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THE FIRE ON THE kitchen hearth gave the only light. Ha
The man's breathing was deep and regular with a rumble of catarrh.
Ha
The wire handle of the lantern would creak. Better to lift it by the base and the top, holding the glass mantle steady so that it would not rattle. Lift it straight up and off the shelf. He had it now in both hands.
A loud pop, as a piece of firewood, hissing steam, burst in the fireplace, sending sparks and small coals skipping across the hearth, a coal coming to rest an inch from the assistant cook's foot in its felt boot liner.
What tool was close? On the countertop was a canister, a 150-mm shell casing full of wooden spoons and spatulas. Ha
The door to the dungeon stairs was in the corner of the kitchen. It swung open quietly at Ha
The wine, long ago looted, had been replaced on the shelves with root vegetables, primarily turnips. Ha
In his time in the orphanage, seeing his house violated, everything stolen, confiscated, abused, he had not looked here. Ha
The wine shelves came away from the wall with a considerable squeal of hinges. He went back to his lantern, ready to blow it out if he heard a sound. Nothing.
It was here, in this room, that he had last seen Cook, and for a moment Cook's great round face appeared to him in vital clarity, without the scrim time gives our images of the dead.
Ha
One large gilt picture frame remained, threads of canvas sticking out of it where the painting had been cut out of the frame. It had been the largest picture in the house, a romanticized view of the Battle of Zalgiris emphasizing the achievements of Ha
Ha
He could see them in the empty frame, gathered before the fire at the lodge.
He was not Ha
They were all gone, the paintings with faces that were as familiar to him as his family.
There was an oubliette in the center of the room, a dry stone well into which Ha
Once as a treat, Ha
12
IN THE LONG dormitory the orphans were sleeping. They were in the order of their age. The youngest end of the dormitory had the brooder-house smell of a kindergarten. The youngest hugged themselves in sleep and some called out to their remembered dead, seeing in the dreamed faces a concern and tenderness they would not find again.
Further along some older boys masturbated under their covers.
Each child had a footlocker and on the wall above each bed was a space to put drawings or, rarely a family photograph.
Here is a row of crude crayon drawings above the successive beds. Above Ha
The hunting lodge in the forest. Ha
The roiling water bangs the horns against the metal walls of the tub as though the little deer is making a last effort to butt. Blue-Eyes and Web-Hand come in with a blast of cold air, knocking off their snowshoes and leaning them against the wall. The others crowd them, Bowl-Man stumping from the corner on frostbitten feet. Blue-Eyes takes from his pocket the starved bodies of three small birds. He puts a bird, feathers and all, into the water until it is soft enough to rip off the skin. He licks the bloody bird-skin, blood and feathers on his face, the men crowding around him. He flings the skin to them and they fall on it like dogs.
He turns his blood-smeared face to the balcony, spits out a feather and speaks. "We have to eat or die."
They put into the fire the Lecter family album and Mischa's paper toys, her castle, her paper dolls. Ha
"Take her, she's going to die anyway. Come and play, come and play."
Singing now, they take her. "Ein Ma
He hangs on to Mischa's arm, the children dragged toward the door. He will not release his sister and Blue-Eyes slams the heavy barn door on his arm, the bone cracking, opens the door again and comes back to Ha
And the blows became First Monitor's stick banging on the bed frame and Ha
"Shut up! Shut up! Get up you little fuck!" First Monitor ripped the bed clothing off the cot and threw it at him. Outside on the cold ground to the tool shed, prodded with the stick. First Monitor followed him into the shed with a shove. The shed was hung with gardening tools, rope, a few carpenter's tools. First Monitor set his lantern on a keg and raised his stick. He held up his bandaged hand.
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