THE TERRACE
689
"Yes."
"You believed it was madness. I thought that everything
about the exceptional man who can redeem the . llniverse was
madness, too, and nevertheless I realize that it is possible. Isn't
it?"
"Yes, of course."
"And I am the potential mother. Isn't that what you call
it?"
Arner gazed at the television antenna on the roof, in the
form of an S. It looked like Miss Slingsby's initial.
Again the orchestra was playing and several couples were
dancing. Near the entrance the sanatorium director and several
nurses were examining a small notebook.
"Dr. Smith must be talking about my lunar calendar," Ma–
tilda commented, smiling. "Maybe the black days are approach–
ing. Know something? Just before each crisis. I can feel my own
skeleton vibrating like the wires on telephone poles. Ha"en't you
heard those wires vibrating out in the country on windy days?"
No sooner had Matilda said this than she began imitating
the humming of the telephone lines. Then the humming
irI–
creased until it became a sad lowing. A great and sorrowful low–
ing.
An
immense,. desolate and muffled bellowing, like that of a
calving cow.
Two nurses came running with Dr. Smith to lead Matilda
away, but without violence, as if she were a delicate child. She
turned to glance back at the attorney who was also feeling-he
acknowledged later-his own bare skeleton, dry and vibrating. ·
On the terrace the dancing continued.
(Translated from the Spanish by Florence Sender)
