The Divers' Game by Jesse Ball

Author:Jesse Ball
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2019-07-17T16:00:00+00:00

I WILL ARRIVE IN FRONT OF HER. SHE WILL BE SEATED. I will give her the instructions, the same way it always goes. I will say all the instructions in turn. I will not prejudice her one way or the other. I will speak as much to the doll as to she.

And again, do not become attached to her. She is like any of them—she is everyone’s and no one’s. What happens is outside of any control.

He came to the doorway and went through. There she was.

My Infanta. He bowed. My Infanta. I speak to you about our festival. The city awaits. Tomorrow is your day, the Day of the Infanta. The whole of Row House awaits it—your day is our life’s blood. We thank you for giving it to us.

He paused and looked at his notes.

She started to speak up, then stopped.

What is it? he asked.

Why me?

It is not by chance—you and another girl, you both were born on the last Day of the Infanta.

Lessen cocked her head. Another girl?

Where is she?

The director took a deep breath.

She died last year when the helmets raided her parents’ house.

Died?

Yes, she died. They gassed them all, and then they took her by the feet and knocked her head against the wall. They didn’t even know who she was. It was just a raid.

Lessen started to cry but made no sound. She raised her chin. She thought that was what an Infanta did, so she did it.

The director saw all this. He stiffened with pride. He felt a sureness, a confidence in what would happen—how well all things would go.

Yes, when they did that, when they killed her, at that moment you were alone, though you did not know it. In any case, you were born to be Infanta—the day has been waiting for you to grow old enough. And you—you are doing wonderfully! Such a fine Infanta—they say there is only one, and she is always being born. You are she.

She lifted the veil back so she could see better.

That’s all right, he said. You don’t need to have the veil down until the rehearsal.

The what?

We will go through the schedule now.

A girl ran up and bowed to Lessen. She leaned forward and whispered something to the director. He nodded and said, Tell him he has one more chance and that’s it.

The girl scurried off.

Infanta, the schedule: today we will prepare what needs to be prepared, and then we will have a rehearsal. Then you go home.

What is a . . . ?

We pretend to do what we will do tomorrow. We do that so it is easier when we do it for the second time.

She nodded.

Then tomorrow your honor guard will go and fetch you from your house and bring you here, and we will begin. The rehearsal will start in a little while. Do you have any questions?

What do I do?

I will explain it all as we go. I will be right by you, and I will explain. You only have to be yourself, because you are what you are pretending to be.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.