A Tale for Tomorrow

Yet two of them hesitated at the door, retraced their steps and placed their bags right atop their beds so they could find them again. (All the bags had in fact diverse aspects, to which they were each familiar.) A woman with an ivory tone of skin and a long heavy tress of silver hair then began to search her own bag and laid next to her a big flat transparent box containing big colour pencils; observing her, two of the teenagers, a squat boy and a girl with jet-black hair, pulled out of their own bags, he a ball of string and she a bundle of light grey cards and all three looked at one another almost laughing: one could each write one‟s name on a card and tie it to the bed frame. Several of the others came closer and sat together on the floor to pierce the cards and thread them with string and, when twenty-nine of them were ready, they tied them up carefully at the foot of each bed; it was agreed then that they would wait for the others to return with the supper. It was not long before one could hear their steps and animated voices and one of the doors opened and two boys appeared in its embrasure, in a diagonal, each holding a handle of the pot with a protective cloth, soon followed by two young girls and the evening cook carrying piles of bowls and trays of plates and spoons, which they laid onto the floor, between the central lamp and the beds. A man with brown hair, seamed features, strong and well-poised, pointed at the cards now well visible and invited everyone to select a colour pencil and each write their name, before they all took

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