The Lesson

The Third Visit, 2

— I have a question, the boy said.

— What is it?

— How did Ezra become so strong?

— It was a part of him, of his habits, his style. He had enough will to force himself to do what he wanted to do. He arranged his life in such a way that all his activities supported his great hope, of being the champion. Even I, even my chess playing became arranged so that I would play in the way that would best serve the development of his skill. He wasn’t very nice, and he wasn’t very likeable. Not many people liked him. But being liked wasn’t what he wanted. Later, of course, he was very beloved, but that’s different from being liked. The main thing was, he beat them all, every last one.

— Do you think I could do the same?

The cloth of the boy’s sweater had pilled. Loring pulled at it and set the fragment on the table.

— What do you mean?

— Well, perhaps if I learned about him, it would help me to be like him, to become a master.

— I can tell you many things about him, and show you, she said.

And she thought, If you are listening, please go and sit in the chair on the other side of the room.

A moment passed. Another. The glass of the windows looked suddenly very thin to Loring and she wondered how it could be that none of the panes had ever broken, not in all the years the house had stood.

The boy went and sat in the chair. He was holding something in his hand.

— What’s that? asked Loring.

— It’s an apple, he said.

She pried open his hand. It was the core of an apple.

— That’s not an apple, she said. It was an apple.

— It is an apple to me, said Stan.

— I am going to cut this bread, she said. Would you like some?

They went then into the kitchen, and something stops us from following.