Delirium by Alexander Fisher

Author:Alexander Fisher [Fisher, Alexander]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cranthorpe Millner Publishers
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

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At night, Hynek was sitting at his table binding reeds for a wicker chair when the lights went out. He fumbled for a match and lit a candle. Soon, candlelight began flickering in all the windows of the village.

‘The power has finally gone,’ he said.

Shadows crept into corners of his room that electric light had got rid of.

‘The Old World has finally fallen. It will all be different now.’

CHAPTER 28

Ten days passed and there was a strange atmosphere inside Otočka. The food ration had been reduced again, now only enough for one and a half meals a day. Soldiers patrolled the night during curfew. At first several villagers thought it was ridiculous and childish. But soon they got used to it. Some of the children had dreams of long shadows with guns. Hynek spoke to the colonel to propose a council of officers and villagers that, if not able to make decisions, could at least suggest them to the colonel. In a moment of cynical pique, she replied that doubtless Hynek himself would be on this council.

‘It would be up to everyone to decide who would be on the council,’ he had said.

The colonel rejected the idea.

Luděk bored people with his animus towards his brother as well as his keen praise of the colonel. He even suggested that Marek may have started the fire after rumours spread that it was deliberate. Many villagers avoided him. Helena and her mother had been moved and so the only villager remaining on the west side of the river was Zarviš.

The villagers witnessed a court martial. The ex-sergeant and the private were brought into the field and sat on two chairs. Opposite, the colonel and the three captains. Standing around were the villagers and the army. The trial was summary. The accused admitted that the private was asleep at the time and that the ex-sergeant had failed to periodically check the back of the barn. The panel pronounced them guilty. The colonel sentenced them to be thrown out of Otočka. The villagers appealed to the colonel.

‘No. It’s a question of survival,’ she said. ‘What if it had been the food store?’

‘But to throw them out,’ Hynek said.

‘They must accept it. And I want to show that no favour is given to the soldiers over the villagers. This cannot go unanswered.’

‘I agree, but perhaps their punishment should be to rebuild the barn. Since they are responsible for it being burned, get them to rebuild it.’

‘No. That would be like breaking a vase, knowing you can just glue it back together again.’

The villagers watched as the two soldiers were escorted, but preserving their honour, they went voluntarily. Luděk applauded. They were at least given some survival equipment.

One morning the villagers woke to find something bizarre. Beside the river, on the west side, a pole had been erected. At the top of this pole was a painted canvas, a kind of flag. On it was a red and black snake, as if flying and electrified in the shape of lightning.

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