Latest / The Scorpion by Anna Elisabet Weirauch. / 02 - The Scorpion.

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02 - The Scorpion. · The Scorpion by Anna Elisabet Weirauch.

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  Speaker 1: Myra was sent to school. But since they had deprived
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  Speaker 1: her of her young lady, she avenged herself by refusing
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  Speaker 1: to learn anything. It was more than a year before
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  Speaker 1: her defiance gradually wore down. Then it was too late
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  Speaker 1: to make up what she had lost. Nor did she
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  Speaker 1: want to. She did not make the slightest effort to
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  Speaker 1: catch up. But neither was it any longer worthwhile to resist.
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  Speaker 1: She did what was demanded of her because it was
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  Speaker 1: less troublesome to learn the bare rudiments than to be
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  Speaker 1: always listening to long scoldings and admonitory harangues. She grew
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  Speaker 1: incredibly fast at this period and was always tired. When
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  Speaker 1: she finished school, she stayed at home for a few
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  Speaker 1: years and bored herself. She took the usual piano lessons
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  Speaker 1: and practiced the prescribed number of hours. But she had
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  Speaker 1: no inborn musical talent, though she did have an exaggerated sensitiveness,
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  Speaker 1: so that she suffered from the shortcomings of her own playing,
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  Speaker 1: without the ability or even the determination to make up
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  Speaker 1: her deficiencies. During these years her moods alternated like sun
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  Speaker 1: and showers in April. She longed to be dead or
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  Speaker 1: to come of age, to be alive in another century,
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  Speaker 1: or some other part of the earth, to be a
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  Speaker 1: nun or so beautiful as to ravish the entire world.
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  Speaker 1: These were years barren of incident, so barren that Myra
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  Speaker 1: seldom recalled them, And if the conversation turned on anything
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  Speaker 1: that had happened during these years, a journey, a birth
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  Speaker 1: or a death among their acquaintances or some public occurrence,
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  Speaker 1: she always had to think for a long time when
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  Speaker 1: it could have happened and how old she had been.
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  Speaker 1: On the other hand, she possessed an amazing memory for
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  Speaker 1: the period when people and things began to glide swiftly
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  Speaker 1: past her because she connected them with those days that
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  Speaker 1: stood like memorials in her mind, before or after Olga's death,
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  Speaker 1: when she was together with Olga or separated from her.
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  Speaker 1: the moment when her life really began, with hundreds of
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  Speaker 1: roaring voices, with a full singing, swinging motif that was
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  Speaker 1: never again to be mute, but would sound now in
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  Speaker 1: the major, now in the minor, now from all the
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  Speaker 1: violins and celli, now from a single complaining oboe in
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  Speaker 1: a thousand intricacies, a thousand nuances until the closing chord,
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  Speaker 1: that moment was when Olga Rado opened the door at
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  Speaker 1: Consul Mobius and walked into the room. There was nothing
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  Speaker 1: to be said, on the whole, against the Mobiuses. It
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  Speaker 1: was an acquaintance that Aunt Emily herself had cultivated. There
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  Speaker 1: were two daughters, Fanny and Emmy, both younger than Myra,
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  Speaker 1: both reddish-blondes, very precise about their clothes and hair, and
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  Speaker 1: both so marvelously insignificant that after watching them for weeks,
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  Speaker 1: it was impossible to tell whether they really were pretty
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  Speaker 1: or homely. The degree of their relationship with Olga Rado
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  Speaker 1: is no longer possible to ascertain. When she first appeared
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  Speaker 1: and everybody was raving about her, it was always, Our cousin.
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  Speaker 1: Later every recollection of that relationship was completely effaced from
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  Speaker 1: the Mobius mind. Olga herself had never made much use
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  Speaker 1: of this relationship with Consul Mobius, in good days or
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  Speaker 1: in bad. She would never have visited the house had
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  Speaker 1: she not been begged three separate times. Myra, the Mobius
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  Speaker 1: girls and Erica Hanneman formed a little circle. They met
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  Speaker 1: once a week and did needlework or read French plays
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  Speaker 1: taking different parts. It bored Myra to tears. She never
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  Speaker 1: listened when the others read and always managed to miss
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  Speaker 1: her cue. One such Wednesday afternoon in April, the four
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  Speaker 1: girls were again sitting on their white lacquered chairs in
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  Speaker 1: the elegant young lady's room when the door opened and
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  Speaker 1: Olga Rado entered. She must accidentally have left another door
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  Speaker 1: open behind, too, for with Olga a breath of air
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  Speaker 1: as fresh as a puff of wind swept through the room.
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  Speaker 1: The window, which was ajar, flew open. The white mull
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  Speaker 1: curtains blew out and fluttered, the pages of the books rustled,
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  Speaker 1: the flies buzzed up around the light, while some hand
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  Speaker 1: in the sky tore a tatter of cloud from the
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  Speaker 1: face of the sun. A dazzling brightness and a cool
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  Speaker 1: breeze filled the room to its darkest corner. Then the
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  Speaker 1: door closed with a loud bang, the window creaked too,
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  Speaker 1: the curtains fell back into the room like sacks, and
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  Speaker 1: a new cloud blotted out the sun. But none of
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  Speaker 1: these things did Myra Rudloff perceive. for she could do
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  Speaker 1: nothing but gaze at Olga Rado, could not take her
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  Speaker 1: eyes or her mind from her. Not for a long,
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  Speaker 1: long time. Olga was very tall and very slender. Her
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  Speaker 1: face was beautiful and boldly chiseled. Her smooth, rich, dark
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  Speaker 1: hair exposed much of her high and admirably mottled forehead.
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  Speaker 1: Her thin black brows drew together at the top of
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  Speaker 1: her nose, which gave her sharp, metallic gray eyes an
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  Speaker 1: almost threatening expression. Her speech was crisp and hard. but
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  Speaker 1: her voice had a deep, soft, cello quality. It made
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  Speaker 1: a striking contrast. There was something in her manner of
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  Speaker 1: dressing which pleased Myra without her being able to define it.
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  Speaker 1: One could not dispose of it with a word like
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  Speaker 1: tasteful or elegant or smart. Myra felt dimly. That is
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  Speaker 1: how I should like to dress. Myra felt her throat
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  Speaker 1: go dry and her heart throb wildly when her turn
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  Speaker 1: came to read. She had never been so nervous in
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  Speaker 1: school no matter how unprepared she had come. Every word
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  Speaker 1: seemed a snare to her. She would mispronounce everything and
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  Speaker 1: make a fool of herself irrevocably. It was really a
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  Speaker 1: crime to know so little French. She would go to
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  Speaker 1: her father tomorrow and ask him to let her take
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  Speaker 1: French lessons. He would be overjoyed to have her come
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  Speaker 1: to him with such a request. She was relieved when
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  Speaker 1: she had stammered her few lines. Then came Erica's turn.
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  Speaker 1: and then Fanny again, with all the pathos at her command.
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  Speaker 1: When they were all standing again, putting on their hats
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  Speaker 1: in front of the mirror, Myra noticed with an inexplicable
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  Speaker 1: joy that she was almost as tall as Olga Rado,
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  Speaker 1: much taller than the three fair, plump missus. In a
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  Speaker 1: trio they descended the stairs and walked part of the
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  Speaker 1: way together. Erica Hanneman did most of the talking. From
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  Speaker 1: time to time Olga Rado said, Isn't it? No. Indeed, oh. No?
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  Speaker 1: Myra was silent. At last Erica Hanneman said goodbye and
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  Speaker 1: turned to the left. Olga and Myra walked briskly side
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  Speaker 1: by side in silence for a while. Myra should long
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  Speaker 1: ago have turned off if she wanted to take the
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  Speaker 1: shortest way home. She observed with some concern that she
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  Speaker 1: kept right on going, but she was much too happy
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  Speaker 1: to stop now that Erica Hanneman had finally left them.
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  Speaker 1: The air seemed to have become purer and one could
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  Speaker 1: stride along more freely. It was a joy to keep
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  Speaker 1: up with this lovely, regular pace, and she comforted herself
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  Speaker 1: with the thought that nobody knew where she lived anyhow,
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  Speaker 1: and that she had just as much right on the
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  Speaker 1: street as anybody else. Myra glanced at every house with
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  Speaker 1: a certain anxiety. Was it at this one or the
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  Speaker 1: next that Olga Rado would stop with a hasty goodbye,
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  Speaker 1: and the heavy door close behind her, leaving the street
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  Speaker 1: barren and lonely? But at last they had reached a
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  Speaker 1: house in front of which Olga Rado suddenly halted. My home,
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  Speaker 1: she said. If you can call a boarding house home.
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  Speaker 1: But after all, what can you call home? Are you
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  Speaker 1: familiar with the pension flesh? I don't know any boarding houses.
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  Speaker 1: Lucky girl. You live with your parents. With my father. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: the house is quite nice. I have lived in worse.
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  Speaker 1: Drop in once in a while and have a look
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  Speaker 1: at my cubbyhole. I'd love to. That love to was
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  Speaker 1: no mere manner of speaking. For the next few days
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  Speaker 1: and nights Myra pondered how she should contrive to accept
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  Speaker 1: this invitation and visit Olga Rado. Once she actually started out.
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  Speaker 1: Then she returned because she thought it better to announce
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  Speaker 1: her call by telephone. But then again, it did not
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  Speaker 1: seem proper to disturb Olga by a telephone call. She
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  Speaker 1: would rather write. But that gave the matter such importance
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  Speaker 1: and formality, deprived it of all its chance, its accidental character.
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  Speaker 1: and then if she received a polite refusal, all possibility
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  Speaker 1: would be gone of making a further attempt. But if
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  Speaker 1: she simply went up and did not find Olga at home,
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  Speaker 1: she could leave her card with a few words, and
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  Speaker 1: wait for a reply. She went, went as far as
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  Speaker 1: the house, but again she did not go in. She
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  Speaker 1: walked up and down the street and stood for a
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  Speaker 1: long time, lost in thought, in front of a few
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  Speaker 1: utterly uninviting shop windows. It might well happen that Olga
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  Speaker 1: Rada would leave the house at this time, or better yet,
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  Speaker 1: might be returning home and would ask Myra to come
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  Speaker 1: in with her. In addition, Myra cultivated her relations with
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  Speaker 1: the Mobius girls with a touching zeal. She invited them
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  Speaker 1: to her house as often as Aunt Emily permitted, she
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  Speaker 1: went to see them as often as she was asked,
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  Speaker 1: and she found occasion to phone them a hundred times
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  Speaker 1: in order to make various arrangements. She borrowed books that
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  Speaker 1: had to be fetched and returned. and withal made such
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  Speaker 1: lavish efforts to be amiable that the consul's wife was
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  Speaker 1: quite charmed with her, and was never weary of impressing
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  Speaker 1: on Aunt Emily how much Myra was changing for the better,
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  Speaker 1: to which Aunt Emily commonly replied by a silent, all
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  Speaker 1: but offended shrug of her shoulders. This went on for weeks,
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  Speaker 1: but Myra did not lose patience. It was enough for
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  Speaker 1: her to hear from time to time a remark let fall,
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  Speaker 1: as Olga always says or Olga likes that so much.
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  Speaker 1: It was enough, in fact almost too much, to hear
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  Speaker 1: Fanny say, Olga was up for a moment last night,
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  Speaker 1: I thought she looked very bad. Or to have Emmy,
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  Speaker 1: who at this time was conceiving something like a mild
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  Speaker 1: passion for Myra observe, Myra has such remarkably beautiful hands,
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  Speaker 1: almost as beautiful as Olga's. Ah, it was even enough
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  Speaker 1: to hold the little black dog on her lap and
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  Speaker 1: laugh and call it Safanizba, a pet name Olga had
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  Speaker 1: given it. All this afforded hope and suspense for days.
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  Speaker 1: It was at this time that Myra began to find
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  Speaker 1: life beautiful again. She did not know why.