Fog Island by Mariette Lindstein

Author:Mariette Lindstein
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2018-02-15T05:00:00+00:00

We’re almost to the top of the hill now, struggling up the last little bit of the slope.

She follows me like a faithful dog.

She insisted on dragging her little cart behind her, with a Barbie doll in it; she has a hard time pulling it, but still she keeps up with me. At the top, we stop to catch our breath.

It’s dusk; the sun is bathing in the sea like a blood orange.

I take the items from my backpack. Bone-dry kindling, gasoline, and matches. She looks at me expectantly, hugging her doll.

‘Are you sure you want to use that doll?’ I ask. ‘I thought it was your best one.’

‘No, I dropped her in the toilet when I was going to wash her hair in the sink. She smells all weird now.’

‘Okay, it’s up to you.’

We build a little pyre at the very top of the slope and place the doll on top.

‘Now she can see all of Antibes,’ I say, ‘and everyone can watch as she is punished.’

She nods gravely.

I take out the plastic bottle of gasoline and show her how to pour it all over the wood and the doll.

‘Can I light it?’ she asks.

‘Yes, if you’re careful.’

Her hands are shaking, and she lets go of the match so quickly it goes out before it reaches the pyre. She lights a new one and this time it catches. The doll burns; soon its hair is charred and its face becomes a black mask. The flames lick at the evening sky.

‘Now she has been punished,’ she says. ‘That dumb doll.’

‘That’s right!’ I say, sitting down in front of her and taking her hands. ‘Sara, you understand, don’t you, that if you tell Mom and Dad about this we can’t play this game anymore.’

The flames are reflected in her eyes. They’re really glowing.

She’s so excited that her chin is trembling.

‘I’ll never say a word,’ she says, pressing her lips into a thin line. ‘Never, ever.’

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