Read Online The Orange Grove by Larry Tremblay - Free Book Online Page B

expert attached it to the belt just here, you see, with the yellow wire.”
    â€œAnd the red wire?”
    â€œSoulayed said in the shed that he’d take care of it.”
    â€œBut when?”
    â€œWhen you’re at the mountain.”
    â€œIs there anything else I should know?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œAziz . . .”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œDon’t put the dirty shirt back on!”
    Once they’d finished exchanging clothes,Aziz gave his brother a little knife that had belonged to their grandfather. He’d found it in the ruins of his house.
    â€œCut your left hand, don’t make a mistake.”
    Amed made a slash at the base of his thumb.
    â€œHere, Amed, this is for you.”
    â€œWhat is it?”
    â€œYou’ll see, it’s a letter. You’ll read it after I’m dead, all right?”
    â€œI promise.”
    â€œNo, swear to me.”
    Amed let a little blood from his wound drop onto the envelope.
    â€œI swear it.”
    With his finger he enlarged the red stain on the envelope, as if it were a seal that secured his brother’s letter, at the same time making the switch irreversible. Aziz gave Amed the handkerchief that had been dipped in sheep’s blood. He wrapped it around his wounded hand. Their hearts pounding, the two brothers went back downstairs.
    From this point on, Aziz was Amed and Amed was Aziz.

AZIZ
    Â 
    â€œAziz, what’s wrong?”
    Mikaël had to ask a third time before the student looked up and gave him an embarrassed smile.
    â€œNothing, sir.”
    â€œI’m not so sure.”
    Mikaël had picked Aziz to play the role of Sony, a child about seven years old. It was not a difficult choice. Aziz’s eyes were still those of an awestruck child, alert to everything. His voice was unusually soft for a young man of twenty. Often, Mikaël had to insist that Aziz project his voice instead of keeping it to himself. His fragile and elusive presence was a good fit with the role in which he was cast.
    Mikaël had written the text especially for thestudents’ graduation show, which would mark the end of their four years of theater training. In a few months they would all be professional actors seeking auditions to launch their careers. As time went on, Mikaël would recognize some of them in ads for beer or shampoo. A few would get small roles in television series. Most would still be working as waiters in restaurants. But the luckiest and most talented would one day catch the eye of successful directors, who would offer them major roles as leading men or beautiful ingénues.
    In Mikaël’s play, Sony found himself in the hands of an enemy soldier. The child had been a helpless witness of his parents’ savage killing. The soldier had cut off Sony’s father’s hands and shot him. Then he had raped Sony’s mother and had thrown her, dead, onto her husband’s mutilated corpse. Disgusted by his crimes, the soldier was reluctant to get rid of Sony, who, as scene followed scene, reminded him of his own son. The play ended after the soldier asked the child to give him one good reason why he should not suffer the same fate as his parents. Sony remained silent. Other scenes, where the two enemy camps were shown to be interchangeable,made clear the play was denouncing the absurdity of war.
    Mikaël had divided the class into three groups: the father, mother, and child; the enemy soldier; the chorus of enemy soldiers. They were making good progress. The students were conscientious and focused. There was no question yet of playing out the whole range of emotions, it was still too early in the rehearsal process. They had to learn to position their bodies in space, direct their gaze, control their movements, and deliver their dialogue, unrushed but with cadence. Mikaël sensed some difficulties with the rape scene, but it unfolded without too much tension. However, an almost religious feeling took