Rio Grande, near Questa (New Mexico)
Scene 5: The Sect
How Hektor Maille completely purified himself and dreamt of founding a unique sect, the Hatters or ‹Chapelers› that would function according to God's design and don a distinctive hat that would look like a chapel in which the members would keep their idolatry out (of sight).
One Day in the Life of Odette Sissay
11.45: Port-Louis, Rue Thasard, Boucherie «Seugrem»
Oskar Seugrem would have been willing to swear before every judge in the world that he would do everything within his means to get a glimpse of Odette's swallow: the natural movement of her throat, the exertion that seemed to stretch every blood vessel under her skin only to subsequently subside without visible alteration into a condition of total relaxation. The butcher could compare the act of Odette swallowing only with images of a chameleon that uses its tongue in one fluid gesture to capture, munch and digest its prey – an utterly uninhibited way of dealing with meat, an unscrupulous, direct relationship with blood.