Read Online Children of Paradise: A Novel by Fred D'Aguiar - Free Book Online

rod of correction. The children avoid him as best as they can, since he finds the slightest opportunity to correct with lashes from his rod any behavior that he judges to be deviant. They return to examining and comparing the welts on each other’s arms and legs and bodies. Ryan wins first prize for the biggest welts, all down his left side. They question him about the focus on his left side. He says he tried to squeeze through a gap in the fence and half of him, his right side, made it through the gap before the rest of him got stuck. He says the guards came along at random and hit him a few times and wandered off as others queued to take a few swipes at him and marvel at the easy target he made of himself by choosing to be still rather than the usual squirming, dodging, jumping. The children agree.
    Trina worries about their leader. He cried because they cried. He appeared to be one of them. But he is their father. What would become of them if he stopped being their father? The children fret about this and about how they will be treated by the guards and teachers and other prefects from now on. Ryan says that the evening sermon should answer all their questions. Trina urges them to be on their best behavior at the meal and to complete all their chores quickly and with as little talk as possible and certainly free of any horsing around. All agree. Rose says today’s rain is the best she has seen since her arrival six months earlier. The children nod. Rose imagines that she sees her absent mother’s face in the bark of a tree and blinks and looks again and again until the image fades from that tree though it remains burned on her retina. She becomes glum. Trina asks her what is wrong.
    —I miss my mother. I wonder if it’s raining in the capital. She likes the rain. Will I ever see her again?
    Both Ryan and Trina jump to offer Rose an answer. Trina wins out by being louder with her more strident tone.
    —The capital isn’t far. I’m sure she’s thinking about you right now in this rain.
    Rose likes the idea that the same rain soaks her mother in the capital. The many other children whose parents are not living with them in the commune say that this is true for them as well. Their parents left the commune or were thrown out of it. Like Rose, they were all told they belonged to the commune and Father was their sole parent. The children bring the talk back to how good it feels to run out into the wall of rain and feel it lash the arms, legs, body, and face. And rainwater swallowed directly from the sky tastes just like fresh coconut milk. They rub their hungry bellies and lick their lips.
    —Yummy.
    Trina follows with another assertion:
    —It’s worth a beating, isn’t it?
    A few of them hesitate to agree, but most think she is right, there is nothing like running out into this kind of rain and nothing sweeter to drink than sky water.
    —Like bread just out of the oven, Ryan says. And they agree:
    —Yes, just like fresh bread.
    Trina wonders how the rain might be improved to make it even tastier. Rose says it would be great if, on the way down, the rain could hit bees and strip them of their honey, then the rain would arrive in their mouths honey-sweet. This gets everyone wild with speculation.
    —What if the clouds were cotton candy and the rain flavored strawberry?
    —Or any other flavor we could wish for?
    —How about chocolate?
    —Chocolate?
    —Yes, chocolate.
    —And strawberry.
    —And vanilla.
    —Vanilla?
    —Yes, vanilla.
    Trina thinks that, for there to be vanilla, there would have to be vanilla being transported somewhere by some flying creature that the rainwater could come into contact with on its looping, swaying descent toward their upturned faces and into their open mouths.
    The children leave for their chores and try to maintain the hush made by the preacher’s outburst. So many feet shuffle over wooden walkways and wood floors with so little noise. So many hands handle cutlery, plates, and