on, with wreaths of vapor rising from her reeking hide;
a wall-eyed horse, tired of the loneliness of the stable, was poking his
spectral head out of a window, with the rain dripping on it from the eaves; an
unhappy cur, chained to a doghouse hard by, uttered something, every now and
then, between a bark and a yelp; a drab of a kitchen-wench tramped backward and
forward through the yard in patterns, looking as sulky as the weather itself;
everything, in short, was comfortless and forlorn, excepting a crew of hardened
ducks, assembled like boon companions round a puddle, and making a riotous
noise over their liquor.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I was lonely and listless, and
wanted amusement. My room soon became insupportable, I abandoned it, and sought
what is technically called the travellers' room. This is a public room set
apart at most inns for the accommodation of a class of wayfarers called
travellers, or riders; a kind of commercial knights-errant, who are incessantly
scouring the kingdom in gigs, on horseback, or by coach. They are the only
successors that I know of at the present day to the knights-errant of yore.
They lead the same kind of roving, adventurous life, only changing the lance
for a driving-whip, the buckler for a pattern-card, and the coat of mail for an
upper Benjamin. Instead of vindicating the charms of peerless beauty, they rove
about, spreading the fame and standing of some substantial tradesman, or
manufacturer, and are ready at any time to bargain in his name; it being the
fashion nowadays to trade, instead of fight, with one another. As the room of
the hostel, in the good old fighting-times, would be hung round at night with
armor of wayworn warriors, such as coats of mail, falchions, and yawning
helmets, so the travellers' room is garnished with the harnessing of their
successors, with box-coats, whips of all kinds, spurs, gaiters, and oil-cloth
covered hats.</span></span></span> </span></span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I was in hopes of finding some of
these worthies to talk with, but I was disappointed. There were, indeed, two or
three in the room; but I could make nothing of them. One was just finishing his
breakfast, quarrelling with his bread and butter, and huffing the waiter;
another buttoned on a pair of gaiters, with many execrations at Boots for not
having cleaned his shoes well; a third sat drumming on the table with his
fingers and looking at the rain as it streamed down the window-glass; they all
appeared infected by the weather, and disappeared, one after the other, without
exchanging a word.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I sauntered to the window, and stood
gazing at the people, picking their way to church, with petticoats hoisted
midleg high, and dripping umbrellas. The bell ceased to toll, and the streets
became silent. I then amused myself with watching the daughters of a tradesman
opposite; who, being confined to the house for fear of wetting their Sunday
finery, played off their charms at the front windows, to fascinate the chance
tenants of the inn. They at length were summoned away by a vigilant,
vinegar-faced mother, and I had nothing further from without to amuse me.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">What was I to do to pass away the
long-lived day? I was sadly nervous and lonely; and everything about an inn
seems calculated to make a dull day ten times duller. Old newspapers, smelling
of beer and tobacco-smoke, and which I had already read half a dozen times.
Good-for-nothing books, that were worse than rainy weather. I bored myself to
death with an old volume of the Lady's Magazine. I read all the commonplace
names of ambitious travellers scrawled on the panes of glass; the eternal families
of the Smiths, and the Browns, and the Jacksons, and the Johnsons, and all the
other sons; and I deciphered several scraps of fatiguing inn-window poetry
which I have met with in all parts of the world.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The day continued lowering and
gloomy; the slovenly, ragged, spongy cloud drifted heavily along; there was no
variety even in the rain: it was one dull, continued, monotonous
patter--patter--patter, excepting that now and then I was enlivened by the idea
of a brisk shower, from the rattling of the drops on a passing umbrella.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">It was quite refreshing (if I may be
allowed a hackneyed phrase of the day) when, in the course of the morning, a
horn blew, and a stage-coach whirled through the street, with outside
passengers stuck all over it, cowering under cotton umbrellas, and seethed
together, and reeking with the steams of wet box-coats and upper Benjamins.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The sound brought out from their
lurking-places a crew of vagabond boys, and vagabond dogs, and the
carroty-headed hostler, and the nondescript animal cyleped Boots, and all the
other vagabond race that infest the purlieus of an inn; but the bustle was
transient; the coach again whirled on its way; and boy and dog, and hostler and
Boots, all slunk back again to their holes; the street again became silent, and
the rain continued to rain on. In fact, there was no hope of its clearing up;
the barometer pointed to rainy weather; mine hostess's tortoise-shell cat sat
by the fire washing her face, and rubbing her paws over her ears; and, on
referring to the Almanac, I found a direful prediction stretching from the top
of the page to the bottom through the whole month,
"Expect--much--rain--about--this--time!"</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I was dreadfully hipped. The hours
seemed as if they would never creep by. The very ticking of the clock became
irksome. At length the stillness of the house was interrupted by the ringing of
a bell. Shortly after I heard the voice of a waiter at the bar: "The stout
gentleman in No. 13 wants his breakfast. Tea and bread and butter, with ham and
eggs; the eggs not to be too much done."</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">In such a situation as mine, every
incident is of importance. Here was a subject of speculation presented to my
mind, and ample exercise for my imagination. I am prone to paint pictures to
myself, and on this occasion I had some materials to work upon. Had the guest
upstairs been mentioned as Mr. Smith, or Mr Brown, or Mr. Jackson, or Mr
Johnson, or merely as "The gentle man in No. 13," it would have been
a perfect blank to me. I should have thought nothing of it; but "The stout
gentleman!"--the very name had something in it of the picturesque. It at
once gave me the size; it embodied the personage to my mind's eye, and my fancy
did the rest.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">He was stout, or, as some term it,
lusty; in all probability, therefore, he was advanced in life, some people
expanding as they grow old. By his breakfasting rather late, and in his own
room, he must be a man accustomed to live at his ease, and above the necessity
of early rising; no doubt, a round, rosy, lusty old gentleman.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">There was another violent ringing.
The stout gentleman was impatient for his breakfast. He was evidently a man of
importance; "well to do in the world"; accustomed to be promptly
waited upon; of a keen appetite, and a little cross when hungry;
"Perhaps," thought I, "he may be some London Alderman; or who
knows but he may be a Member of Paliament?"</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The breakfast was sent up, and there
was a short interval of silence; he was, doubtless, making the tea. Presently
there was a violent ringing; and before it could be answered, another ringing
still more violent. "Bless me! what a choleric old gentleman!" The
waiter came down again in a huff. The butter was rancid, the eggs were
overdone, the ham was too salty; the stout gentleman was evidently nice in his
eating; one of those who eat and growl, and keep the waiter on the trot, and
live in a state militant with the household.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The hostess got into a fume. I
should observe that she was a brisk, coquettish woman; a little of a shrew, and
something of a slammerkin, but very pretty withal; with a nincompoop for a
husband, as shrews are apt to have. She rated the servants roundly for their
negligence in sending up so bad a breakfast, but said not a word against the
stout gentleman; by which I clearly perceived that he must be a man of consequence,
entitled to make a noise and to give trouble at a country inn. Other eggs, and
ham, and bread and butter were sent up. They appeared to be more graciously
received; at least there was no further complaint.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I had not made many turns about the
travellers' room, when there was another ringing. Shortly afterward there was a
stir and an inquest about the house. The stout gentleman wanted the Times or
the Chronicle newspaper. I set him down, therefore, for a Whig; or, rather,
from his being so absolute and lordly where he had a chance, I suspected him of
being a Radical. Hunt, I had heard, was a large man; "Who knows,"
thought I, "but it is Hunt himself!"</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">My curiosity began to be awakened. I
inquired of the waiter who was this stout gentleman that was making all this
stir; but I could get no information: nobody seemed to know his name. The
landlords of bustling inns seldom trouble their heads about the names or
occupations of their transient guests. The color of a coat, the shape or size
of the person, is enough to suggest a travelling name. It is either the tall
gentleman, or the short gentleman, or the gentleman in black, or the gentleman
in snuff-color; or, as in the present instance, the stout gentleman. A
designation of the kind once hit on, answers every purpose, and saves all
further inquiry.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Rain--rain--rain! Pitiless,
ceaseless rain! No such thing as putting a foot out of doors, and no occupation
nor amusement within. By and by I heard someone walking overhead. It was in the
stout gentleman's room. He evidently was a large man by the heaviness of his
tread; and an old man from his wearing such creaking soles. "He is
doubtless," I thought, "some rich old square-toes of regular habits,
and is now taking exercise after breakfast."</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I now read all the advertisements of
coaches and hotels that were stuck about the mantlepiece. The Lady's Magazine
had become an abomination to me; it was as tedious as the day itself. I
wandered out, not knowing what to do, and ascended again to my room. I had not
been there a long time, when there was a squall from a neighboring bedroom. A
door opened and slammed violently; a chambermaid, that I had remarked for
having a ruddy, good-humored face, went downstairs in a violent flurry. The
stout gentleman had been rude to her!</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">This sent a whole host of my
deductions to the deuce in a moment. This unknown personage could not be an old
gentleman; for old gentlemen are not apt to be so obstreperous to chambermaids.
He could not be a young gentleman; for young gentlemen are not apt to inspire
such indignation. He must be a middle-aged man, and confounded ugly into the
bargain, or the girl would not have taken the matter in such terrible dudgeon.
I confess I was sorely puzzled.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">In a few minutes I heard the voice
of my landlady. I caught a glance of her as she came tramping upstairs--her
face glowing, her cap flaring, her tongue wagging the whole way. "She'd
have no such doings in her house, she'd warrant. If gentlemen did spend money
freely, it was no rule. She'd have no servant-maids of hers treated in that
way, when they were about their work, that's what she wouldn't."</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">As I hate squabbles, particularly
with women, and above all with pretty women, I slunk back into my room, and
partly closed the door; but my curiosity was too much excited not to listen.
The landlady marched intrepidly to the enemy's citadel, and entered it with a
storm: the door closed after her. I heard her voice in high windy clamor for a
moment or two. Then it gradually subsided, like a gust of wind in a garret;
then there was a laugh; then I heard nothing more.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">After a little while my landlady
came out with an odd smile on her face, adjusting her cap, which was a little
on one side. As she went downstairs, I heard the landlord ask her what was the
matter; she said, "Nothing at all, only the girl's a fool." I was
more than ever perplexed what to make of this unaccountable personage, who
could put a good-natured chambermaid in a passion, and send away a termagent
landlady in smiles. He could not be so old, nor cross, nor ugly either.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I had to go to work at his picture
again, and paint him entirely different. I now set him down for one of those
stout gentlemen that are frequently met with swaggering about the doors of
country inns. Moist, merry fellows, in Belcher handkerchiefs, whose bulk is a
little assisted by malt-liquors. Men who have seen the world, and been sworn at
Highgate; who are used to tavern life; up to all the tricks of tapsters, and
knowing in the ways of sinful publicans. Free-livers on a small scale; who are prodigal
within the compass of a guinea; who call all the waiters by name, tousle the
maids, gossip with the landlady at the bar, and prose over a pint of port, or a
glass of negus, after dinner.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The morning wore away in forming
these and similar surmises. As fast as I wove one system of belief, some
movement of the unknown would completely overturn it, and throw all my thoughts
again into confusion. Such are the solitary operations of a feverish mind. I
was, as I have said, extremely nervous; and the continual meditation in the
concerns of this invisible personage began to have its effect on me--I was
getting a fit of the fidgets.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Dinner-time came. I hoped the stout
gentleman might dine in the travellers' room, and that I might at length get a
view of his person; but no--he had dinner served in his own room. What could be
the meaning of this solitude and mystery? He could not be a radical; there was
something too aristocratical in thus keeping himself apart from the rest of the
world, and condemning himself to his own dull company throughout a rainy day.
And then, too, he lived too well for a discontented politician. He seemed to
expatiate on a variety of dishes, and to sit over his wine like a jolly friend
of good living. Indeed, my doubts on this head were soon at an end; for he
could not have finished his first bottle before I could faintly hear him
humming a tune; and on listening I found it to be "God Save the
King." 'Twas plain, then he was no radical, but a faithful subject; one
who grew loyal over his bottle, and was ready to stand by king and
constitution, when he could stand by nothing else. But who could he be? My
conjectures began to run wild. Was he not some personage of distinction
travelling incognito? "God knows!" said I, at my wit's end; "it
may be one of the royal family for aught I know, for they are all stout
gentleman!"</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The weather continued rainy. The
mysterious unknown kept his room, and, as far as I could judge, his chair, for
I did not hear him move. In the meantime, as the day advanced, the travellers'
room began to be frequented. Some, who had just arrived, came in buttoned up in
box-coats; others came home who had been dispersed about the town; some took
their dinners, and some their tea. Had I been in a different mood, I should
have found entertainment in studying this peculiar class of men. There were two
especially who were regular wags of the road, and up to all the standing jokes
of travellers. They had a thousand sly things to say to the waiting-maid, whom
they called Louisa and Ethelinda, and a dozen other fine names, changing the
name every time, and chuckling amazingly at their own waggery. My mind,
however, had been completely engrossed by the stout gentleman. He had kept my
fancy in chase during a long day, and it was not now to be diverted from the
scent.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The evening gradually wore away. The
travellers read the papers two or three times over. Some drew round the fire
and told long stories about their horses, about their adventures, their
overturns, and breaking-down. They discussed the credit of different merchants
and different inns; and the two wags told several choice anecdotes of pretty
chambermaids and kind landladies. All this passed as they were quietly taking
what they called their night-caps, that is to say, strong glasses of brandy and
water and sugar, or some other mixture of the kind; after which they one after
another rang for "Boots" and the chambermaid, and walked off to bed
in old shoes cut down into marvellously uncomfortable slippers.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">There was now only one man left: a
short-legged, long-bodied, plethoric fellow, with a very large, sandy head. He
sat by himself, with a glass of port-wine negus, and a spoon; sipping and
stirring, and meditating and sipping, until nothing was left but the spoon. He
gradually fell asleep bolt upright in his chair, with the empty glass standing
before him; and the candle seemed to fall asleep, too, for the wick grew long,
and black, and cabbaged at the end, and dimmed the little light that remained
in the chamber. The gloom that now prevailed was contagious. Around hung the
shapeless, and almost spectral, box-coats of departed travellers, long since
buried in deep sleep. I only heard the ticking of the clock, with the
deep-drawn breathings of the sleeping topers, and the drippings of the rain,
drop--drop--drop, from the eaves of the house. The church bells chimed
midnight. All at once the stout gentleman began to walk overhead, pacing slowly
backward and forward. There was something extremely awful in all this,
especially to one in my state of nerves. These ghastly great-coats, these
gutteral breathings, and the creaking footsteps of this mysterious being. His
steps grew fainter and fainter, and at length died away. I could bear it no
longer. I was wound up to the desperation of a hero of romance."Be he who
or what he may," said I to myself, "I'll have a sight of him!" I
seized a chamber-candle, and hurried up to No. 13. The door stood ajar. I
hesitated--I entered: the room was deserted. There stood a large, broad-bottomed
elbow-chair at a table, on which was an empty tumbler, and a Times newspaper,
and the room smelt powerfully of Stilton cheese.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The mysterious stranger had
evidently but just retired. I turned off, sorely disappointed, to my room,
which had been changed to the front of the house. As I went along the corridor,
I saw a large pair of boots, with dirty, waxed tops, standing at the door of a
bedchamber. They doubtless belonged to the unknown: but it would not do to
disturb so redoubtable a personage in his den: he might discharge a pistol, or
something worse, at my head. I went to bed, therefore, and lay awake half the
night in a terribly nervous state; even when I fell asleep, I was still haunted
in my dreams by the idea of the stout gentleman and his wax-topped boots.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I slept rather late the next
morning, and was awakened by some stir and bustle in the house, which I could
not at first comprehend; until getting more awake, I found there was a
mail-coach starting from the door. Suddenly there was a cry from below,
"The gentleman has forgotten his umbrella! Look for the umbrella in No.
13!" I heard an immediate scampering of a chambermaid along the passage,
and a shrill reply as she ran, "Here it is! Here's the gentleman's
umbrella!"</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The mysterious stranger then was on
the point of setting off. This was the only chance I should ever have of
knowing him. I sprang out of bed, scrambled to the window, snatched aside the
curtains, and just caught a glimpse of the rear of a person getting in at the
coach-door. The skirts of a brown coat parted behind, and gave me a full view
of the broad disk of a pair of drab breeches. The door closed--"All
right!" was the word--the coach whirled off; and that was all I ever saw
of the stout gentleman!</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">THE END###</span></b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Washington
Irving</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"> (April 3, 1783 – November
28, 1859) was an American author, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat
of the early 19th century. He is best known for his short stories "Rip Van
Winkle" (1819) and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (1820), both of
which appear in his book <i>The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.</i>. His
historical works include biographies of George Washington, Oliver Goldsmith and
Muhammad, and several histories of 15th-century Spain dealing with subjects
such as Christopher Columbus, the Moors and the Alhambra. Irving served as the U.S.
ambassador to Spain from 1842 to 1846.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">He made his literary debut
in 1802 with a series of observational letters to the <i>Morning Chronicle</i>,
written under the pseudonym Jonathan Oldstyle. After moving to England for the
family business in 1815, he achieved international fame with the publication of
<i>The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.</i> in 1819–20. He continued to
publish regularly — and almost always successfully — throughout his life, and
completed a five-volume biography of George Washington just eight months before
his death, at age 76, in Tarrytown, New York.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Irving,
along with James Fenimore Cooper, was among the first American writers to earn
acclaim in Europe, and Irving encouraged American authors such as Nathaniel
Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Edgar Allan Poe.
Irving was also admired by some European writers, including Walter Scott, Lord
Byron, Thomas Campbell, Francis Jeffrey, and Charles Dickens. As America's
first genuine internationally best-selling author, Irving advocated for writing
as a legitimate profession, and argued for stronger laws to protect American
writers from copyright infringement.</span> </span> </span></div>
Kenneth Nwachinemelu David-Okaforhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01053567276751518164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5295647804651653747.post-84740364138430494432015-02-16T12:03:00.002+01:002015-03-27T13:33:23.077+01:00SHORT STORY: “Ball Of Fat” (French title: "Boule de Suif")<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrvP4YbZ5rOMCdzt3SBQaqmfqXuZ5lmbBfBByRcTgld9zxbvmLCzVHeVo4kzQKmJHZqHP763AjCyBQ4nEUJBeA1lWgO9_5x_NeQe2ykl8hzbEODl5eRZKHGTXWz6qViLykfYI1ZUW_Vs0/s1600/Guy.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrvP4YbZ5rOMCdzt3SBQaqmfqXuZ5lmbBfBByRcTgld9zxbvmLCzVHeVo4kzQKmJHZqHP763AjCyBQ4nEUJBeA1lWgO9_5x_NeQe2ykl8hzbEODl5eRZKHGTXWz6qViLykfYI1ZUW_Vs0/s1600/Guy.png" height="444" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="justify"><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">Image from wikipedia.org</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; line-height: 115%;">by Guy
de Maupassant</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">[1] For many days now the fag-end of the army had been
straggling through the town. They were not troops, but a disbanded horde. The
beards of the men were long and filthy, their uniforms in tatters, and they
advanced at an easy pace without flag or regiment. All seemed worn-out and back-broken,
incapable of a thought or a resolution, marching by habit solely, and falling
from fatigue as soon as they stopped. In short, they were a mobilized, pacific
people, bending under the weight of the gun; some little squads on the alert,
easy to take alarm and prompt in enthusiasm, ready to attack or to flee; and in
the midst of them, some red breeches, the remains of a division broken up in a
great battle; some somber artillery men in line with these varied kinds of foot
soldiers; and, sometimes the brilliant helmet of a dragoon on foot who followed
with difficulty the shortest march of the lines. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Some legions of free-shooters, under the heroic names
of "Avengers of the Defeat," "Citizens of the Tomb,"
"Partakers of Death," passed in their turn with the air of bandits. Their
leaders were former cloth or grain merchants, ex-merchants in tallow or soap,
warriors of circumstance, elected officers on account of their escutcheons and
the length of their mustaches, covered with arms and with braid, speaking in
constrained voices, discussing plans of campaign, and pretending to carry
agonized France alone on their swaggering shoulders, but sometimes fearing
their own soldiers, prison-birds, that were often brave at first and later
proved to be plunderers and debauchees. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It was said that the Prussians were going to enter
Rouen. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The National Guard who for two months had been
carefully reconnoitering in the neighboring woods, shooting sometimes their own
sentinels, and ready for a combat whenever a little wolf stirred in the
thicket, had now returned to their firesides. Their arms, their uniforms, all
the murderous accoutrements with which they had lately struck fear into the
national heart for three leagues in every direction, had suddenly disappeared. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The last French soldiers finally came across the Seine
to reach the Audemer bridge through Saint-Sever and Bourg-Achard; and, marching
behind, on foot, between two officers of ordnance, the General, in despair,
unable to do any, thing with these incongruous tatters, himself lost in the
breaking-up of a people accustomed to conquer, and disastrously beaten, in
spite of his legendary bravery. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A profound calm, a frightful, silent expectancy had
spread over the city, Many of the heavy citizens, emasculated by commerce,
anxiously awaited the conquerors, trembling lest their roasting spits or
kitchen knives be considered arms.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">All life seemed stopped; shops were closed, the
streets dumb. Sometimes an [2] inhabitant, intimidated by this silence, moved
rapidly along next the walls. The agony of waiting made them wish the enemy
would come. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In the afternoon of the day which followed the
departure of the French troops, some uhlans, coming from one knows not where,
crossed the town with celerity. Then, a little later, a black mass descended
the side of St. Catharine, while two other invading bands appeared by the way
of Darnetal and Boisguillaume. The advance guard of the three bodies joined one
another at the same moment in Hotel de Ville square and, by all the neighboring
streets, the German army continued to arrive, spreading out its battalions,
making the pavement resound under their hard, rhythmic step. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Some orders of the commander, in a foreign, guttural
voice, reached the !souses which seemed dead and deserted, while behind closed
shutters, eyes were Watching these victorious men, masters of the city, of
fortunes, of lives, through the "rights of war." The inhabitants,
shut up in their rooms, were visited with the kind of excitement that a
cataclysm, or some fatal upheaval of the earth, brings to us, against which all
force is useless. For the same sensation is produced each time that the
established order of things is overturned, when security no longer exists, and
all that protect the laws of man and of nature find themselves at the mercy of
unreasoning, ferocious brutality. The trembling of the earth crushing the
houses and burying an entire people; a river overflowing its banks and carrying
in its course the drowned peasants, carcasses of beeves, and girders snatched from
roofs, or a glorious army massacring those trying to defend themselves, leading
others prisoners, pillaging in the name of the sword and thanking God to the
sound of the cannon, all are alike frightful scourges which disconnect all
belief in eternal justice, all the confidence that we have in the protection of
Heaven and the reason of man. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Some detachments rapped at each door, then disappeared
into the houses. It was occupation after invasion. Then the duty commences for
the conquered to show themselves gracious toward the conquerors. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">After some time, as soon as the first terror
disappears, a new calm is established. In many families, the Prussian officer
eats at the table. He is sometimes well bred and, through politeness, pities
France, and speaks of his repugnance in taking part in this affair. One is
grateful to him for this sentiment; then, one may be, some day or other, in
need of his protection. By treating him well, one has, perhaps, a less number
of men to feed. And why should we wound anyone on whom we are entirely
dependent? To act thus would be less bravery than temerity. And temerity is no
longer a fault of the commoner of Rouen, as it was at the time of the heroic
defense, when their city became famous. Finally, each told himself that the highest
judgment of French urbanity required that they be allowed to be polite to the
strange soldier in the house, provided they did not show themselves familiar
with him in public. Outside they would not make themselves known to each other,
but at [3] home they could chat freely, and the German might remain longer each
evening warming his feet at their hearth-stones. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The town even took on, little by little, its ordinary
aspect. The French scarcely went out, but the Prussian soldiers grumbled in the
streets. In short, the officers of the Blue Hussars, who dragged with arrogance
their great weapons of death up and down the pavement, seemed to have no more
grievous scorn for the simple citizens than the officers or the sportsmen who,
the year before, drank in the same <i>cafés.</i> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There was nevertheless, something in the air,
something subtle and unknown, a strange, intolerable atmosphere like a
penetrating odor, the odor of invasion. It filled the dwellings and the public
places, changed the taste of the food, gave the impression of being on a
journey, far away, among barbarous and dangerous tribes. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The conquerors exacted money, much money. The
inhabitants always paid and they were rich enough to do it. But the richer a
trading Norman becomes the more he suffers at every outlay, at each part of his
fortune that he sees pass from his hands into those of another. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Therefore, two or three leagues below the town,
following the course of the river toward Croisset, Dieppedalle, or Biessart
mariners and fishermen often picked up the swollen corpse of a German in
uniform from the bottom of the river, killed by the blow of a knife, the head
crushed with a stone, or perhaps thrown into the water by a push from the high
bridge. The slime of the river bed buried these obscure vengeances, savage, but
legitimate, unknown heroisms, mute attacks more perilous than the battles of
broad day, and without the echoing sound of glory. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For hatred of the foreigner always arouses some
intrepid ones, who are ready to die for an idea. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Finally, as soon as the invaders had brought the town
quite under subjection with their inflexible discipline, without having been
guilty of any of the horrors for which they were famous along their triumphal
line of march, people began to take courage, and the need of trade put new
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going to Dieppe by land and there embarking. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They used their influence with the German soldiers
with whom they had an acquaintance, and finally, an authorization of departure
was obtained from the General-in-chief. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Then, a large diligence, with four horses, having been
engaged for this journey, and ten persons having engaged seats in it, it was
resolved to set out on Tuesday morning before daylight, in order to escape
observation. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For some time before, the frost had been hardening the
earth and on Monday, toward three o'clock, great black clouds coming from the
north brought the snow which fell without interruption during the evening and
all night. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At half past four in the morning, the travelers met in
the courtyard of Hotel Normandie, where they were to take the carriage. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They were still full of sleep, and [4] shivering with
cold under their wraps. They could only see each other dimly in the obscure
light, and the accumulation of heavy winter garments made them all resemble fat
curates in long cassocks. Only two of the men were acquainted; a third accosted
them and they chatted: "Im going to take my wife;" said one. "I
too," said another. "And I," said the third. The first added:
"We shall not return to Rouen, and if the Prussians approach Havre, we
shall go over to England." All had the same projects, being of the same
mind. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As yet the horses were not harnessed. A little
lantern, carried by a stable boy, went out one door from time to time, to
immediately appear at another. The feet of the horses striking the floor could
be heard, although deadened by the straw and litter, and the voice of a man
talking to the beasts, sometimes swearing, a sensation rather than a sound came
from the other end of the building. A light tinkling of bells announced that
they were taking down the harness; this murmur soon became a clear and
continuous rhythm by the movement of the animal, stopping sometimes, then
breaking into a brusque shake which was accompanied by the dull stamp of a
sabot upon the hard earth. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The door suddenly closed. All noise ceased. The frozen
citizens were silent; they remained immovable and stiff. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A curtain of uninterrupted white flakes constantly sparkled in its
descent to the ground. It effaced forms, and powdered everything with a downy
moss. And nothing could be heard in the great silence. The town was calm, and
buried under the wintry frost, as this fall of snow, unnamable and floating, a
sensation rather than a sound (trembling atoms which only seem to fill all
space), came to cover the earth. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The man reappeared with his lantern, pulling at the end of a rope a sad
horse which would not come willingly. He placed him against the pole, fastened
the traces, walked about a long time adjusting the harness, for he had the use
of but one hand, the other carrying the lantern. As he went for the second
horse, he noticed the travelers, motionless, already white with snow, and said
to them: "Why not get into the carriage? You will be under cover, at
least." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They had evidently not thought of it, and they hastened to do so. The
three men installed their wives at the back and then followed them. Then the
other forms, undecided and veiled, took in their turn the last places without
exchanging a word. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The floor was covered with straw, in which the feet ensconced
themselves. The ladies at the back having brought little copper foot stoves,
with a carbon fire, lighted them and, for some time, in low voices, enumerated
the advantages of the appliances, repeating things that they had known for a
long time. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Finally, the carriage was harnessed with six horses instead of four,
because the traveling was very bad, and a voice called out: </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Is everybody aboard?" </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And a voice within answered: "Yes." They were off. The
carriage moved slowly, slowly for a little way. The wheels were imbedded in the
snow; the whole body groaned with heavy cracking sounds; the horses glistened,
puffed, and smoked; and the great whip of the [5] driver snapped without
ceasing, hovering about on all sides, knotting and unrolling itself like a thin
serpent, lashing brusquely some horse on the rebound, which then put forth its
most violent effort. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now the day was imperceptibly dawning. The light flakes, which one of
the travelers, a Rouenese by birth, said looked like a shower of cotton, no
longer fell. A faint light filtered through the great dull clouds, which
rendered more brilliant the white of the fields, where appeared a line of great
trees clothed in whiteness, or a chimney with a cap of snow. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In the carriage, each looked at the others curiously, in the sad light
of this dawn. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At the back, in the best places, Mr. Loiseau, wholesale merchant of
wine, of Grand-Pont street, and Mrs. Loiseau were sleeping opposite each other.
Loiseau had bought out his former patron who failed in business, and made his
fortune. He sold bad wine at a good price to small retailers in the country,
and passed among his friends and acquaintances as a knavish wag, a true Norman
full of deceit and joviality. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">His reputation as a sharper was so well established that one evening at
the residence of the prefect, Mr. Tournel, author of some fables and songs, of
keen, satirical mind, a local celebrity, having proposed to some ladies, who
seemed to be getting a little sleepy, that they make up a game of "Loiseau
tricks," the joke traversed the rooms of the prefect, reached those of the
town, and then, in the months to come, made many a face in the province expand
with laughter. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Loiseau was especially known for his love of farce of every kind, for
his jokes, good and bad; and no one could ever talk with him without thinking:
"He is invaluable, this Loiseau." Of tall figure, his balloon-shaped
front was surmounted by a ruddy face surrounded by gray whiskers. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">His wife, large, strong, and resolute, with a quick, decisive manner,
was the order and arithmetic of this house of commerce, while he was the life
of it through his joyous activity. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Beside them, Mr. Carré-Lamadon held himself with great dignity, as if
belonging to a superior caste; a considerable man, in cottons, proprietor of
three mills, officer of the Legion of Honor, and member of the General Council.
He had remained, during the Empire, chief of the friendly opposition, famous
for making the Emperor pay more dear for rallying to the cause than if he had
combated it with blunted arms, according to his own story. Madame
Carré-Lamadon, much younger than her husband, was the consolation of officers
of good family sent to Rouen in garrison. She sat opposite her husband, very
dainty, petite, and pretty, wrapped closely in furs and looking with sad ayes
at the interior of the carriage. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Her neighbors, the Count and Countess Hubert de Breville, bore the name
of one of the most ancient and noble families of Normandy. The Count, an old
gentleman of good figure, accentuated, by the artifices of his toilette, his
resemblance to King Henry IV., who, following a glorious legend of the family,
had impregnated one of the De Breville ladies, whose husband, for this reason,
was made a count am governor of the province. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A colleague of Mr. Carré-Lamadon in the General Council, Count Hubert
represented the Orleans party in the Department. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The story of his marriage with the daughter of a little captain of a
privateer had always remained a mystery. But as the Countess had a grand air
received better than anyone, and passed for having been loved by the son of
Louis Philippe, all the nobility did her honor, and her salon remained the
first in the country, the only one which preserved the old gallantry, and to
which the <i>entrée</i> was difficult. The fortune of the Brevilles amounted,
it was said, to five hundred thousand francs in income, all in good securities. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">These six persons formed the foundation of the carriage company, the
society side, serene and strong, honest, established people, who had both
religion and principles.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">By a strange chance, all the women were upon the same seat; and the
Countess had for neighbors two sisters who picked at long strings of beads and
muttered some Paters and Aves. One was old and as pitted with smallpox as if
she had received a broadside of grapeshot full in the face. The other, very
sad, had a pretty face and a disease of the lungs, which, added to their
devoted faith, illumined them and made them appear like martyrs. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Opposite these two devotees were a man and a woman who attracted the
notice of all. The man, well known, was Cornudet the democrat, the terror of
respectable people. For twenty years he had soaked his great red beard in the
bocks of all the democratic <i>cafés.</i> He had consumed with his friends and
confrères a rather pretty fortune left him by his father, an old confectioner,
and he awaited the establishing of the Republic with impatience, that he might
have the position he merited by his great expenditures. On the fourth of
September, by some joke perhaps, he believed himself elected prefect, but when
he went to assume the duties, the clerks of the office were masters of the
place and refused to recognize him, obliging him to retreat. Rather a good
bachelor, on the whole, inoffensive and serviceable, he had busied himself,
with incomparable ardor, in organizing the defense against the Prussians. He
had dug holes in all the plains, cut down young trees from the neighboring
forests, sown snares over all routes and, at the approach of the enemy, took
himself quickly back to the town. He now thought he could be of more use in
Havre where more entrenchments would be necessary. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The woman, one of those called a coquette, was celebrated for her <i>embonpoint</i>,
which had given her the nickname of "Ball-of-Fat." Small, round, and
fat as lard, with puffy fingers choked at the phalanges, like chaplets of short
sausages; with a stretched and shining skin, an enormous bosom which shook
under her dress, she was, nevertheless, pleasing and sought after, on account
of a certain freshness and breeziness of disposition. Her face was a round
apple, a peony bud ready to pop into bloom, and inside that opened two great
black eyes, shaded with thick, [7] brows that cast a shadow within; and below,
a charming mouth, humid for kissing, furnished with shining, microscopic baby
teeth. She was, it was said full of admirable qualities.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As soon as she was recognized, whisper went around among the honest
women, and the words "prostitute" and "public shame" were
whispered so loud that she raised her head. Then she threw at her neighbors
such a provoking, courageous look that a great silence reigned, and everybody
looked down except Loiseau, who watched her with au exhilarated air. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And immediately conversation began among the three ladies, whom the
presence of this girl had suddenly rendered friendly, almost intimate. It
seemed to them they should bring their married dignity into union in opposition
to that sold without shame; for legal love always takes on a tone of contempt
for its free confrere. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The three men, also drawn together by an instinct of preservation at the
sight of Cornudet, talked money with a certain high tone of disdain for the
poor. Count Hubert talked of the havoc which the Prussians had caused, the
losses which resulted from being robbed of cattle and from destroyed crops,
with the assurance of a great lord, ten times millionaire whom these ravages
would scarcely cramp for a year. Mr. Carré-Lamadon, largely experienced in the
cotton industry, had had need of sending six hundred thousand francs to
England, as a trifle in reserve if it should be needed. As for Loiseau, he had
arranged with the French administration to sell them all the wines that
remained in his cellars, on account of which the State owed him a formidable
sum, which he counted on collecting at Havre. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And all three threw toward each other swift and amicable glances. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Although in different conditions, they felt themselves to be brothers
through money, that grand free-masonry of those who possess it, and make the
gold rattle by putting their hands hi their trousers' pockets. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The carriage went so slowly that at ten o'clock in the morning they had
not gone four leagues. The men had got clown three times to climb hills on
foot. They began to be disturbed because they should be now taking break. fast
at T6tes and they despaired now of reaching there before night. Each one had
begun to watch for an inn along the route, when the carriage foundered in a
snowdrift, and it took two hours to extricate it.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Growing appetites troubled their minds; and no eating-house, no wine
shop showed itself, the approach of the Prussians and the passage of the troops
having frightened away all these industries. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The gentlemen ran to the farms along the way for provisions, but they
did not even find bread, for the defiant peasant had concealed his stores for
fear of being pillaged by the soldiers who, having nothing to put between their
teeth, took by force whatever they discovered. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Toward one o'clock in the afternoon, Loiseau announced that there was a
decided hollow in his stomach. Everybody suffered with him, and the violent
need of eating, ever increasing, had killed conversation. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">[8] From time to time some one yawned; another immediately imitated him;
and each, in his turn, in accordance with his character, his knowledge of life,
and his social position, opened his mouth with carelessness or modesty, placing
his hand quickly before the yawning hole from whence issued a vapor. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ball-of-Fat, after many attempts, bent down as if seeking something
under her skirts. She hesitated a second, looked at her neighbors, then sat up
again tranquilly. The faces were pale and drawn. Loiseau affirmed that he would
give a thousand francs for a small ham. His wife made a gesture, as if in
protest; but she kept quiet. She was always troubled when anyone spoke of
squandering money, and could not comprehend any pleasantry on the subject.
"The fact is," said the Count, "I cannot understand why I did
not think to bring some provisions with me." Each reproached himself in
the same way.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">However, Cornudet had a flask full of rum. He offered it; it was refused
coldly. Loiseau alone accepted two swallows, and then passed back the flask
saying, by way of thanks: "It is good all the same; it is warming and
checks the appetite." The alcohol put him in good-humor and he proposed
that they do as they did on the little ship in the song, eat the fattest of the
passengers. This indirect allusion to Ball-of-Fat choked the well-bred people.
They said nothing. Cornudet alone laughed. The two good sisters had ceased to mumble
their rosaries and, with their hands enfolded in their great sleeves, held
themselves immovable, obstinately lowering their eyes, without doubt offering
to Heaven the suffering it had brought upon them. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Finally at three o'clock, when they found themselves in the midst of an
interminable plain, without a single village in sight, Ball-of-Fat bending down
quickly drew from under the seat a large basket covered with a white napkin. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At first she brought out a little china plate and a silver cup; then a large
dish in which there were two whole chickens, cut up and imbedded in their own
jelly. And one could still see in the basket other good things, some <i>pâtes</i>,
fruits, and sweetmeats, provisions for three days if they should not see the
kitchen of an inn. Four necks of bottles were seen among the packages of food.
She took a wing of a chicken and began to eat it delicately, with one of those
little biscuits called "Regence" in Normandy. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">All looks were turned in her direction. Then the odor spread, enlarging
the nostrils and making the mouth water, besides causing a painful contraction
of the jaw behind the ears. The scorn of the women for this girl became
ferocious, as if they had a desire to kill her and throw her out of the
carriage into the snow, her, her silver cup, her basket, provisions and all. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But Loiseau with his eyes devoured the dish of chicken. He said:
"Fortunately Madame had more precaution than we. There are some people who
know how to think ahead always." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">She turned toward him, saying: "If you would like some of it, sir?
It is hard to go without breakfast so long." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He saluted her and replied: "Faith, I frankly cannot refuse; I can
stand it no [9] longer. Everything goes in time of war, does it not,
Madame?" And then casting a comprehensive glance around, he added:
"In moments like this, one can but be pleased to find people who are
obliging." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He had a newspaper which he spread out on his knees, that no spot might
come to his pantaloons, and upon the point of a knife that he always carried in
his pocket, he took up a leg all glistening with jelly, put it between his
teeth and masticated it with a satisfaction so evident that there ran through
the carriage a great sigh of distress. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Then Ball-of-Fat, in a sweet and humble voice, proposed that the two
sisters partake of her collation. They both accepted instantly and, without
raising their eyes, began to eat very quickly, after stammering their thanks.
Cornudet no longer refused the offers of his neighbor, and they formed with the
sisters a sort of table, by spreading out some newspapers upon their knees. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The mouths opened and shut without ceasing, they masticated, swallowed,
gulping ferociously. Loiseau in his corner was working hard and, in a low
voice, was trying to induce his wife to follow his example. She resisted for a
long time; then, when a drawn sensation ran through her body, she yielded. Her
husband, rounding his phrase, asked their "charming companion'' if he
might be allowed to offer a little piece to Madame Loiseau. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">She replied: "Why, yes, certainly, sir," with an amiable
smile, as she passed the dish. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">An embarrassing thing confronted them when they opened the first bottle
of Bordeou: they had but one cup. Each passed it after having tasted. Cornudet
alone, for politeness without doubt, placed his lips at the spot left humid by
his fair neighbor. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Then, surrounded by people eating, suffocated by the odors of the food,
the Count and Countess de Breville, as well as Madame and M. Carré-Lamadon,
were suffering that odious torment which has preserved the name of Tantalus.
Suddenly the young wife of the manufacturer gave forth such a sigh that all
heads were turned in her direction; she was as white as the snow without; her
eyes closed, her head drooped; she had lost consciousness. Her husband, much
excited, implored the help of everybody. Each lost his head completely, until
the elder of the two sisters, holding the head of the sufferer, slipped
Ball-of-Fat's cup between her lips and forced her to swallow a few drops of wine.
The pretty little lady revived, opened her eyes, smiled, and declared in a
dying voice that she felt very well now. But, in order that the attack might
not return, the sister urged her to drink a full glass of Bordeaux, and added:
"It is just hunger, nothing more." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Then Ball-of-Fat, blushing and embarrassed, looked at the four travelers
who had fasted and stammered: "Goodness knows! if I dared to offer
anything to these gentlemen and ladies, I would--'' Then she was silent, as if
fearing an insult. Loiseau took up the word: "Ah! certainly, in times like
these all the world are brothers and ought to aid each other. Come, ladies,
without ceremony; why the devil not accept? We do not know whether we shall
even find a house where we can [10] pass the night. At the pace we are going
now, we shall not reach Tôtes before noon to-morrow--" </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They still hesitated, no one daring to assume the responsibility of a
"Yes." The Count decided the question. He turned toward the fat,
intimidated girl and, taking on a grand air of condescension, he said to her: </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"We accept with gratitude, Madame." It is the first step that
counts. The Rubicon passed, one lends himself to the occasion squarely. The
basket was stripped. It still contained a<i> pate de foie gras</i>, a <i>pâtè</i>
of larks, a piece of smoked tongue, some preserved pears, a loaf of hard bread,
some wafers, and a full cup of pickled gherkins and onions, of which crudities
Ball-of-Fat, like all women, was extremely fond. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They could not eat this girl's provisions without speaking to her. And
so they chatted, with reserve at first; then, as she carried herself well, with
more abandon. The ladies De Breville and Carré-Lamadon, who were acquainted
with all the ins and outs of good-breeding, were gracious with a certain
delicacy. The Countess, especially, showed that amiable condescension of very
noble ladies who do not fear being spoiled by contact with anyone, and was
charming. But the great Madame Loiseau, who had the soul of a plebian, remained
crabbed, saying little and eating much. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The conversation was about the war, naturally. They related the horrible
deeds of the Prussians, the brave acts of the French; and all of them, although
running away, did homage to those who stayed behind. Then personal stories
began {o be told, and Ball-of-Fat related, with sincere emotion, and in the
heated words that such girls sometimes use in expressing their natural
feelings, how she had left Rouen: </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"I believed at first that I could remain,'' she said. "I had
my house full of provisions, and I preferred to feed a few soldiers rather than
expatriate myself, to go I knew not where. But as soon as I saw them, those
Prussians, that was too much for me! They made my blood boil with anger, and I
wept for very shame all day long. Oh! if I were only a man! I watched them from
my windows, the great porkers with their pointed helmets, and my maid held my
hands to keep me from throwing the furniture down upon them. Then one of them
came to lodge at my house; I sprang at his throat the first thing; they are no
more difficult to strangle than other people. And I should have put an end to
that one then and there had they not pulled me away by the hair. After that, it
was necessary to keep out of sight. And finally, when I found an opportunity, I
left town and--here I am!" </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They congratulated her. She grew in the estimation of her companions,
who had not shown themselves so hot-brained, and Cornudet, while listening to
her, took on the approving, benevolent smile of an apostle, as a priest would
if he heard a devotee praise God, for the long-bearded democrats have a
monopoly of patriotism, as the men in cassocks have of religion. In his turn he
spoke, in a doctrinal tone, with the emphasis of a proclamation such as we see
pasted on the walls about town, and finished by a bit of eloquence [11] whereby
he gave that "scamp of a Badinguet" a good lashing. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Then Ball-of-Fat was angry, for she was a Bonapartist. She grew redder
than a cherry and, stammering with indignation, said; </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"I would like to have seen you in his place, you other people. Then
everything would have been quite right; oh, yes! It is you who have betrayed
this man! One would never have had to leave France if it had been governed by
blackguards like you? </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Cornudet, undisturbed, preserved a disdainful, superior smile, but all
felt that the high note had been struck, until the Count, not without some
difficulty, calmed the exasperated girl and proclaimed with a manner of
authority that all sincere opinions should be respected. But the Countess and
the manufacturer's wife, who had in their souls an unreasonable hatred for the
people that favor a Republic, and the same instinctive tenderness that all
women have for a decorative, despotic government, felt themselves drawn, in
spite of themselves, toward this prostitute so full of dignity, whose
sentiments so strongly resembled their own. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The basket was empty. By ten o'clock they had easily exhausted the
contents and regretted that there was not more. Conversation continued for some
time, but a little more coldly since they had finished eating. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The night fell, the darkness little by little became profound, and the
cold, felt more during digestion, made Ball-of-Fat shiver in spite of her
plumpness. Then Madame de Breville offered her the little foot-stove, in which
the fuel had been renewed many times since morning; she accepted it
immediately, for her feet were becoming numb with cold. The ladies
Carré-Lamadon and Loiseau gave theirs to the two religious sisters. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The driver had lighted his lanterns. They shone out with a lively
glimmer showing a cloud of foam beyond, the sweat of the horses; and, on both
sides of the way, the snow seemed to roll along under the moving reflection of
the lights. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Inside the carriage one could distinguish nothing. But a sudden movement
seemed to be made between Ball-of-Fat and Cornudet; and Loiseau, whose eye
penetrated the shadow, believed that he saw the big-bearded man start back
quickly as if he had received a swift, noiseless blow. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Then some twinkling points of fire appeared in the distance along the
road. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It was Tôtes. They had traveled eleven hours, which, with the two hours
given to resting and feeding the horses, made thirteen. They entered the town
and stopped before the Hotel of Commerce. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The carriage door opened! A well-known sound gave the travelers a start;
it was the scabbard of a sword hitting the ground. Immediately a German voice
was heard in the darkness. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Although the diligence was not moving, no one offered to alight, fearing
someone might be waiting to murder them as they stepped out. Then the conductor
appeared, holding in his hand one of the lanterns which lighted the carriage to
its depth, and showed the two rows of frightened faces, whose mouths were open
and whose eyes were wide with surprise and fear. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Outside beside the driver, in plain [12] sight, stood a German officer,
an excessively tall young man, thin and blond, squeezed into his uniform like a
girl in a corset, and wearing on his head a fiat, oilcloth cap which made hi~
resemble the porter of an English hotel His enormous mustache, of long straight
hairs, growing gradually thin at each side and terminating in a single blonde
thread so fine that one could not perceive where it ended, seemed to weigh
heavily on the corners of his mouth and, drawing down the cheeks, left a
decided wrinkle about the lips. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In Alsatian French, he invited the travelers to come in, saying in a
suave tone: "Will you descend, gentlemen and ladies?" </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The two good sisters were the first to obey, with the docility of saints
accustomed ever to submission. The Count and Countess then appeared, followed
by the manufacturer and his wife; then Loiseau, pushing ahead of him his larger
half. The last-named, as he set foot on the earth, said to the officer:
"Good evening, sir," more as a measure of prudence than politeness.
The officer, insolent as all powerful people usually are, looked at him without
a word. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ball-of-Fat and Cornudet, although nearest the door, were the last to
descend, grave and haughty before the enemy. The fat girl tried to control
herself and be calm. The democrat waved a tragic hand and his long beard seemed
to tremble a little and grow redder. They wished to preserve their dignity,
comprehending that in such meetings as these they represented in some degree
their great country, and somewhat disgusted with the docility of her
companions, the fat girl tried to show more pride than her neighbors, the
honest women, and, as she felt that someone should set an example, she
continued her attitude of resistance assumed at the beginning of the journey.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They entered the vast kitchen of the inn, and the German, having
demanded their traveling papers signed by the General-in-chief (in which the
name, the description, and profession of each traveler was mentioned), and
having examined them all critically, comparing the people and their signatures,
said: "It is quite right," and went out. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Then they breathed. They were still hungry and supper was ordered. A
half hour was necessary to prepare it, and while two servants were attending to
this they went to their rooms. They found them along a corridor which
terminated in a large glazed door. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Finally, they sat down at table, when the proprietor of the inn himself
appeared. He was a former horse merchant, a large, asthmatic man, with a
constant wheezing and rattling in his throat. His father had left him the name
of Follenvie. He asked: </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Is Miss Elizabeth Rousset here?" </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ball-of-Fat started as she answered: "It is I." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"The Prussian officer wishes to speak with you immediately." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"With me?" </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Yes, that is, if you are Miss Elizabeth Rousset." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">She was disturbed, and reflecting for an instant, declared flatly: </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"That is my name, but I shall not go." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A stir was felt around her; each discussed and tried to think of the
cause [13] of this order. The Count approached her, saying: </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"You are wrong, Madame, for your refusal may lead to considerable
difficulty, not only for yourself, but for all your companions. It is never worthwhile
to resist those in power. This request cannot assuredly bring any danger; it
is, without doubt, about some forgotten formality." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Everybody agreed with him, asking, begging, beseeching her to go, and at
last they convinced her that it was best; they all feared the complications
that might result from disobedience. She finally</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">said: </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"It is for you that I do this, you understand." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Countess took her by the hand, saying: "And we are grateful to
you for it." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">She went out. They waited before sitting down at table. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Each one regretted not having been sent for in the place of this
violent, irascible girl, and mentally prepared some platitudes, in case they
should be called in their turn. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But at the end of ten minutes she reappeared, out of breath, red to
suffocation, and exasperated. She stammered: "Oh! the rascal; the
rascal!" </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">All gathered around to learn something, but she said nothing; and when
the Count insisted, she responded with great dignity: "No, it does not
concern you; I can say nothing." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Then they all seated themselves around a high soup tureen, whence came
the odor of cabbage. In spite of alarm, the supper was gay. The cider was good,
the beverage Loiseau and the good sisters took as a means of economy. The
others called for wine; Cornudet demanded beer. He had a special fashion of
uncorking the bottle, making froth on the liquid, carefully filling the glass
and then holding it before the light to better appreciate the color. When he
drank, his great beard, which still kept some of the foam of Ms beloved
beverage, seemed to tremble with tenderness; his eyes were squinted, in order
not to lose sight of his tipple, and he had the unique air of fulfilling the
function for which he was born. One would say that there was in his mind a
meeting, like that of affinities, between the two great passions that occupied
his life--Pale Ale and Revolutions; and assuredly he could not taste the one
without thinking of the other. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Mr. and Mrs. Follenvie dined at the end of the table. The man, rattling
like a cracked locomotive, had too much trouble in breathing to talk while
eating, but his wife was never silent. She told all her impressions at the
arrival of the Prussians, what they did, what they said, reviling them because
they cost her some money, and because she had two sons in the army. She
addressed herself especially to the Countess, flattered by being able to talk
with a lady of quality. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When she lowered her voice to say some delicate thing, her husband would
interrupt, from time to time, with: "You had better keep silent, Madame
Follenvie." But she paid no attention, continuing in this fashion: </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Yes, Madame, those people there not only eat our potatoes and
pork, but our pork and potatoes. And it must not be believed that they are at
all proper--oh, no! such filthy things they do, saving [14] the respect I owe
to you! And if you could see them exercise for hours in the day! they are all
there in the field, marching ahead, then marching back, turning here and
turning there. They might be cultivating the land, or at least working on the roads
of their own country! But no, Madame, these military men are profitable to no
one. Poor people have to feed them, or perhaps be murdered! I am only an old
woman without education, it is true, but when I see some endangering their
constitutions by raging from morning to night, I say: "When there are so
many people found to be useless, how unnecessary it is for others to take so
much trouble to be nuisances! Truly, is it not an abomination to kill people,
whether they be Prussian, or English, or Polish, or French? If one man revenges
himself upon another who has done him some injury, it is wicked and he is
punished; but when they exterminate our boys, as if they were game, with guns,
they give decorations, indeed, to the one who destroys the most! Now, you see,
I can never understand that, never? </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Cornudet raised his voice: "War is a barbarity when one attacks a
peaceable neighbor, but a sacred duty when one defends his country." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The old woman lowered her head: </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Yes, when one defends himself, it is another thing; but why not
make it duty to kill all the kings who make these wars for their
pleasure?" </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Cornudet's eyes flashed. "Bravo, my country-woman!" said he. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Mr. Carré-Lamadon reflected profoundly. Although he was prejudiced as a
Captain of Industry, the good sense of this peasant woman made him think of the
opulence that would be brought into the country were the idle and consequently
mischievous hands, and the troops which were now maintained in
unproductiveness, employed in some great industrial work that it would require
centuries to achieve. Loiseau, leaving his place, went to speak with the
innkeeper in a low tone of voice. The great man laughed, shook, and squeaked,
his corpulence quivered with joy at the jokes of his neighbor, and he bought of
him six cases of wine for spring, after the Prussians had gone. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As soon as supper was finished, as they were worn out with fatigue, they
retired. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">However, Loiseau, who had observed things, after getting his wife to
bed, glued his eye and then his ear to a hole in the wall, to try and discover
what are known as "the mysteries of the corridor.'' </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At the end of about an hour, he heard a groping, and, looking quickly,
he perceived Ball-of-Fat, who appeared still more plump in a blue cashmere
negligee trimmed with white lace. She had a candle in her hand and was
directing her steps toward the great door at the end of the corridor. But a
door at the side opened, and when she returned at the end of some minutes
Cornudet, in his suspenders, followed her. They spoke low, then they stopped.
Ball-of-Fat seemed to be defending the entrance to her room with energy.
Loiseau, unfortunately, could not hear all their words, but finally, as they
raised their voices, he was able to catch [15] a few. Cornudet insisted with
vivacity. He said: </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Come, now, you are a silly woman; what harm can be done?" </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">She had an indignant air in responding: "No, my dear, there are
moments when such things are out of place. Here it would be a shame." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He doubtless did not comprehend and asked why. Then she cried out,
raising her voice still more: </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Why? you do not see why? When there are Prussians in the house, in
the very next room, perhaps?" </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He was silent. This patriotic shame of the harlot, who would not suffer
his caress so near the enemy, must have awakened the latent dignity in his
heart, for after simply kissing her, he went back to his own door with a bound. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Loiseau, much excited, left the aperture, cut a caper in his room, put
on his pajamas, turned back the clothes that covered the bony carcass of his
companion, whom he awakened with a kiss, murmuring: "Do you love me,
dearie?" </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Then all the house was still. And immediately there arose somewhere,
from an uncertain quarter, which might be the cellar but was quite as likely to
be the garret, a powerful snoring, monotonous and regular, a heavy, prolonged
sound, like a great kettle under pressure. Mr. Follenvie was asleep. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As they had decided that they would set out. at eight o'clock the next
morning, they all collected in the kitchen. But the carriage, the roof of which
was covered with snow, stood undisturbed in the courtyard, without horses and
without a conductor. They sought him in vain in the stables, in the hay, and in
the coach-house. Then they resolved to scour the town, and started out. They
found themselves in a square, with a church at one end and some low houses on
either side, where they perceived some Prussian soldiers. The first one they
saw was paring potatoes. The second, further off, was cleaning the hairdresser's
shop. Another, bearded to the eyes, was tending a troublesome brat, cradling it
and trying to appease it; and the great peasant women, whose husbands were
"away in the army," indicated by signs to their obedient conquerors
the work they wished to have done: cutting wood, cooking the soup, grinding the
coffee, or what not. One of them even washed the linen of his hostess, an
impotent old grandmother. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Count, astonished, asked questions of the beadle who came out of the
rectory. The old man responded:</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Oh! those men are not wicked; they are not the Prussians we hear
about. They are from far off, I know not where; and they have left wives and
children in their country; it is not amusing to them, this war, I can tell you!
I am sure they also weep for their homes, and that it makes as much sorrow
among them as it does among us. Here, now, there is not so much unhappiness for
the moment, because the soldiers do no harm and they work as if they were in
their own homes. You see, sir, among poor people it is necessary that they aid
one another. These are the great traits which war develops." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Cornudet, indignant at the cordial relations between the conquerors and
the conquered, preferred to shut himself up [16] in the inn. Loiseau had a joke
for the occasion: "They will repeople the land." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Mr. Carré-Lamadon had a serious word: "They try to make
amends." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But they did not find the driver. Finally, they discovered him in a <i>café</i>
of the village, sitting at table fraternally with the officer of ordinance. The
Count called out to him: </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Were you not ordered to be ready at eight o'clock?" </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Well, yes; but another order has been given me since." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"By whom?" </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Faith! the Prussian commander." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"What was it?" </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Not to harness at all." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Why?" </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"I know nothing about it. Go and ask him. They tell me not to
harness and I don't harness. That's all." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Did he give you the order himself?" </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"No, sir, the innkeeper gave the order for him." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"When was that?" </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Last evening, as I was going to bed." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The three men returned, much disturbed. They asked for Mr. Follenvie but
the servant answered that that gentleman, because of his never rose before ten
o'clock. And he had given strict orders not to be wakened before that, except
in case of fire.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They wished to see the officer, but that was absolutely impossible,
since, while he lodged at the inn, Mr. Follenvie alone was authorized to speak
to him upon civil affairs. So they waited. The women went up to their rooms
again and occupied themselves with futile tasks. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Cornudet installed himself near the great chimney in the kitchen, where
there was a good fire burning. He ordered one of the little tables to be
brought from the <i>café</i>, then a can of beer, he then drew out his pipe,
which among democrats a part almost equal to his own, because in serving
Cornudet it was serving its country. It was a superb pipe, an admirably colored
meerschaum, as black as the teeth of its master, but perfumed, curved,
glistening, easy to the hand, completing his physiognomy. And he remained
motionless, his eyes as much fixed upon the flame of the fire as upon his
favorite tipple and its frothy crown; and each time that he drank, he passed
his long, thin fingers through his scanty, gray hair, with an air of
satisfaction, after which he sucked in his mustache fringed with foam. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Loiseau, under the pretext of stretching his legs, went to place some
wine among the retailers of the country. The Count and the manufacturer began
to talk politics. They could foresee the future of France. One of them believed
in an Orleans, the other in some unknown savior for the country, a hero who
would reveal himself when all were in despair: a Guesclin, or a Joan of Arc,
perhaps, or would it be another Napoleon First? Ah! if the Prince Imperial were
not so young! </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Cornudet listened to them and smiled like one who holds the word of
destiny. His pipe perfumed the kitchen. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As ten o'clock struck, Mr. Follenvie appeared. They asked him hurried
questions; but he could only repeat two [17] or three times without variation,
these words: </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"The officer said to me: 'Mr. Follenvie, you see to it that the
carriage is not harnessed for those travelers tomorrow. I do not wish them to
leave without my order. That is sufficient." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Then they wished to see the officer. The Count sent him his card, on
which Mr. Carré-Lamadon wrote his name and all his titles. The Prussian sent
back word that he would meet the two gentlemen after he had breakfasted, that
is to say, about one o'clock. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The ladies reappeared and ate a little something, despite their
disquiet. Ball-of-Fat seemed ill and prodigiously troubled. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They were finishing their coffee when the word came that the officer was
ready to meet the gentlemen. Loiseau joined them; but when they tried to enlist
Cornudet, to give more solemnity to their proceedings, he declared proudly that
he would have nothing to do with the Germans; and he betook himself to his
chimney comer and ordered another liter of beer. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The three men mounted the staircase and were introduced to the best room
of the inn, where the officer received them, stretched out in an armchair, his
feet on the mantelpiece, smoking a long, porcelain pipe, end enveloped in a
flamboyant dressing-gown, appropriated, without doubt, from some dwelling
belonging to a common citizen of bad taste. He did not rise, nor greet them in
any way, not even looking at them. It was a magnificent display of natural
black-guardism transformed into the military victor. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At the expiration of some moments, he asked: "What is it you wish?"
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Count became spokesman: </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"We desire to go on our way, sir." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"No." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"May I ask the cause of this refusal?'' </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Because I do not wish it." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"But, I would respectfully observe to you, sir, that your
General-in-chief gave us permission to go to Dieppe; and I know of nothing we
have done to merit your severity." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"I do not wish it--that is all; you can go."</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">All three having bowed, retired. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The afternoon was lamentable. They could not understand this caprice of
the German; and the most singular ideas would come into their heads to trouble
them. Everybody stayed in the kitchen and discussed the situation endlessly,
imagining all sorts of unlikely things. Perhaps they would be retained as
hostages---but to what end?---or taken prisoners--or rather a considerable
ransom might be demanded. At this thought a panic prevailed. The richest were
the most frightened, already seeing themselves constrained to pay for their
lives with sacks of gold poured into the hands of this insolent soldier. They
racked their brains to think of some acceptable falsehoods to conceal their
riches and make them pass themselves off for poor people, very poor people.
Loiseau took off the chain to his watch and hid it away in his pocket. The
falling night increased their apprehensions. The lamp was lighted, and as there
was still two hours before dinner, Madame Loiseau proposed game of Thirty-one.
It would be a diversion. They accepted. Comudet [18] himself, having smoked
out. his pipe, took part for politeness. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Count shuffled the cards, dealt, and Ball-of-Fat had thirty-one at
the outset; and immediately the interest was great enough to appease the fear
that haunted their minds. Then Comudet perceived that the house of Loiseau was
given to tricks. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As they were going to the dinner table, Mr. Follenvie again appeared,
and, in wheezing, rattling voice, announced: </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"The Prussian officer orders me to ask Miss Elizabeth Rousset if
she has yet changed her mind." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ball-of-Fat remained standing and was pale; then suddenly becoming
crimson, such a stifling anger took possession of her that she could not speak.
But finally she flashed out: "You may say to the dirty beast, that idiot,
that carrion of a Prussian, that I shall never change it; you understand,
never, never, never!" </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The great innkeeper went out. Then Ball-of-Fat was immediately
surrounded, questioned, and solicited by all to disclose the mystery of his
visit. She resisted, at first, but soon becoming exasperated, she said:
"What does he want? You really want to know what he wants? He wants to
sleep with me." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Everybody was choked for words and indignation was rife. Cornudet broke
his glass, so violently did he bring his fist down upon the table. There was a
clamor of censure against this ignoble soldier, a blast of anger, a union of all
for resistance, as if a demand had been made on each one of the party for the
sacrifice exacted of her. The Count declared with disgust that those people
conducted themselves after the fashion of the ancient barbarians. The women,
especially, showed to Ball-of-Fat a most energetic and tender commiseration.
The good sisters who only showed themselves at mealtime, lowered their heads
and said nothing. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They all dined, nevertheless, when the first <i>furore</i> had abated.
But there was little conversation; they were thinking. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The ladies retired early, and the men, all smoking, organized a game at
cards to which Mr. Follenvie was invited, as they intended to put a few casual
questions to him on the subject of conquering the resistance of this officer.
But he thought of nothing but the cards and, without listening or answering:
would keep repeating: "To the game, sirs, to the game." His attention
was so taken that he even forgot to expectorate, which must have put him some
points to the good with the organ in his breast. His whistling lungs ran the
whole asthmatic scale, from deep, profound tones to the sharp rustiness of a
young cock essaying to crow. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He even refused to retire when his wife, who had fallen asleep
previously, came to look for him. She went away alone, for she was an
"early bird," always up with the sun, while her husband was a
"night owl," always ready to pass the night with his friends. He
cried out to her: "Leave my creamed chicken before the fire!" and
then went on with his game. When they saw that they could get nothing from him,
they declared that it was time to stop, and each sought his bed. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">[19] They all rose rather early the next day, with an undefined hope of
getting away, which desire the terror of passing another day in that horrible
inn greatly increased. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Alas! the horses remained in the stable and the driver was invisible.
For want of better employment, they went out and walked around the carriage. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The breakfast was very doleful; and it became apparent that a coldness
had arisen toward Ball-of-Fat, and that the night, which brings counsel, had
slightly modified their judgments. They almost wished now that the Prussian had
secretly found this girl, in order to give her companions a pleasant surprise
in the morning. What could be more simple? Besides, who would know anything
about it? She could save appearances by telling the officer that she took pity
on their distress. To her, it would make so little difference! </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">No one had avowed these thoughts yet. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In the afternoon, as they were almost perishing from ennui, the Count
proposed that they take a walk around the village. Each wrapped up warmly and
the little party set out, with the exception of Cornudet, who preferred to
remain near the fire, and the good sisters, who passed their time in the church
or at the curate's. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The cold, growing more intense every day, cruelly pinched their noses
and ears; their feet became so numb that each step was torture; and when they
came to a field it seemed to them frightfully sad under this limitless white,
so that everybody returned immediately, with hearts hard pressed and souls
congealed. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The four women walked ahead, the three gentlemen followed just behind.
Loiseau, who understood the situation, asked suddenly if they thought that girl
there was going to keep them long in such a place as this. The Count, always
courteous, said that they could not exact from a woman a sacrifice so hard,
unless it should come of her own will. Mr. Carré-Lamadon remarked that if the
French made their return through Dieppe, as they were likely to, a battle would
surely take place at Tôtes. This reflection made the two others anxious. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"If we could only get away on foot," said Loiseau. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Count shrugged his shoulders: "How can we think of it in this
snow? and with our wives?" he said. "And then, we should be pursued
and caught in ten minutes and led back prisoners at the mercy of these
soldiers." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It was true, and they were silent. The ladies talked of their clothes,
but a certain constraint seemed to disunite them. Suddenly at the end of the
street, the officer appeared. His tall, wasp-like figure in uniform was
outlined upon the horizon formed by the snow, and he was marching with knees
apart, a gait particularly military, which is affected that they may not spot
their carefully blackened boots. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He bowed in passing near the ladies and looked disdainfully at the men,
who preserved their dignity by not seeing him, except Loiseau, who made a
motion toward raising his hat. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ball-of-Fat reddened to the ears, and the three married women resented
the [20] great humiliation of being thus met by this soldier in the company of
this girl whom he had treated so cavalierly. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But they spoke of him, of his figure and his face. Madame Carré-Lamadon
who had known many officers and considered herself a connoisseur of them, found
this one not at all bad; she regretted even that he was not French, because he
would make such a pretty hussar, one all the women would rave over. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Again in the house, no one knew what to do. Some sharp words, even, were
said about things very insignificant. The dinner was silent, and almost
immediately after it, each one went to his room to kill time in sleep. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They descended the next morning with weary faces and exasperated hearts.
The women scarcely spoke to Ball-of-Fat. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A bell began to ring. It was for a baptism. The fat girl had a child
being brought up among the peasants of Yvetot. She had not seen it for a year,
or thought of it; but now the idea of a child being baptized threw into her
heart a sudden and violent tenderness for her own, and she strongly wished to
be present at the ceremony. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As soon as she was gone, everybody looked at each other, then pulled
their chairs together, for they thought that finally something should be
decided upon. Loiseau had an inspiration: it was to hold Ball-of-Fat alone and
let the others go. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Mr. Follenvie was charged with the commission, but he returned almost
immediately, for the German, who understood human nature, had put him out. He
pretended that he would retain everybody so long as his desire was not
satisfied. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Then the commonplace nature of Mrs. Loiseau burst out with: </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Well, we are not going to stay here to die of old age. Since it is
the trade of this creature to accommodate herself to all kinds, I fail to see
how she has the right to refuse one more than another. I can tell you she has
received all she could find in Rouen, even the coachmen! Yes, Madame, the
prefect's coachman! I know him very well, for he bought his wine at our house.
And to think that to-day we should be drawn into this embarrassment by this
affected woman, this minx! For my part, I find that this officer conducts
himself very well. He has perhaps suffered privations for a long time; and
doubtless he would have preferred us three; but no, he is contented with common
property. He respects married women. And we must remember too that he is
master. He has only to say 'I wish,' and he could take us by force with his
soldiers." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The two women had a cold shiver. Pretty Mrs. Carré-Lamadon's eyes grew
brilliant and she became a little pale, as if she saw herself already taken by
force by the officer. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The men met and discussed the situation. Loiseau, furious, was for de.
livering "the wretch" bound hand and foot to the enemy. But the
Count, descended through three generations of ambassadors, and endowed with the
temperament of a diplomatist, was the advocate of ingenuity. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"It is best to decide upon something," said he. Then they
conspired. The women kept together, the tone [21] of their voices was lowered,
each gave advice and the discussion was general. Everything was very
harmonious. The ladies especially found delicate shades and charming subtleties
of expression for saying the most unusual things. A stranger would have
understood nothing, so great was the precaution of language observed. But the
light edge of modesty, with which every woman of the world is barbed, only
covers the surface; they blossom out in a scandalous adventure of this kind,
being deeply amused and feeling themselves in their element, mixing love with
sensuality as a greedy cook prepares supper for his master. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Even gaiety returned, so funny did the whole story seem to them at last.
The Count found some of the jokes a little off color, but they were so well
told that he was forced to smile. In his turn, Loiseau came out with some still
bolder tales, and yet nobody was wounded. The brutal thought, expressed by his
wife, dominated all minds: "Since it is her trade, why should she refuse
this one more than another?" The genteel Mrs. Carré-Lamadon seemed to
think that in her place, she would refuse this one less than some others. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They prepared the blockade at length, as if they were about to surround
a fortress. Each took some rôle to play, some arguments he would bring to bear,
some maneuvers that he would endeavor to put into execution. They decided on
the plan of attack, the ruse to employ, the surprise of assault, that should
force this living citadel to receive the enemy in her room.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Cornudet remained apart from the rest, and was a stranger to the whole
affair. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So entirely were their minds distracted that they did not hear
Ball-of-Fat enter. The Count uttered a light "Ssh!" which turned all
eyes in her direction. There she was. The abrupt silence and a certain
embarrassment hindered them from speaking to her at first. The Countess, more
accustomed to the duplicity of society than the others, finally inquired: </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Was it very amusing, that baptism?" The fat girl, filled with
emotion, told them all about it, the faces, the attitudes, and even the
appearance of the church. She added: "It is good to pray sometimes." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And up to the time for luncheon these ladies continued to be amiable
toward her, in order to increase her docility and her confidence in their
counsel. At the table they commenced the approach. This was in the shape of a
vague conversation upon devotion. They cited ancient examples: Judith and
Holophernes, then, without reason, Lucrece and Sextus, and Cleopatra obliging
all the generals of the enemy to pass by her couch and reducing them in
servility to slaves. Then they brought out a fantastic story, hatched in the
imagination of these ignorant millionaires, where the women of Rome went to
Capua for the purpose of lulling Hannibal to sleep in their arms, and his
lieutenants and phalanxes of mercenaries as well. They cited all the women who
have been taken by conquering armies, making a battlefield of their bodies,
making them also a weapon, and a means of success; and all those hideous and
detestable beings who have [22] conquered by their heroic caresses, and
sacrificed their chastity to vengeance or a beloved cause. They even spoke in
veiled terms of that great English family which allowed one of its women to be
inoculated with a horrible and contagious disease in order to transmit it to
Bonaparte, who was miraculously saved by a sudden illness at the hour of the
fatal rendezvous. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And all this was related in an agreeable, temperate fashion, except as
it was enlivened by the enthusiasm deemed proper to excite emulation. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One might finally have believed that the sole duty of woman here below
was a sacrifice of her person, and a continual abandonment to soldierly
caprices. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The two good sisters seemed not to hear, lost as they were in profound
thought. Ball-of-Fat said nothing. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">During the whole afternoon they let her reflect. But, in the place of
calling her "Madame" as they had up to this time, they simply called
her "Mademoiselle"without knowing exactly why, as if they had a desire
to put her down a degree in their esteem, which she had taken by storm, and
make her feel her shameful situation. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The moment supper was served, Mr. Follenvie appeared with his old
phrase: "The Prussian officer orders me to ask if Miss Elizabeth Rousset
has yet changed her mind." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ball-of-Fat responded dryly: "No, sir." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But at dinner the coalition weakened. Loiseau made three unhappy
remarks. Each one beat his wits for new examples but found nothing; when the
Countess without premeditation, perhaps feeling some vague need of rendering
homage to religion, asked the elder of the good sisters to tell them some great
deeds in the lives of the saints. It appeared that many of their acts would
have been considered crimes in our eyes; but the Church gave absolution of them
readily, since they were done for the glory of God, or for the good of all. It
was a powerful argument; the Countess made the most of it. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Thus it may be by one of those tacit understandings, or the veiled
complacency in which anyone who wears the ecclesiastical garb excels, it may be
simply from the effect of a happy unintelligence, a helpful stupidity, but in
fact the religious sister lent a formidable support to the conspiracy. They had
thought her timid, but she showed herself courageous, verbose, even violent.
She was not troubled by the chatter of the casuist; her doctrine seemed a bar
of iron; her faith never hesitated; her conscience had no scruples. She found
the sacrifice of Abraham perfectly simple, for she would immediately kill father
or mother on an order from on high. And nothing, in her opinion, could
displease the Lord, if the intention was laudable. The Countess put to use the
authority of her unwitting accomplice, and added to it the edifying paraphrase
and axiom of Jesuit morals: "The need justifies the means." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Then she asked her: "Then, my sister, do you think that God accepts
intentions, and pardons the deed when the motive is pure?" </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Who could doubt it, Madame? An action blamable in itself often
becomes [23] meritorious by the thought it springs from." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And they continued thus, unraveling the will of God, foreseeing his
decisions, making themselves interested in things that, in truth, they would
never think of noticing. All this was guarded, skillful, discreet. But each word
of the saintly sister in a cap helped to break down the resistance of the
unworthy courtesan. Then the conversation changed a little, the woman of the
chaplet speaking of the houses of her order, of her Superior, of herself, of
her dainty neighbor, the dear sister Saint-Nicephore. They had been called to
the hospitals of Havre to care for the hundreds of soldiers stricken with
smallpox. They depicted these miserable creatures, giving details of the
malady. And while they were stopped, en route, by the caprice of this Prussian
officer, a great number of Frenchmen might die, whom perhaps they could have
saved! It was a specialty with her, caring for soldiers. She had been in
Crimea, in Italy, in Austria, and, in telling of her campaigns, she revealed herself
as one of those religious aids to drums and trumpets, who seem made to follow
camps, pick up the wounded in the thick of battle, and, better than an officer
subdue with a word great bands of undisciplined recruits. A true, good sister
of the rataplan, whose ravaged face, marked with innumerable scars, appeared
the image of the devastation of war. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">No one could speak after her, so excellent seemed the effect of her
words. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As soon as the repast was ended they quickly went up to their rooms,
with the purpose of not coming down the next day until late in the morning. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The luncheon was quiet. They had given the grain of seed time to
germinate and bear fruit. The Countess proposed that they take a walk in the
afternoon. The Count, being agreeably inclined, gave an arm to Ball-of-Fat and
walked behind the others with her. He talked to her in a familiar, paternal
tone, a little disdainful, after the manner of men having girls in their
employ, calling her "my dear child," from the height of his social
position, of his undisputed honor. He reached the vital part of the question at
once: </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Then you prefer to leave us here, exposed to the violences which
follow a defeat, rather than consent to a favor which you have so often given
in your life?" </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ball-of-Fat answered nothing. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Then he tried to reach her through gentleness, reason, and then the
sentiments. He knew how to remain "The Count," even while showing
himself gallant or complimentary, or very amiable if it became necessary. He
exalted the service that she would render them, and spoke of her appreciation;
then suddenly became gaily familiar, and said: </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"And you know, my dear, it would be something for him to boast of
that he had known a pretty girl; something it is difficult to find in his
country." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ball-of-Fat did not answer but joined the rest of the party. As soon as
they entered the house she went to her room and did not appear again. The
disquiet was extreme. What were they to do? If she continued to resist, what an
embarrassment! </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">[24] The dinner hour struck. They waited in vain. Mr. Follenvie finally
entered and said that Miss Rousset was indisposed, and would not be at the
table. Everybody pricked up his ears. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Count went to the innkeeper and said in a low voice: </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Is he in there?" </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Yes." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For convenience, he said nothing to his companions, but made a slight
sign with his head. Immediately a great sigh of relief went up from every
breast and a light appeared in their faces. Loiseau cried out: </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Holy Christopher! I pay for the champagne, if there is any to be
found in the establishment." And Mrs. Loiseau was pained to see the
proprietor return with four quart bottles in his hands. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Each one bad suddenly become communicative and buoyant. A wanton joy
filled their hearts. The Count suddenly perceived that Mrs. Carré-Lamadon was
charming, the manufacturer paid compliments to the Countess. The conversation
was lively, gay, full of touches. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Suddenly Loiseau, with anxious face and hand upraised, called out:
"Silence!" Everybody was silent, surprised, already frightened. Then
he listened intently and said: "S-s-sh!" his two eyes and his hands
raised toward the ceiling, listening, and then continuing, in his natural
voice: "All right! All goes well!" </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They failed to comprehend at first, but soon all laughed. At the end of
a quarter of an hour he began the same farce again, renewing it occasionally
during the whole afternoon. And he pretended to call to someone in the story
above, giving him advice in a double meaning, drawn from the fountain-head-the
mind of a commercial traveler. For some moments he would assume a sad air,
breathing in a whisper: "Poor girl!" Then he would murmur between his
teeth, with an appearance of rage: "Ugh! That scamp of a Prussian."
Sometimes, at a moment when no more was thought about it, he would say, in an
affected voice, many times over: "Enough! enough!" and add, as if
speaking to himself. "If we could only see her again, it isn't necessary
that he should kill her, the wretch!" </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Although these jokes were in deplorable taste, they amused all and
wounded no one, for indignation, like other things, depends upon its
surroundings, and the atmosphere which had been gradually created around them
was charged with sensual thoughts. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At the dessert the women themselves made some delicate and discreet
allusions. Their eyes glistened; they had drunk much. The Count, who preserved,
even in his flights, his grand appearance of gravity, made a comparison, much
relished, upon the subject of those wintering at the pole, and the joy of
ship-wrecked sailors who saw an opening toward the south. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Loiseau suddenly arose, a glass of champagne in his hand, and said:
"I drink to our deliverance." Everybody was on his feet; they shouted
in agreement. Even the two good sisters consented to touch their lips to the
froth of the wine which they had never before tasted. They declared that it
[25] tasted like charged lemonade, only much nicer.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Loiseau resumed: "It is unfortunate that we have no piano, for we
might make up a quadrille." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Cornudet had not said a word, nor made a gesture; he appeared plunged m
very grave thoughts, and made sometimes a furious motion, so that his great
beard seemed to wish to free itself. Finally, toward midnight, as they were
separating, Loiseau, who was staggering, touched him suddenly on the stomach
and said to him in a stammer: "You are not very funny, this evening; you
have said nothing, citizen? Then Cornudet raised his head brusquely and,
casting a brilliant, terrible glance around the company, said: "I tell you
all that you have been guilty of infamy!'' He rose, went to the door, and again
repeated: "Infamy, I say!" and disappeared. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This made a coldness at first. Loiseau, interlocutor, was stupefied; but
he recovered immediately and laughed heartily as he said: "He is very
green, my friends. He is very green." And then, as they did not
comprehend, he told them about the "mysteries of the corridor." Then
there was a return of gaiety. The women behaved like lunatics. The Count and Mr.
Carré-Lamadon wept from the force of their laughter. They could not believe it. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"How is that? Are you sure?" </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"I tell you I saw it." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"And she refused--" </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Yes, because the Prussian officer was in the next room." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Impossible!" </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"I swear it!" </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Count was stifled with laughter. The industrial gentleman held his
sides with both hands. Loiseau continued: </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"And now you understand why he saw nothing funny this evening! No,
nothing at all." And the three started out half ill, suffocated. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They separated. But Mrs. Loiseau, who was of a spiteful nature, remarked
to her husband as they were getting into bed, that "that <i>grisette</i>"
of a little Carré-Lamadon was yellow with envy all the evening. "You
know," she continued, "how some women will take to a uniform, whether
it be French or Prussian! It is all the same to them! Oh! what a pity!" </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And all night, in the darkness of the corridor, there were to be heard
light noises, like whisperings and walking in bare feet, and imperceptible
creakings. They did not go to sleep until late, that is sure, for there were
threads of light shining under the doors for a long time. The champagne had its
effect; they say it troubles sleep. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The next day a clear winter's sun made the snow very brilliant. The
diligence, already harnessed, waited before the door, while an army of white
pigeons, in their thick plumage, with rose-colored eyes, with a black spot in
the center, walked up and down gravely among the legs of the six horses,
seeking their livelihood in the manure there scattered. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The driver, enveloped in his sheepskin, had a lighted pipe under the
seat. and all the travelers, radiant, were rapidly packing some provisions for
the rest of the journey. They were only waiting for Ball-of-Fat. Finally she
appeared. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">[26] She seemed a little troubled, ashamed. And she advanced timidly
toward her companions, who all, with one motion, turned as if they had not seen
her. The Count, with dignity, took the arm of his wife and removed her from
this impure contact. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The fat girl stopped, half stupefied; then, plucking up courage, she
approached the manufacturer's wife with "Good morning, Madame,"
humbly murmured. The lady made a slight bow of the head which she accompanied
with a look of outraged virtue. Everybody seemed busy, and kept themselves as
far from her as if she had had some infectious disease in her skirts. Then they
hurried into the carriage, where she came last, alone, and where she took the
place she had occupied during the first part of the journey. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They seemed not to see her or know her; although Madame Loiseau, looking
at her from afar, said to her husband in a half-tone: "Happily, I don't
have to sit beside her." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The heavy carriage began to move and the remainder of the journey
commenced. No one spoke at first. Ball-of-Fat dared not raise her eyes. She
felt indignant toward all her neighbors, and at the same time humiliated at
having yielded to the foul kisses of this Prussian, into whose arms they had
hypocritically thrown her.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Then the Countess, turning toward Mrs. Carré-Lamadon, broke the
difficult silence: </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"I believe you know Madame d'Etrelles?" </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Yes, she is one of my friends." "What a charming
woman!" "Delightful! A very gentle nature and well educated, besides;
then she is an artist to the tips of her fingers, sings beautifully, and draws
to perfection." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The manufacturer chatted with the Count, and in the midst of the
rattling of the glass, an occasional word escaped such as
"coupon--premium--limit---expiration." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Loiseau, who had pilfered the old pack of cards from the inn, greasy
through five years of contact with tables badly cleaned, began a game of
bezique with his wife.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The good sisters took from their belt the long rosary which hung there,
made together the sign of the cross, and suddenly began to move their lips in a
lively murmur, as if they were going through the whole of the
"Oremus." And from time to time they kissed a medal, made the sign
anew, then recommenced their muttering, which was rapid and continued. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Cornudet sat motionless, thinking. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At the end of three hours on the way, Loiseau put up the cards and said:
"I am hungry." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">His wife drew out a package from whence she brought a piece of cold
veal. She cut it evenly in thin pieces and they both began to eat. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Suppose we do the same," said the Countess. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They consented to it and she undid the provisions prepared for the two
couples. It was in one of those dishes whose lid is decorated with a china
hare, to signify that a <i>pâté</i> of hare is inside, a succulent dish of
pork, where white rivers of lard cross the brown flesh of the game, mixed with
some other viands hashed fine. A beautiful [27] square of Gruyère cheese,
wrapped in a piece of newspaper, preserved the imprint "divers
things" upon the unctuous plate. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The two good sisters unrolled a big sausage which smelled of garlic; and
Cornudet plunged his two hands into the vast pockets of his overcoat, at the
same time, and drew out four hard eggs and a piece of bread. He removed the
shells and threw them in the straw under his feet; then be began to eat the
eggs, letting fall on his vast beard some bits of clear yellow, which looked
like stars caught there.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ball-of-Fat, in the haste and distraction of her
rising, had not thought of anything; and she looked at them exasperated,
suffocating with rage, at all of them eating so placidly. A tumultuous anger
swept over her at first, and she opened her mouth to cry out at them, to hurl
at them a flood of injury which mounted to her lips; but she could not speak,
her exasperation strangled her. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">No one looked at her or thought of her. She felt
herself drowned in the scorn of these honest scoundrels, who had first
sacrificed her and then rejected her, like some improper or useless article.
She thought of her great basket full of good things which they had greedily
devoured, of her two chickens shining with jelly, of her <i>pâtès</i>, her
pears, and the four bottles of Bordeaux; and her fury suddenly falling, as a
cord drawn too tightly breaks, she felt ready to weep. She made terrible
efforts to prevent it, making ugly faces, swallowing her sobs as children do,
but the tears came and glistened in the corners of her eyes, and then two great
drops, detaching themselves from the rest, rolled slowly down like little
streams of water that filter through rock, and, falling regularly, rebounded
upon her breast. She sits erect, her eyes fixed, her face rigid and pales
hoping that no one win notice her. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But the Countess perceives her and tells her husband
by a sign. He shrugs his shoulders, as much as to say: </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"What would you have me do, it is not my
fault." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Mrs. Loiseau indulged in a mute laugh of triumph and
murmured: </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"She weeps for shame." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The two good sisters began to pray again, after having
wrapped in a paper the remainder of their sausage. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Then Cornudet, who was digesting, his eggs, extended
his legs to the seat opposite, crossed them, folded his arms, smiled like a man
who is watching a good farce, and began to whistle the
"Marseillaise." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">All faces grew dark. The popular song assuredly did
not please Ms neighbours. They became nervous and agitated, having an
appearance of wishing to howl, like dogs, when they hear a barbarous organ. He
perceived this but did not stop. Sometimes he would hum the words: </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"Sacred love of country</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Help, sustain the avenging arm;</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Liberty, sweet Liberty</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ever fight, with no alarm."</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They traveled fast, the snow being harder. But as far
as Dieppe, during the long, sad hours of the journey, across the jolts in the
road, through the falling night, in the profound darkness of the carriage, he
continued his vengeful, monotonous whistling with a ferocious [28] obstinacy,
constraining his neighbors to follow the song from one end to the other, and to
recall the words that belonged to each measure. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">And
Ball-of-Fat wept continually, and sometimes a sob, which she was not able to
restrain, echoed between the two rows of people in the shadows.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: small;">"<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Boule de Suif</span>" (translated
variously as "Dumpling", "Butterball", "Ball of
Fat" or "Ball of Lard") is a famous short story by the late-19th
century French writer Guy de Maupassant first published on 15/16 April 1880. </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">
(5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a popular French writer, considered one of
the fathers of the modern short story and one of the form's finest exponents. Maupassant
was a protégé of Flaubert and his stories are characterized by economy of style
and efficient, effortless <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">dénouements</span>
(outcomes). Many are set during the Franco-Prussian War of the 1870s,
describing the futility of war and the innocent civilians who, caught up in
events beyond their control, are permanently changed by their experiences. He
wrote some 300 short stories, six novels, three travel books, and one volume of
verse. His first published story, "Boule de Suif"
("Ball of Fat", 1880), is often considered his masterpiece.</span></i></span></span></div>
Kenneth Nwachinemelu David-Okaforhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01053567276751518164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5295647804651653747.post-42109920593026132872014-12-01T13:16:00.001+01:002014-12-01T13:20:32.970+01:00Welcome To The NAIJAGRAPHITTI Big December Giveaway!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPU100SPchMj7tLvHI6UcitxMayVT5KYT9HtkrNzyqmqtgKEikyqaApTZ55iJi_buRS4lrySMgQ0eZD4dFwqAYUogQE-Om6nkj1dwVz4pTDlSBGpG0caZLG9zqXywp-PgUkAfw9Z7Mo0s/s1600/Big+Giveaway+Logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPU100SPchMj7tLvHI6UcitxMayVT5KYT9HtkrNzyqmqtgKEikyqaApTZ55iJi_buRS4lrySMgQ0eZD4dFwqAYUogQE-Om6nkj1dwVz4pTDlSBGpG0caZLG9zqXywp-PgUkAfw9Z7Mo0s/s1600/Big+Giveaway+Logo.png" height="224" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">As part of najiaGRAPHITTI First Year
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">One of the key expectations of this
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<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; line-height: 115%;">The decision of the naijaGRAPHITTI Team shall be
final.</span></span></li>
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Kenneth Nwachinemelu David-Okaforhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01053567276751518164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5295647804651653747.post-20889118072063196752014-07-25T10:10:00.000+01:002014-07-25T10:12:39.715+01:00SHORT STORY — My Father's Head (Winning Entry for the 2014 Caine Prize For African Writing) <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvdImERM2xI0yWyvSigfTVCs_MEFJwKLs_x1ikHgJtoYFUL4C1yAgs4MlaBfjgZNMtJNeLj-oqUuPMjOY72wNTGVdZyQrYO4X64r6DNBPcFSADAsnThs8rDK-G4nO3DvG9HLXdr5tUyno/s1600/Oduor's+Pose+with+Sir+Caine+bust.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvdImERM2xI0yWyvSigfTVCs_MEFJwKLs_x1ikHgJtoYFUL4C1yAgs4MlaBfjgZNMtJNeLj-oqUuPMjOY72wNTGVdZyQrYO4X64r6DNBPcFSADAsnThs8rDK-G4nO3DvG9HLXdr5tUyno/s1600/Oduor's+Pose+with+Sir+Caine+bust.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Okwiri Oduor besides Sir Caine bust. Photo credit: Caine Prize website</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">My Father’s Head</span></b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times-Roman","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">By Okwiri Oduor</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">I had meant to summon my father only
long enough to see what his head looked like, but now he was here and I did not
know how to send him back.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">It all
started the Thursday that Father Ignatius came from Immaculate Conception in Kitgum.
The old women wore their Sunday frocks, and the old men plucked garlands of bougainvillea
from the fence and stuck them in their breast pockets. One old man would not leave
the dormitory because he could not find his shikwarusi, and when I coaxed and badgered,
he patted his hair and said, “My God, do you want the priest from Uganda to
think that I look like this every day?”</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">I arranged
chairs beneath the avocado tree in the front yard, and the old people sat down
and practiced their smiles. A few people who did not live at the home came too,
like the woman who hawked candy in the Stagecoach bus to Mathari North, and the
man whose one-roomed house was a kindergarten in the daytime and a brothel in
the evening, and the woman whose illicit brew had blinded five people in
January.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">Father
Ignatius came riding on the back of a bodaboda, and after everyone had dropped
a coin in his hat, he gave the bodaboda man fifty shillings and the bodaboda
man said, “Praise God,” and then rode back the way he had come.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">Father
Ignatius took off his coat and sat down in the chair that was marked, “Father Ignatius
Okello, New Chaplain,” and the old people gave him the smiles they had been practicing,
smiles that melted like ghee, that oozed through the corners of their lips and dribbled
onto their laps long after the thing that was being smiled about went rancid in
the air.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">Father
Ignatius said, “The Lord be with you,” and the people said, “And also with you,”
and then they prayed and they sang and they had a feast; dipping bread slices
in tea, and when the drops fell on the cuffs of their woollen sweaters, sucking
at them with their steamy, cinnamon tongues.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">Father
Ignatius’ maiden sermon was about love: love your neighbour as you love yourself,
that kind of self-deprecating thing. The old people had little use for love,
and although they gave Father Ignatius an ingratiating smile, what they really
wanted to know was what type of place Kitgum was, and if it was true that the
Bagisu people were savage cannibals.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">What I
wanted to know was what type of person Father Ignatius thought he was, instructing
others to distribute their love like this or like that, as though one could
measure love on weights, pack it inside glass jars and place it on shelves for
the neighbours to pick as they pleased. As though one could look at it and say,
“Now see: I have ten loves in total. Let me save three for my country and give
all the rest to my neighbours.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">It must
have been the way that Father Ignatius filled his mug – until the tea ran over the
clay rim and down the stool leg and soaked into his canvas shoe – that got me
thinking about my own father. One moment I was listening to tales of Acholi
valour, and the next, I was stringing together images of my father, making his
limbs move and his lips spew words, so that in the end, he was a marionette and
my memories of him were only scenes in a theatrical display.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">Even as I
showed Father Ignatius to his chambers, cleared the table, put the chairs back
inside, took my purse, and dragged myself to Odeon to get a matatu to Uthiru, I
thought about the millet-coloured freckle in my father’s eye, and the fifty
cent coins he always forgot in his coat pockets, and the way each Saturday
morning men knocked on our front door and said things like, “Johnson, you have
to come now; the water pipe has burst and we are filling our glasses with
shit,” and, “Johnson, there is no time to put on clothes even; just come the way
you are. The maid gave birth in the night and flushed the baby down the toilet.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">Every day after work, I bought an ear
of street-roasted maize and chewed it one kernel at a time, and when I reached
the house, I wiggled out of the muslin dress and wore dungarees and drank a cup
of masala chai. Then I carried my father’s toolbox to the bathroom. I chiselled
out old broken tiles from the wall, and they fell onto my boots, and the dust
rose from them and exploded in the flaring tongues of fire lapping through
chinks in the stained glass.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">This time,
as I did all those things, I thought of the day I sat at my father’s feet and
he scooped a handful of groundnuts and rubbed them between his palms, chewed
them, and then fed the mush to me. I was of a curious age then; old enough to
chew with my own teeth, yet young enough to desire that hot, masticated love,
love that did not need to be doctrinated or measured in cough syrup caps.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">The
Thursday Father Ignatius came from Kitgum, I spent the entire night on my stomach
on the sitting room floor, drawing my father. In my mind I could see his face,
see the lines around his mouth, the tiny blobs of light in his irises, the
crease at the part where his ear joined his temple. I could even see the thick
line of sweat and oil on his shirt collar, the little brown veins that broke
off from the main stream of dirt and ran down on their own.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">I could
see all these things, yet no matter what I did, his head refused to appear
within the borders of the paper. I started off with his feet and worked my way
up and in the end my father’s head popped out of the edges of the paper and
onto scuffed linoleum and plastic magnolias and the wet soles of bathroom
slippers.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">I showed
Bwibo some of the drawings. Bwibo was the cook at the old people’s home, with
whom I had formed an easy camaraderie.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">“My God!”
Bwibo muttered, flipping through them. “Simbi, this is abnormal.”</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">The word
‘abnormal’ came out crumbly, and it broke over the sharp edge of the table and
became clods of loam on the plastic floor covering. Bwibo rested her head on her
palm, and the bell sleeves of her cream-coloured caftan swelled as though there
were pumpkins stacked inside them.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">I told her
what I had started to believe, that perhaps my father had had a face but no head
at all. And even if my father had had a head, I would not have seen it:
people’s heads were not a thing that one often saw. One looked at a person, and
what one saw was their face: a regular face-shaped face, that shrouded a
regular head-shaped head. If the face was remarkable, one looked twice. But what
was there to draw one’s eyes to the banalities of another’s head? Most times
when one looked at a person, one did not even see their head there at all.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">Bwibo
stood over the waist-high jiko, poured cassava flour into a pot of bubbling water
and stirred it with a cooking oar. “Child,” she said, “how do you know that the
man in those drawings is your father? He has no head at all, no face.”</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">“I
recognize his clothes. The red corduroys that he always paired with yellow
shirts.”</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">Bwibo
shook her head. “It is only with a light basket that someone can escape the rain.”</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">It was
that time of day when the old people fondled their wooden beads and snorted off
to sleep in between incantations. I allowed them a brief, bashful siesta, long
enough for them to believe that they had recited the entire rosary. Then I
tugged at the ropes and the lunch bells chimed. The old people sat eight to a
table, and with their mouths filled with ugali, sour lentils and okra soup,
said things like, “Do not buy chapati from Kadima’s Kiosk—Kadima’s wife sits on
the dough and charms it with her buttocks,” or, “Did I tell you about Wambua,
the one whose cow chewed a child because the child would not stop wailing?”</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">In the
afternoon, I emptied the bedpans and soaked the old people’s feet in warm water
and baking soda, and when they trooped off to mass I took my purse and went
home.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">The Christmas before the cane tractor
killed my father, he drank his tea from plates and fried his eggs on the lids
of coffee jars, and he retrieved his Yamaha drum-set from a shadowy, lizardy
place in the back of the house and sat on the veranda and smoked and beat the
drums until his knuckles bled.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">One day he
took his stool and hand-held radio and went to the veranda, and I sat at his
feet, undid his laces and peeled off his gummy socks. He wiggled his toes
about. They smelt slightly fetid, like sour cream.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">My father
smoked and listened to narrations of famine undulating deeper into the</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">Horn of Africa, and when the clock
chimed eight o’clock, he turned the knob and listened to the death news. It was
not long before his ears caught the name of someone he knew. He choked on the
smoke trapped in his throat.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">My father
said, “Did you hear that? Sospeter has gone! Sospeter, the son of Milkah, who
taught Agriculture in Mirere Secondary. My God, I am telling you, everyone is
going. Even me, you shall hear me on the death news very soon.”</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">I brought
him his evening cup of tea. He smashed his cigarette against the veranda, then
he slowly brought the cup to his lips. The cup was filled just the way he liked
it, filled until the slightest trembling would have his fingers and thighs
scalded.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">My father took a sip of his tea and
said, “Sospeter was like a brother to me. Why did I have to learn of his death
like this, over the radio?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">Later, my
father lay on the fold-away sofa, and I sat on the stool watching him, afraid that
if I looked away, he would go too. It was the first time I imagined his death,
the first time I mourned.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">And yet it
was not my father I was mourning. I was mourning the image of myself inside the
impossible aura of my father’s death. I was imagining what it all would be
like: the death news would say that my father had drowned in a cess pit, and
people would stare at me as though I were a monitor lizard trapped inside a
manhole in the street. I imagined that I would be wearing my green dress when I
got the news – the one with red gardenias embroidered in its bodice –and people
would come and pat my shoulder and give me warm Coca Cola in plastic cups and say,
“I put my sorrow in a basket and brought it here as soon as I heard. How else
would your father’s spirit know that I am innocent of his death?”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">Bwibo had an explanation as to why I
could not remember the shape of my father’s head.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">She said, “Although
everyone has a head behind their face, some show theirs easily; they turn their
back on you and their head is all you can see. Your father was a good man and good
men never show you their heads; they show you their faces.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">Perhaps
she was right. Even the day my father’s people telephoned to say that a cane tractor
had flattened him on the road to Shibale, no one said a thing about having seen
his head. They described the rest of his body with a measured delicacy: how his
legs were strewn across the road, sticky and shiny with fresh tar, and how one
foot remained inside his tyre sandal, pounding the pedal of his bicycle, and
how cane juice filled his mouth and soaked the collar of his polyester shirt,
and how his face had a patient serenity, even as his eyes burst and rolled in
the rain puddles.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">And
instead of weeping right away when they said all those things to me, I had wondered
if my father really had come from a long line of obawami, and if his people
would bury him seated in his grave, with a string of royal cowries round his
neck.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">“In any
case,” Bwibo went on, “what more is there to think about your father, eh?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">That milk spilled a long time ago, and
it has curdled on the ground.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">I spent
the day in the dormitories, stripping beds, sunning mattresses, scrubbing PVC mattress
pads. One of the old men kept me company. He told me how he came to spend his sunset
years at the home – in August of 1998 he was at the station waiting to board
the evening train back home to Mombasa. When the bomb went off at the American
Embassy, the police trawled the city and arrested every man of Arab extraction.
Because he was seventy-two and already rapidly unravelling into senility, they
dumped him at the old people’s home, and he had been there ever since.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">“Did your
people not come to claim you?” I asked, bewildered.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">The old
man snorted. “My people?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">“Everyone
has people that belong to them.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">The old
man laughed. “Only the food you have already eaten belongs to you.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">Later, the
old people sat in drooping clumps in the yard. Bwibo and I watched from the
back steps of the kitchen. In the grass, ants devoured a squirming caterpillar.
The dog’s nose, a translucent pink doodled with green veins, twitched. Birds
raced each other over the frangipani. One tripped over the power line and
smashed its head on the moss–covered electricity pole.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">Wasps flew
low over the grass. A lizard crawled over the lichen that choked a pile of timber.
The dog licked the inside of its arm. A troupe of royal butterfly dancers
flitted over the row of lilies, their colourful gauze dancing skirts trembling
to the rumble of an inaudible drum beat. The dog lay on its side in the grass,
smothering the squirming caterpillar and the chewing ants. The dog’s nipples
were little pellets of goat shit stuck with spit onto its furry underside.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">Bwibo
said, “I can help you remember the shape of your father’s head.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">I said, “Now
what type of mud is this you have started speaking?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">Bwibo
licked her index finger and held it solemnly in the air. “I swear, Bible red! I
can help you and I can help you.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">Let me tell you: one day you will
renounce your exile, and you will go back home, and your mother will take out
the finest china, and your father will slaughter a sprightly cockerel for you,
and the neighbours will bring some potluck, and your sister will wear her navy
blue PE wrapper, and your brother will eat with a spoon instead of squelching
rice and soup through the spaces between his fingers.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">And you,
you will have to tell them stories about places not-here, about people that soaked
their table napkins in Jik Bleach and talked about London as though London was
a place one could reach by hopping onto an Akamba bus and driving by Nakuru and
Kisumu and Kakamega and finding themselves there.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">You will
tell your people about men that did not slit melons up into slices but split them
into halves and ate each of the halves out with a spoon, about women that held
each other’s hands around street lamps in town and skipped about, showing
snippets of grey Mother’s Union bloomers as they sang:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">Kijembe ni kikali, param-param</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">Kilikata mwalimu, param-param</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">You think
that your people belong to you, that they will always have a place for you in
their minds and their hearts. You think that your people will always look
forward to your return.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">Maybe the
day you go back home to your people you will have to sit in a wicker chair on
the veranda and smoke alone because, although they may have wanted to have you
back, no one really meant for you to stay.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">My father
was slung over the wicker chair in the veranda, just like in the old days, smoking
and watching the handheld radio. The death news rose from the radio, and it
became a mist, hovering low, clinging to the cold glass of the sitting room
window.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">My
father’s shirt flapped in the wind, and tendrils of smoke snapped before his
face. He whistled to himself. At first the tune was a faceless, pitiful thing,
like an old bottle that someone found on the path and kicked all the way home.
Then the tune caught fragments of other tunes inside it, and it lost its free-spirited
falling and rising.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">My father
had a head. I could see it now that I had the mind to look for it. His head was
shaped like a butternut squash. Perhaps that was the reason I had forgotten all
about it; it was a horrible, disconcerting thing to look at.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">My father
had been a plumber. His fingernails were still rimmed with dregs from the drainage
pipes he tinkered about in, and his boots still squished with ugali from
nondescript kitchen sinks. Watching him, I remembered the day he found a gold
chain tangled in the fibres of someone’s excrement, and he wiped the excrement
off against his corduroys and sold the chain at Nagin Pattni, and that evening,
hoisted high upon his shoulders, he brought home the red Greatwall television.
He set it in the corner of the sitting room and said, “Just look how it shines,
as though it is not filled with shit inside.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">And every
day I plucked a bunch of carnations and snipped their stems diagonally and
stood them in a glass bowl and placed the glass bowl on top of the television
so that my father would not think of shit while he watched the evening news.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">I said to
Bwibo, “We have to send him back.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">Bwibo
said, “The liver you have asked for is the one you eat.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">“But I did
not really want him back, I just wanted to see his head.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">Bwibo
said, “In the end, he came back to you and that should account for something, should
it not?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">Perhaps my
father’s return accounted for nothing but the fact that the house already smelt
like him – of burnt lentils and melting fingernails and the bark of bitter
quinine and the sourness of wet rags dabbing at broken cigarette tips.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">I threw
things at my father; garlic, incense, salt, pork, and when none of that
repelled him, I asked Father Ignatius to bless the house. He brought a vial of
holy water, and he sprinkled it in every room, sprinkled it over my father.
Father Ignatius said that I would need further protection, but that I would
have to write him a cheque first.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">One day I was buying roast maize in the
street corner when the vendor said to me, “Is</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">it true what the vegetable-sellers are
saying, that you finally found a man to love you but will not let him through
your door?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">That
evening, I invited my father inside. We sat side by side on the fold-away sofa,
and watched as a fly crawled up the dusty screen between the grill and the
window glass. It buzzed a little as it climbed. The ceiling fan creaked, and it
threw shadows across the corridor floor. The shadows leapt high and mounted
doors and peered through the air vents in the walls.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">The wind
upset a cup. For a few seconds, the cup lay lopsided on the windowsill.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">Then it rolled on its side and scurried
across the floor. I pulled at the latch, fastened the window shut. The wind
grazed the glass with its wet lips. It left a trail of dust and saliva, and the
saliva dribbled down slowly to the edge of the glass. The wind had a slobbery
mouth. Soon its saliva had covered the entire window, covered it until the
rosemary brushwood outside the window became blurry. The jacaranda outside stooped
low, scratched the roof. In the next room, doors and windows banged.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">I looked
at my father. He was something at once strange and familiar, at once enthralling
and frightening – he was the brittle, chipped handle of a ceramic tea mug, and
he was the cold yellow stare of an owl.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">My father
touched my hand ever so lightly, so gently, as though afraid that I would flinch
and pull my hand away. I did not dare lift my eyes, but he touched my chin and
tipped it upwards so that I had no choice but to look at him.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">I
remembered a time when I was a little child, when I stared into my father’s
eyes in much the same way. In them I saw shapes; a drunken, talentless
conglomerate of circles and triangles and squares. I had wondered how those
shapes had got inside my father’s eyes. I had imagined that he sat down at the
table, cut out glossy figures from colouring books, slathered them with glue,
and stuck them inside his eyes so that they made rummy, haphazard collages in
his irises.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">My father
said, “Would you happen to have some tea, Simbi?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">I brought
some, and he asked if his old friend Pius Obote still came by the house on Saturdays,
still brought groundnut soup and pumpkin leaves and a heap of letters that he
had picked up from the post office.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">I said, “Pius
Obote has been dead for four years.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">My father
pushed his cup away. He said, “If you do not want me here drinking your tea,
just say so, instead of killing-killing people with your mouth.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">My father
was silent for a while, grieving this man Pius Obote whose name had always made
me think of knees banging against each other. Pius Obote used to blink a lot. Once,
he fished inside his pocket for a biro and instead withdrew a chicken bone,
still red and moist.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">My father
said to me, “I have seen you. You have offered me tea. I will go now.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">“Where
will you go?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">“I will
find a job in a town far from here. Maybe Eldoret. I used to have people there.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">I said, “Maybe
you could stay here for a couple of days, Baba.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "TimesNewRomanPS-ItalicMT","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPS-ItalicMT;">Okwiri Oduor was born in
Nairobi, Kenya. Her novella </span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "TimesNewRomanPSMT","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">The Dream Chasers </span><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "TimesNewRomanPS-ItalicMT","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPS-ItalicMT;">was highly commended in the
Commonwealth Book Prize 2012. Her work has appeared, or is forthcoming, in </span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "TimesNewRomanPSMT","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">The New Inquiry, Kwani?, Saraba,
FEMRITE</span><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "TimesNewRomanPS-ItalicMT","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPS-ItalicMT;">,
and </span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "TimesNewRomanPSMT","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">African
Writing Online</span><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "TimesNewRomanPS-ItalicMT","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPS-ItalicMT;">. She recently directed the inaugural Writivism
Festival in Kampala, Uganda. She teaches creative writing to young girls at her
alma mater in Nairobi, and is currently working on her first full-length novel.</span></i></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Kenneth Nwachinemelu David-Okaforhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01053567276751518164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5295647804651653747.post-45785528629998644262014-06-18T21:13:00.000+01:002014-06-18T21:13:39.302+01:00A Short Story - "Bones Not Mine"<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial Black","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">'BONES NOT MINE'</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br />
<br />
By<br />
<br />
Kenneth N. Okafor<br />
<br />
I was a word collector all right, but I learned a <span class="yshortcuts">tongue
twister</span> on a sad day. Let me write it out in full: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Discombobulating</i>. It did not turn out
easy on my tongue. Dis-kom-bo-bu…. You see what I mean?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Imagine
the consternation then when Father Milo uttered this regular tongue twister two
times in as many days. The remarkable thing was that the heavenly worthy
was not referring to any wife of his. Roman Catholics and celibacy
remember? In Ntole, it was on top of the head of a recalcitrant housewife
that one was forced to use a strange word two times in as many<br />
days.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Yesterday was the first
occasion. It had been with reference to the antics of the man whose name
in common English meant ‘Who-are-you?’ In the throes of pious
indignation, Father Milo forgot he was addressing himself to a bunch of swamp
dwellers, a backwater tribe with little appreciation for an unfamiliar tongue
much less an obscure word. The otherwise unflappable eminent had lost his
almost somnolent air of righteous calm over the insistence of ‘Who-are-you?’ to
libate mid-stream Imia’s burial.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">"</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">This matter ought to be wholly a church affair.
Imia had been a daughter of the church. This insistence at pagan worship
I find most discombobulating.</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">"</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">There it was. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Colonialism had arrived the shores of
Ntole on the belated tide of time. Therefore, it was only natural that
neocolonialism, the offspring should find its last bastion in our rustic
backwater. Father Milo was neocolonialism to his critics. He showed
neither appreciation for our culture nor sensitivity toward its
symbolisms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The vehemence of ‘Who-are-you?’
who was the </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">"</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Chief Priest</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">"</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> of the traditionalists to observe the practice of the
forefathers baffled his Roman Catholic mentality to no end. In the ensuing test
of wills, the priest decided to back down in order not to alienate the larger
portion of his fickle parishioners who were yet struggling with tenuous faith.
But he refused to watch the ritual as the blindfolded bereaved stood by the
graveside, with shoulders hanging with forlorn sag like the rest of Ntole and a
hand raised feelingly to pour libation.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Nobody voiced the contradiction.
‘Who-are-you?’ was, in fact, defying tradition. Because our forefathers
also opined that the elderly ought not to look upon the corpse of the
youth. Ntole was however united in grief tradition notwithstanding; Ntole
had indeed lost one of her princesses. Thus, this indiscretion was thoroughly ignored.
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Would ‘Who-are-you?’ have broken taboo
on account of me…? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">"</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Sixtus, can I have a word with you?</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> "</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> Father Milo’s voice cut short my wandering thoughts. He
preferred Sixtus to Amusuowelukoko, my native name. For the heavenly
worthy not to trip up on his tongue I let him call me Sixtus.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Ntole witnessed the priest confer with
me, and it turned a plain puzzle. These conferences had occurred frequently
in the past few days. Silently, tribesmen wondered if death had brought
religion to me. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">No, I was not about to become a good
son of the church. Father Milo with his devilishly keen mind had merely
fathomed my predilection for foreign language and had offered to help me with
Latin, dying language or not. But I knew indeed that it was his cue to preach
to me at a later date. The priest, I knew, considered me less a heathen than
the geriatric ‘Who-are-you?’ my estranged father, therefore, somewhat redeemable.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The priest remembered mother
again. </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">"</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">What can be done for your
mother?</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">"</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The embers of suffocating anger
kindled in my heart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Was Father Milo
mocking me? I did not have answers for him or for my mother. Imia
seemed to have had answers, and now the light of day had quenched her
aspirations and hopes, shrouding them in unfathomable mystery. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">"</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Father, explain why Imia? She was the right angel wasn’t
she?</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> "</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> Mother had asked
that while she wept her eyes sore.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I had interpreted the question to the
priest.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Father Milo made appropriate
mutterings to encourage mother’s failing heart. </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">"</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">It is for best perhaps. We are unable to question these
things. Nor completely understand the mystery<br />
thereof. Take heart, child.</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">"</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Child? A full-grown woman feeling
some very adult feelings, child? That was another Father Milo’s quirks.
In his ecclesiastical sight, every parishioner was ‘child’.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">"</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">What can be done for your mother?</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">"</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> he asked gently for the second time.<br />
Father Milo was patient with me. And with my frigid tongue. I tried
to answer the question as truthfully as I could.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">"</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Tomorrow, Father. Perhaps, I would know then.</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">"</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">All these had been yesterday.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Today was the second time Father Milo
used the word when we jointly discovered death was not the worst fate to befall
the dead.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I glared at the fresh grave
aghast. Just that same yesterday the priest had stood alongside and
intoned the final words, </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">"</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Tu es pulvis
et ad pulvis redebis</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> "</span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>(You are dust and unto dust you will return). </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">And Imia was supposed to have had her
last rites. Imia, vivacious Imia who had run off to escape the bucolic clutch
of Ntole by sailing the high seas of adventure to Limelight. For ten
years she journeyed… Well, wherever she was now she could never run
another step. The long arms of Ntole had finally embraced her remains. Or
so we thought. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">When the huge mechanical bird in which
she was flying could no longer obey the law of lift, with gravity grasping the
contraption and plunging it into the hungry Atlantic, what had been her thoughts?
Certainly her perfect mind must have been thinking perfect thoughts of a
perfect place like Paradise where imperfect heathens from Ntole could not be.
I could have sworn by the gods of Ntole that those would have been the heretic
seeds in the mind of the religious bigot.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">That was part of the greater
irony. For someone who all her life had pretended to be a perfect, to be
perfectionist nothing about her burial was perfect. The wrong bones had
even been buried in her grave!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">"</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Unfortunate mistake, Sixtus. Most discombobulating.</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">"</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The impending scandal set my teeth on
edge. Surely the whole of Ntole would forget its grief this instance and
mock!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Most dis-kom-bo-bu…oh, I should stop
trying!</span></div>
Kenneth Nwachinemelu David-Okaforhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01053567276751518164noreply@blogger.com0