Kingdom Cons by Yuri Herrera

Author:Yuri Herrera
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: And Other Stories Publishing
Published: 2017-04-10T11:02:40+00:00

The Doctor stopped prodding his eye sockets and said sullenly:

“If you refuse to let me examine your head with the proper instruments, I can’t tell what the problem is… Though I have my suspicions.”

This last line he added in a tone both harsh and sad. The Artist wouldn’t let anyone near him with a knife or anything like one. They spent the next few seconds in silence: a dialogue of suppressed premonitions. Then the Doctor shook it off with a smile.

“What we can do, in the interim, is take care of the obvious problem.” He bent over a desk and took out a box which he set down a few feet from the Artist. “Because it is obvious, even if not to you.”

A pyramid of letters and numbers decreasing in size, down to tiny at the base. The Doctor said:

“I haven’t used this for a long time; nobody here wants to wear specs. Cover one eye.”

The Artist covered his left. The Doctor carried on.

“I’m surprised the courtiers don’t spend all day running into each other in the corridors. Read me the letters you see.”

“En, jay, gee, kay, three, tea, one, why, are, tea, pee.”

“Though now that I think about it, there certainly are some run-ins, as I’m sure you’ve realized, eh? Next line, other eye.”

“Aitch, oh, see, queue, doubleyou, en, zee, ex.”

“Good. See, sometimes you get the impression that each man’s got his own knife and fork now, altho no one should be thinking about a banquet. Next one, back to the left again.”

“Jay, a, two, tea, ess, see, eight, a, zee, eff… bee?”

“Close: three. I wish things were like back in the day, but, between you and me, seems like everyone’s lost it. Next line.”

“Dee, e, why, e, one, are, vee, seven.”

“El, not one. See, the Traitor’s making deals with the crew from the south, but there’s no way to know if that’s because he’s been told to by someone here. They’re different down there, they’re new at this, do things on the down low. Next.”

“Jay, e, eff… ess again, three, why, nine, pee, doubleyou, four, dee.”

“Hm. Here we go. So on the one hand, top dog is getting nervous, best not even to go near him when he’s all het up like that, boy’s been trigger-happy since he was a pipsqueak… And on the other, That Woman is there, and who knows what her angle is. Next.”

“En, e… zee?, e, you, jay, el, en again.”

“Tsk, tsk. That’s enough. Time to dust this thing off.”

The Doctor went back to his desk and pulled out a contraption full of glass slides and wires. He removed and replaced lenses and slid it over the Artist, on his nose. Suddenly the letters on the card were clear, but jumpy. They’re jiggling, the Artist said. The Doctor switched lenses again. How bout now? Now they’re slurred. More lens changing. Now? The Artist made no reply. He was no longer looking at the letters. The shock of so much new minutiae unsettled him: a slight crispness to the walls, gold dust dancing in the sun’s rays.

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