One Hour of Fervor by Muriel Barbery

Author:Muriel Barbery
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Europa Editions
Published: 2023-11-16T00:00:00+00:00

1985—the year of four deaths. Haru learned of the first one from Tomoo on the afternoon of January 3. He had not planned to go to Shinnyo-dō that day, but a last-minute impulse drove him out into the snow. He hailed a cab and was dropped off outside the sailing ship just as night was falling. Tomoo greeted him and said, Emmanuelle Revers has died, and he added, Isao is ill. What do you mean, ill? asked Haru, but Tomoo didn’t say, brought him inside and led him to the room of parties and sake. There, his only love lay across an armchair, in great pain. His cheeks were hollow, his eyes dull, and he was having difficulty breathing. His beautiful face, full of youth only the day before, had been overtaken by age. He was ill for a week and then died. Friends came one after the other to the hospital, Tomoo never left his side, but there was nothing to be done; they could only watch as he faded away. On the morning of January 10, Haru went into the hospital room and found Tomoo kneeling on the floor, his eyes closed, his hands on his thighs. He knelt down beside him, and they stayed there together in the pseudo-silence of the medical monitors, then stood up and saw that Isao was dead. Tomoo did not flinch, did not weep, did not speak, and Haru followed his example. They stood looking at the young man’s tortured body—he who had been so handsome, so joyful—until a nurse came in, then the doctor, and others still, so they left the room.

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