The Revelations by Erik Hoel

Author:Erik Hoel [Hoel, Erik]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Abrams
Published: 2021-04-06T00:00:00+00:00

Later, as the sunlight is sliding off toward the end of hours, a completion of day, Carmen has just waved goodbye to Kierk, laughing a bit, straightening out her dress, moving to stand at the street corner. The light changes. As she passes a car honks, causing her to jump. Inside, a watching head behind glazed windows. Carmen pulls down the dress more, aware of herself now, the click of her heels on the pavement. On the sidewalk groups instinctually move out of the way, each splitting as they let her carve a path through them, all turning, men and women alike, with looks of approval or disapproval or open appraisal as eyes saccade over her clothes and hair. Her body is read like it’s language. Her mind is still echoing and exposed due to the story she’s just told Kierk, and she is now suddenly reevaluating his attentive face, his leaning in, his interest in each word, and with this a deep and old insecurity rises: that all her relationships, both professional and not, are warped unnaturally by this biological form that cannot help but attract, a thing no more impressive and just as predetermined as a pitcher plant emitting its tantalizing scent. What she likes about Kierk is his seemingly unaware resistance to it; she feels that his disinterested intelligence acts like some kind of shield for it, but suddenly she is unsure, worrying at what she’s building and how genuine this budding bridge really is.

It is a busy afternoon. On the avenues the flow of people perceptibly recognizes her, clears space. Girls with long painted nails size her up. A homeless man exclaims as she passes. A group of men lounging on concrete steps fall silent, all looking. A fleeting summer day myth, Carmen makes her way like a serpentine medusa through the Grecian columns of the city towers, the summer light clinging to her, until she stops by the glass mirror of a building to evaluate herself. At first it is merely to tilt her head and move aside some stray hairs, but then, her mask dropping, she suddenly begins to rub the lipstick from her mouth, which comes off in a violent violet streak on her forearm, and then she’s smearing her foundation with her palms, tugging down her dress as low as it will go, and it is only when digging around her purse to come up with a clip with which she tries to pin her hair up in an ungainly bun that she realizes the mirrored wall of the building is in fact a window onto a coffee shop. The inside snaps into focus and within she sees the many faces that have turned to watch her, looking up from their seats or turned in the line, all paused, earbuds dangling, mouths open, frozen.

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.