Free Aminadab 0803213131 by Unknown Page B

direction. But despite this uncom fortable position, he did not feel the burdensome attachments; he felt only the taut movement that allowed him to advance as if he were free from all constraints. The prisoner finally followed him. He heard the bed creak ing under the tremendous weight and had the impression that the springs were snapping and standing on end with a loud crashing sound. For a few seconds it made a deafening noise. The mattress was vigorously protest ing. This horrible racket was a far cry from the silent repose Thomas had found in the bed. "What are you up to now?" he shouted. He turned around immediately and saw the damage. Almost all of the springs had cut through the stuffing, as if suddenly the mattress were one that had been worn out by long use and ready to cave in at the first touch. The iron hoops shone in the light. Certain pieces of steel, brilliant and polished, had passed through the sheets like knives, others followed the outline of the mattress cover and were still hidden in the stuffing. Thomas looked with consternation at the remains of this ingenious machinery that, for him, had provided such a good rest. He noticed in the gaping hole of the bed an apparatus with pieces that seemed to spin endlessly over and 29
    through one another. Without disturbing the silence - indeed, it seemed that the silence was all the greater - a movement began to shake the entire bed in a rhythm that at first seemed gentle and soothing but that eventu ally became insatiable. Thomas felt the vibrations and experienced a sort of nausea that obliged him to rock back and forth from right to left in a rapid motion. The prisoner had turned to look in his direction. The unfor tunate man must have been suffering terribly; the springs had pierced his sides, and he was lying atop knife blades and razors. "But I really don't wish you any harm," Thomas said to him, but at the same time, with his finger pointed to the skylight, he made a sign to him to rise. This skylight was easier to reach than he had thought. He held out his hand to the captive, and with his fingers entwined in these other enormous fingers, he helped him to stand up. He was astonished at his size. How big he was! One would have thought there were two men combined into one, so massive was his body. He moved toward the wall, and while only a small portion of the light from the window reached Thomas, this large man was easily able to look through the mica. What did he see? There was no way to ask him. The light was pleasant, but it wasn't the light of day, as one might have thought; it was the gleam of a gently burning fire that seemed to reach this point only accidentally. The window itself was there only by chance. It had been placed there out of a builder's whim or else according to a design that had since been abandoned. Viewed from up close, it ap peared even smaller than it had from farther away. It was possible to look through it only when one's eyes managed to catch the right angle through the slot. Thomas pulled himself up onto the shoulders of his companion. Blood had flowed from his wounds, but now it had dried. Now they were so tightly bound that they formed a single being, and Thomas had the impression that they could never again be separated. Through the skylight he could clearly see part of another room; its walls were covered with a glossy white paint, and the paving stones on the floor were white as well. The room was situated well below where Thomas was. It was buried deeply underneath the house, so deeply that all the other floors seemed to have been built in order to press it even farther down. It was not a cellar. On the contrary, it had been magnificently accommodated, as if it were meant to shine forth in broad daylight. Thomas immediately rec ognized the kitchens. A great fire burned in the hearth. On the wall were 30
    hung pots and pans, which did not seem to be in very good condition and at which a rather aged and sickly man stared