The Troupe by Robert Jackson Bennett

Author:Robert Jackson Bennett [Bennett, Robert Jackson]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, General, Fantasy
ISBN: 9780748125968
Publisher: Orbit
Published: 2011-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

The wolf in red shook his head once when they were gone. “Silly things,” he said. “They are so eager, but they really don’t understand.”

George felt very confused. While this wolf seemed too unhinged to trust, George was keen to stay in his good graces, since he was the only thing keeping him from horrible abuse. So as politely as possible, George said, “Excuse me, but—”

But the wolf cried, “No, no! No, don’t say anything yet! Please don’t! For now, please, just … look.” He leaped down the aisle steps to the front row before the orchestra pit. He gestured to all six of the dummies, and said, “Just look, and please, tell me what you think. Look carefully, and … oh, dear. It looks like someone has stolen the impresario’s head. But ignore that. Please, ignore that, and just … tell me your thoughts.”

George was not sure what he meant. He looked back over the tilted, distorted figures that were so horribly reminiscent of his friends, leaning this way and that in the dancing ash. “It’s … it’s meant to be the troupe.”

“Well, yes, obviously,” said the wolf. “But how close are the representations? Are they very close? Are they exact? I conducted dozens of interviews, kept hundreds of theater bills … Please tell me where I went right and wrong, please.”

The wolf was earnestly watching him, waiting on his every word. George was reminded of an artist bracing himself for criticism.

“They’re extremely close,” said George.

“But not exact?”

“Well, n-no …”

The wolf tutted and shook his head and began rifling a stack of notes. “What is wrong? What’s different? Please spare no detail, it’s the details that trouble me so.”

George had no idea where to begin. Stanley was not five feet tall, and Kingsley was not four feet, and Colette did not have such formidable biceps. But in the interest of humoring the wolf, George told him only about the incorrect pattern of Harry’s trousers, and also mentioned that Stanley usually wore a tie. The wolf immediately asked about the color of the tie as well as the waist size of Silenus’s pants. “This is good, this is very good!” said the wolf, scribbling quickly as George answered. “You have no idea how useful this is! I’ve been following you all for months, trying to get every bit of information on you I could! I traveled miles to find anyone who’d seen your show, and now to have a genuine member in my company … what are the odds? This will be perfect for my researches!”

“I’m sorry, but … researches?” asked George.

“Oh, yes!” said the wolf brightly. “We wanted to know all about you, so I asked them to take this theater for me, and then I could re-create one of your performances! This is where I collect all my little findings, all my little discoveries about you and your company of actors. This is a theater your company visited, isn’t it? I wanted the re-creation to be exact.”

“Well, I played here, yes,” said George.

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