The Postman's Fiancée
Page 13
She heard the blare of a horn. Then there was a crash. The world spun, in slow motion, as in a film. Tania whirled around in space, then there was another crash, and the world became steady again, hard beneath her back. The sky flashed, pelted her eyes with rain. She attempted to move, but found she couldn’t. A figure slipped in front of the storm. It was Bilodo, horrified, bending over her, silently crying out things she didn’t hear. Tania didn’t hear anything at all. And yet she did, but she wasn’t really ‘hearing’, she was listening to her inner voice: ‘And what are you doing there, Tania Schumpf, lying in the street in that man’s place? Don’t you fear death?’ But no fear dwelled in Tania. She wasn’t afraid, for at last she understood – for now she knew that everything had proceeded with implacable logic, that it was the natural movement of a clockwork mechanism she herself had set in motion by saving Bilodo’s life when he was destined to perish. By doing so, she had broken the temporal loop in which he was imprisoned, unwittingly initiating the creation of a new loop that could be closed only by her own death. By doing so, she had taken upon herself the curse hanging over Bilodo: it was as simple and terrible as that, and also, in a certain way, as beautiful.
Bilodo took Tania in his arms and spoke mute words she could only guess at by trying to read his lips. How she regretted having to leave him already, after only a few months of happiness. She would have liked to live longer by his side and lavish on him more of the infinite tenderness she harboured in her heart. She would have wished to give him a child, a little Bilodo or a little Tania, who would have climbed the stairs of Vieux-Québec with them, counting the steps for fun, without ever being scared of wicked cable cars. None of that would happen. And yet, serenely did Tania accept her end, joyfully did she consent to that sacrifice, provided that Bilodo could be saved.
Would he know she had died for him? Would he remember their beautiful love for a long time? Might he come now and again and place a carnation on her grave?
Bilodo was weeping. Tania smiled.
‘Enso,’ she whispered as the last breath of life abandoned her.
Acknowledgements
I should like to express my gratitude to Hélène Cummings, Camille Thériault, Aldo Guechi, Jacques Lazure, Maria Vieira, Liedewij Hawke, Hella Reese, Saskia Bontjes van Beek, Richard Roy, Pascal Genêt, Hans-Reinhard and Maren Hörl, Louis Saint-Pierre, Kathy Note and Marc Hendrickx, who helped and supported me throughout the writing of this novel, as well as to Marie Lessard and Daniel Curio of the State of Bavaria Québec Office.
The writing of this novel was made possible thanks to a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts.
Also by Denis Thériault, the much-loved
international bestseller
THE PECULIAR LIFE OF A
LONELY POSTMAN
‘A beguiling story about love, loneliness
and the modern world’ Independent
Secretly steaming open envelopes and reading the letters inside, Bilodo has found an escape from his lonely life as a postman. When one day he comes across a mysterious letter containing a single haiku, he finds himself avidly caught up in the relationship between a long-distance couple who write to each other using only beautiful poetry. He feasts on their words, vicariously living a life for which he longs. But it will only be a matter of time before his world comes crashing down around him.
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A Oneworld Book
First published in North America, Great Britain and Australia by Oneworld Publications, 2017
This ebook published by Oneworld Publications, 2017
Originally published in French as La fiancée du facteur by
XYZ Publishing, 2016
Copyright © Denis Thériault, 2016
Translation copyright © John Cullen, 2017
Published by agreement with Allied Authors Agency, Belgium
Illustrations by Nomoco
The moral right of Denis Thériault to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988
All rights reserved
Copyright under Berne Convention
A CIP record for this title is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-78607-113-2
ISBN 978-1-78607-114-9 (eBook)
This is a work of fiction. While, as in all fiction, the literary perceptions and insights are based on experience, all names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
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