The Lesson

Interpolation

Then, in the room, a deep quiet as of distance. One could shout, for instance, at the edge of a vast park, and not be heard within. In this way was the tiny room sealed within itself. On the bed, the boy lay and a slight rasping sound came as his hands moved against the bedspread. Everything in the room had been there so long that the weight of each object had settled and things were as though joined. Lying there, the boy’s weight began also to settle. Although the window was open, no sound of any kind reached the bed. It was as though horse messengers were continually setting out across the steppes where in the folds of such indescribable cloth, they would lose their way and perish.