46
PARTISAN REVIEW
flowing through the barbed wire is shut off; the watchdogs are tied
fast with chains; the sentries in their sentry boxes, hidden from
sight, do not poke the muzzles of their submachine guns out and fire .
It
is said that on each Day of Grace a number of citizens do run
across the burnt-out section of earth before The Wall (in some parts
of the city it is no more than thirty feet wide, in others it is at least
one hundred feet wide and represents, as one can well imagine , a
formidable expanse!) - a number of citizens do run to The Wall and
scale it and disappear on the other side. And are not stopped, not
even scolded. So it is said .
And what becomes of them, on the other side? No one knows .
Of course we are only human, and rumors fly from house to
house, wild improbable tales are told and repeated and embellished,
no one knows what to believe.
It
may be claimed that a Day of Grace
has been announced for a certain area - a privileged area - and not
for another; or that the Day will begin on the first stroke of noon
instead of on the last, or on the first stroke of midnight instead of on
the last ; or that there will be no restrictions at all regarding age,
financial status, etc. As one might well imagine, such cruel rumors
result in butchery: the unstable rush forward too soon, or too late, or
on the wrong day entirely, and before the horrified eyes of hundreds
of witnesses (for there are always witnesses along The Wall) are shot
down, or blown quite literally to bits by landmines, or savagely
mauled by dogs. For we are, despite our history, a hopeful people.
Nevertheless each Day of Grace is eagerly awaited. Speculation
on the exact date is widespread; we are all acquainted with certain
obsessed and rather pathetic individuals who can speak of nothing
else (though - of course! - these are the very individuals who would
never dream of trying to scale The Wall). Even those who have
never in their lifetimes witnessed a single successful escape (for
sometimes the slang expression "escape" is used openly) - people
who have been passive onlookers, for decades, at many a spectacular
and heartrending slaughter-continue to have faith. One would
think that their number might gradually dwindle, but the contrary
happens to be true. For we are, as our historians have noted , a
hopeful people.
The Wall appears to be about twenty-five feet high, though some
theoreticians claim that it is considerably higher, while others believe
that it may be lower. Measurements are imprecise since they must be
made-if at all-at a distance from The Wall , and under
