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Authors: Lavie Tidhar
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wind, none can see him, but he can see them. He breaks into a bank, opens the safe, guards rush in but they can’t see him, he disarms them and takes off with the loot, he can be anything, do anything, he has special powers, he is special, special, Henry Fogg come down here this moment !
28. KINGSTON UPON THAMES 1932
Standing by the train tracks in his special hiding place, the train from London journeys towards him and the air ripples , a wave of something he can’t describe hits him and time slows, the world seems frozen, he can see each leaf on the trees, the movement of a worm under an upturned rock, small white blind thing burrowing into the earth, can smell each individual smell of fresh earth and rain and steam and oil and pupa, his hands raised as if he’s dancing, fog clings like fur to his arms, when it comes it is not at all what he expects, it is what he dreamed of but never believed and, now that it’s here, he is scared.
What makes a hero? the boy Fogg thinks. Time resumes, the train speeds past, deeper into Surrey, the people inside stare out of windows like eyes, did they feel it too, what has happened, what is happening? He raises his hand and the fog follows it like a dog, he lowers his hand and opens his palm and the fog spreads outwards, forms a shape in the air, seems to nod. Scared, Henry runs away. Runs for home. His feet leave muddy imprints on the bank. A trail for anyone to follow. The fog follows. He can’t escape. It follows him to the house, to the attic, it crouches besides him and at last, exhausted, he wraps it around himself like a sheet.
29. THE FARM, DEVON 1936
– To serve, the Old Man says. Nods to himself. Says, I leave you in most capable hands. I trust in you. Don’t let me down.
Walks towards the parked Rolls-Royce. His driver, Samuel, materialises by his side. Opens the door for him. The Old Man gets in the car. What has Samuel got? How can he appear like this, as though from nowhere? Never speaks. One of the changed, too, Fogg realises, with some surprise. Samuel gets into the driver’s seat and starts the engine. The imposing black car pulls out, follows the path to the gate. Fogg looks after it. They all do. Their last link to the world beyond the fences of the Farm, it passes through the gate, which closes, climbs up the hill, goes around the bend and is gone.
– Atten … tion! Sergeant Browning says.
They all turn back. Look at him, the sergeant examines their faces, one by one. His face is darkly tanned, it is lined, Fogg instinctively thinks: He is not one of them.
Neither is Turing, standing beside him. A kid, looks like he belongs in a lab, a library, anywhere but here on this Devon farm, facing Fogg and the other changed.
– We will make something of you yet, Browning says. Paces slowly, hands behind his back. Walks past them again. Says, Show me what you can do.
30. THE FARM, DEVON 1936
The dormitory building is long, divided into boys’ and girls’ quarters, and different rooms for the different classes. It is cold inside. From the outside it is a low white stone house, with ivy growing over the cracks. Inside there are bunkbeds and shower cubicles, a row of clean white sinks, a row of sturdy wardrobes. Fogg shares a room with Tank and Mr Blur and a couple of the others. We know. We see. Mrs Tinkle sticks her head through the open door. Cooey! she calls.
– Hello, Mrs Tinkle, Mr Blur says.
Mr Blur is an achondroplastic dwarf. He has the head of a regular adult, a small body with short arms and legs. He is rather muscular and the blue shirt sits tight over his chest. He is busy shaving.
– So what do you do, big guy? he says, turning to Tank. It’s easy to see what Tank does, though. He’s a giant, and has the curious action of a very large person who tries to make himself seem smaller, without success. Tanks says, This, and plucks a steel bar from the windowsill, as if it were a twig of dried hay. Tank bends the steel bar, knotting it
28. KINGSTON UPON THAMES 1932
Standing by the train tracks in his special hiding place, the train from London journeys towards him and the air ripples , a wave of something he can’t describe hits him and time slows, the world seems frozen, he can see each leaf on the trees, the movement of a worm under an upturned rock, small white blind thing burrowing into the earth, can smell each individual smell of fresh earth and rain and steam and oil and pupa, his hands raised as if he’s dancing, fog clings like fur to his arms, when it comes it is not at all what he expects, it is what he dreamed of but never believed and, now that it’s here, he is scared.
What makes a hero? the boy Fogg thinks. Time resumes, the train speeds past, deeper into Surrey, the people inside stare out of windows like eyes, did they feel it too, what has happened, what is happening? He raises his hand and the fog follows it like a dog, he lowers his hand and opens his palm and the fog spreads outwards, forms a shape in the air, seems to nod. Scared, Henry runs away. Runs for home. His feet leave muddy imprints on the bank. A trail for anyone to follow. The fog follows. He can’t escape. It follows him to the house, to the attic, it crouches besides him and at last, exhausted, he wraps it around himself like a sheet.
29. THE FARM, DEVON 1936
– To serve, the Old Man says. Nods to himself. Says, I leave you in most capable hands. I trust in you. Don’t let me down.
Walks towards the parked Rolls-Royce. His driver, Samuel, materialises by his side. Opens the door for him. The Old Man gets in the car. What has Samuel got? How can he appear like this, as though from nowhere? Never speaks. One of the changed, too, Fogg realises, with some surprise. Samuel gets into the driver’s seat and starts the engine. The imposing black car pulls out, follows the path to the gate. Fogg looks after it. They all do. Their last link to the world beyond the fences of the Farm, it passes through the gate, which closes, climbs up the hill, goes around the bend and is gone.
– Atten … tion! Sergeant Browning says.
They all turn back. Look at him, the sergeant examines their faces, one by one. His face is darkly tanned, it is lined, Fogg instinctively thinks: He is not one of them.
Neither is Turing, standing beside him. A kid, looks like he belongs in a lab, a library, anywhere but here on this Devon farm, facing Fogg and the other changed.
– We will make something of you yet, Browning says. Paces slowly, hands behind his back. Walks past them again. Says, Show me what you can do.
30. THE FARM, DEVON 1936
The dormitory building is long, divided into boys’ and girls’ quarters, and different rooms for the different classes. It is cold inside. From the outside it is a low white stone house, with ivy growing over the cracks. Inside there are bunkbeds and shower cubicles, a row of clean white sinks, a row of sturdy wardrobes. Fogg shares a room with Tank and Mr Blur and a couple of the others. We know. We see. Mrs Tinkle sticks her head through the open door. Cooey! she calls.
– Hello, Mrs Tinkle, Mr Blur says.
Mr Blur is an achondroplastic dwarf. He has the head of a regular adult, a small body with short arms and legs. He is rather muscular and the blue shirt sits tight over his chest. He is busy shaving.
– So what do you do, big guy? he says, turning to Tank. It’s easy to see what Tank does, though. He’s a giant, and has the curious action of a very large person who tries to make himself seem smaller, without success. Tanks says, This, and plucks a steel bar from the windowsill, as if it were a twig of dried hay. Tank bends the steel bar, knotting it
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