Samedi the Deafness (29 page)

James stepped away from the door. It was useless to stand there. He made his way back across the wine cellar and up the stairs. Then he was in the hall.

Outside, he thought. I shall go see what's outside.

He went by the front entrance, and out the door.

The first thing he saw was the city, on fire, in the distance. At least half the city burning. The smoke was everywhere, with a hot red core.

Dear God, he thought, and looked up.

Above, pale, wispy clouds covered the sky like ribbons.

The clouds, he thought. Those are the clouds. He recoiled in horror. Then the noise began. He heard it in his ear, in the space behind his eyes; he heard it on the planes of his face, and in his mouth. Singing. A great noise of singing, like a chorus. The sound swelled. It hurt. The pain grew. He fell to his knees. All along the avenues cars were still, smashed into one another, smashed into walls, smashed into houses. Fires grew, consuming buildings, houses. People fled, screaming, lost to the sound of their own voices.

On the lawn James lay, and the pressure of the sound of singing grew in his head. It grew and grew, and he thought then that he might die. But then it stopped, and everything was silent.

—James, James! Wake up!

James opened his eyes. He was lying in a bed built into the wall of a long, airy room with broad windows. They were thrown open and a light breeze was blowing.

A girl was standing there, beautiful, with short black hair and bright eyes. She was dressed as if to travel, in a wool skirt with knee socks, a short fleece coat, and a scarf. A cat was under her arm. It too was looking at him.

—James! she said. Everyone's waiting for us. It's time to go.

She came over to the bed and leaned over him. Her face was very close.

—Come on, you! Come on. The light is changing. Father says we have only minutes before it begins.

Nov 2005

the end

appendix

a NOTE on the Naming of Characters

In Scotland, in a town called Rosewell, there is a small cemetery. I lived for a month nearby.

I would go sometimes to the cemetery in Rosewell, and for this novel, as a tribute to the land on which I wrote this book, and to the people there, I have named many of my characters out of the cemetery.

Most of the names I chose were men who died in mining accidents, though some died in the Great War, others in their sleep.

Nothing in the book has anything to do with the lives these men and women led. I felt a gratefulness to the place, to Hawthornden, Rosslyn, the River Esk, and to this Rosewell graveyard, and it seemed the right thing to do to fill my book with the vague shapes of their letters.

Here is a list of the names I found there.

James Carlyle

John Sutherland

Cpl. Arch Renwick, died in France, age twenty-one, 1918

James Sim

Pat Jordan, died at Kelty, 16 April 1929

Grieve Cochrane

Will Watson, killed at Whitehill Colliery, 10 June 1929

Andrew Morris, Whitehill Colliery, 1934, age twenty-four

Samuel Mathieson, Whitehill Colliery, 1940

Charles Higinson, Whitehill Colliery, 1935, age twenty-one

Leonora Loft

James Leslie

Lily Violet

Martin Stark, died at Hawthornden, “There is no death”

Robert Wallace Wight, killed at Bilston Glen Colliery, 1965

Spiers Jones

John Clechorn, age twenty-one, “who fell asleep at Midfield Cottages” 12 October 1908

Thomas McHale, pit accident, 1935

Thomas McHale, accident, 1933, age twenty-one

David Graham, Whitehill Colliery, 1937, age thirty-three

James Abernathy Stewart, Whitehill Colliery, 1932, age forty-seven

Margret Grieve Cochrane, “Asleep”

A NOTE on Sources

One source employed that Stark reads, on the sixth day, is from
The Sorrows of Young Werther
, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

I have used the excellent translation of Michael Hulse (Penguin Classics, 1989).

Acknowledgments

Thanks be to:

B. Kingsland
J. Jackson
G. Costello
E. Schreiber
C. Despont
Kuhn Projects
Purple Fashion
Hawthornden Castle

Jesse Ball

Samedi the Deafness

Jesse Ball (1978– ) was born on Long Island, the second child of Robert and Catherine Ball. Educated at Vassar College and Columbia University, he has lived at times in Europe and has worked as an editor, a croupier, a photographer, and a tutor. His first volume,
March Book
, appeared in 2004, followed by
Vera & Linus
(2006). His drawings were published in 2006 in Iceland in the volume
Og svo kom nottin
. Work of his has appeared in many major domestic and international journals, and was included in
Best American Poetry
2006
. Jesse Ball was a Spy but has Retired to the Country
, a web site (
www.jesseball.com
), exhibits work of writing and drawing.

A VINTAGE CONTEMPORARIES ORIGINAL, SEPTEMBER 2007

Copyright © 2007 by Jesse Ball

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York,and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.

Vintage and colophon are registered trademarks and Vintage Contemporaries is a trademark of Random House, Inc.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ball, Jesse, 1978–
Samedi the deafness : a novel / by Jesse Ball.
p.   cm.
eISBN: 978-0-307-45593-2
1. Mnemonics—Fiction. 2. Psychological games—Fiction. 3. Sanatoriums—Fiction. 4. Terrorists—Fiction. 5. Psychological fiction. I. Title.
PS3602.A596S36  2007
813'.6—dc22
2007016256

www.vintagebooks.com

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