Life in Liamelia continues during Inglorion’s absence. Valentine’s case moves forward, as it was bound to do. Aside from his own deposition and Inglorion’s, a handful of other witnesses have been called: The Gypsy he injured, of course, but also slaves and drivers who observed his behavior before and afterwards, and all the dreary but necessary […]
Inglorion folds the papers, tucks them back into the little black paperback. He notes that it’s Ernst Junger’s Storm of Steel. He’s been standing next to the bookshelf all this time. He sits down on the couch, sets the book down beside him. It humbles Inglorion to see his father’s burden of sin, and to know […]
Hands trembling, Inglorion unfolds the second slip of paper and reads: He looks forward to seeing her and finds their relations gratifying, though he knows that she loathes him, and that the sight and sound and smell of him sickens her. He relishes forcing himself on her, though he doesn’t find her attractive as a […]
As summer gives way to fall, Inglorion comes to think that his father left no record of his crime and its consequence. He might not have thought of it at all. Inglorion accepts that he won’t learn what he thought he wanted to know. It wouldn’t be the first time the gods answered a different […]
The cellar is lit by a single candle. It’s small — perhaps 10’ x 10’. Three of the four walls are lined with shelves stocked with canned food. There are sacks of potatoes and onions half-buried in one corner. Lavinia, Camilla and Claudius have burrowed down among the potatoes. Valerius is stretched out on the […]
8/31/17— We retreated to the hayloft again. The days are so very long. We were tired, and I think we felt that we deserved a small reward for all our hard work and diligence. He made no attempt to persuade me. We lay in each other’s arms in a dream-like state, as if we were […]
