A
fat teaching assistant has caught a freshman cheating on his exam and
she stands now in the hallway displaying the evidence, telling the
story to her colleagues: "I could tell by the way he looked. I
could tell by his hands." With each detail the story expands,
rooms are added, hallways, chandeliers, flights of stairs, and she
sinks exhausted against a railing. More listeners arrive and she
begins again. She seems thinner now, lighter. She rises,
turns. She seems almost to be dancing. She clutches the
paper of the wretched student. He holds her firmly, gently as
they turn and turn across the marble floor. The lords and ladies
fall back to watch as they move toward the balcony and the summer
night. Below in the courtyard soldiers assemble, their brass and
steel shining in the moonlight.
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