Samedi the Deafness Read Online Free Page B

He believed it would bring him good luck, and it has. But now, my little friend, that luck will be yours. Oh, thank you, James had said. Thank you. No one ever had a friend like you. Nor will they, said Ansilon, nor will they. And when he would take the red owl to the seashore, he would hide it from his father in a Russian fur hat which James insisted upon wearing at all times. No one but James and Ansilon understood this absurd practice. Why was the boy wearing a Russian fur cap to the seashore? But James was always finding things, old coins, arrowheads, and such, which he gave away freely and generously, and so no one said anything to him about the fur cap until one day his father burned it while he was off at school. Regrettably, the bird was inside. That day his father became very ill and was never the same again. In fact, he died within the hour.

 

    IN THE KITCHEN

    Anastasia sat at the kitchen table. She no longer spoke with an accent. She confessed that her name was not Anastasia. It was, she said, Lily Violet.

    —You've obviously made up that name, said James, who was busy setting the pot to boil on the stove.

    —No one would make up a name like that, said Lily Violet. It's too far-fetched.

    James considered this. Perhaps she was right.

    Lily had taken her coat off. She came over and stood behind James.

    James turned around and pushed her away.

    —What's the big idea? he said loudly.

    —Nothing, she said, and sat down again. What is it? You don't like girls?

    James ignored this question.

    —So, your position is that you are not a part of the plot that's in the newspaper, that furthermore, you have nothing to do with it, and that you have met me only by chance?

    —I have met you, said Lily Violet, only by chance. The rest is too silly for me to even answer. Anyway, don't you think I'm a nice sort?

    —I will not marry you, said James. You are not suitable at all. I don't like your yellow-dress. I don't like your hair-cut, and I don't like your approaching-of-men in public places.

    —You don't like my hair-cut? said Lily Violet, looking then at herself in the window. It had become dark outside, and the room was reflected and distorted in triplicate, for alongside of the kitchen there were three broad windows. She ran her hands through her short hair and looked at him.

    —Well, to be fair, said James, it's all right.

    He felt suddenly thoroughly tired. He felt he had been outmaneuvered again, but this time he did not even know how it had happened.

    He went into the hall and sat down on the bench for the second time that day. The mask was still there. He didn't like it, not one bit. There are certain items that one does not want to have in one's vicinity, that when one learns of their existence, one feels a bit worried that perhaps one day they will be present in the vicinity of oneself. Such was this. But who would expect to be sent a rubber mask of one's own face?

    —Really, said Lily, entering the hall. It isn't as bad as all that.

    She sat beside him on the bench.

    —Why don't I be your girlfriend, and take care of you, and we can go on little outings?

    —What are you doing here? asked James. This is completely ridiculous.

    —You ask so many questions, said Lily Violet.

    She went and got her coat, then looked James carefully in the eye and curtsied in an exquisite and practiced manner. The door closed softly behind her, and James was left once more alone.

 

    day the third

 

    Shall we say, James did not arrive at his appointment at the doctor's office? He was at the door, at the door to the building, upon the stroke of three, having decided he would not bother to come early, when two men in large overcoats forced him into a waiting car.

 

    An Item in the News

THIRD “SAMEDI” SUICIDE BAFFLES AUTHORITIES

    Washington, September 29: The suicide of an unidentified man outside the White House yesterday, the third such death in as many days, has resulted in increased concern on