Domechild by Shiv Ramdas

Author:Shiv Ramdas [Ramdas, Shiv]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9788184759822
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2013-03-04T00:00:00+00:00

16

Albert looked back round at the platform, where two men were hastily dropping down sand to cover the bloodstains. Another man jumped into the ring. Albert looked at him curiously, anxious to get a look at this man whom everybody seemed to be talking about. At first glance, he looked the part all right, tall, with long hair and a long, bushy beard, wearing black robes. The man cleared his throat, and the crowd fell silent. Albert stood up on tiptoe, keen not to miss a word. The man cleared his throat again.

‘It is time!’ he shouted. ‘Vail will speak now!’

Then he jumped out of the ring. A murmur ran through the crowd again, but one very different from the excited whoops and cheers of a few minutes ago. This was more a collective hush of not just anticipation, but adoration. There was a weight in the air, a pressure that came from expectation, when hundreds of people collectively hold their breath. You could feel the energy surging through the crowd, passing forward like electricity through human conductors.

Albert looked around, more than a touch disappointed at the anticlimax. As he surveyed the crowd, he realized with shock that somehow, without him noticing, the profile of the mob had changed. Where there had earlier been mostly men, with a smattering of women, now the spread was much more even. He could even see children, standing alongside their parents, or, when too young for that, held in their arms.

An elbow dug sharply into his side, causing him to cry out. ‘Cover your eye!’ hissed a woman next to him.

‘I beg your pard—’ he broke off, realizing she was wearing a patch over one eye. Looking around, he realized she wasn’t alone. Every single person in the crowd had one eye covered. Even the babies wore patches.

Next to him, the woman looked at him sharply. ‘This your first time, innit?’

‘Yes,’ he said.

She frowned at him and then reached into her bag and pulled out another eyepatch.

‘Here,’ she said. ‘Wear it.’

‘Thank you,’ said Albert, slipping it over his right eye.

She gave him a strange look. ‘Your other eye.’

‘Oh,’ he said, making the switch. ‘Sorry. Thanks.’

She nodded.

‘But why does everyone cover their eyes?’

She stared at him as if he had two heads. ‘Out of respect for Vail.’ She started to say more, but then the crowd in front roared, and she swung back round to look at the platform.

‘He’s here,’ someone in front shouted. Albert craned his neck forward at the platform as more spotlights came on, bathing the sole occupant in a bright glow, and the crowd roared, on and on, no words, only sound, three hundred people giving in to spontaneous ecstasy.

He half expected to see another tall, messianic figure, with wild hair and flowing beard, dressed in robes. But the man who stood before the crowd was nothing like that.

He was of average height and build, clean shaven and short-haired, dressed in the rough, everyday clothes that almost everyone around Albert was in.

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