(SF novel) East of Nakba (123)

 

(Japanese Version)

 

Part II. Ethnic cleanser (18)

 

Chapter 41 At the party in Embassy (2) Air Force pilot’s tales of heroism (2/3)

 

 When Shy-Rock was a poor talker, he could not make participants fun. But as he repeated the same story many times, his speech gradually became sophisticated. Sometime he was able to afford to put in an episode which made listeners cheerful. It was like his father who told him the same tales of valor over and over as a soldier of War of Independence.

 

There was one difference between Shy-Rock and his father. When his father told him, there was only one listener, Shy-Rock. But now there were a large number of audiences around Shy-Rock. Some of them might have already heard him. Such people quietly left the party circle when Shy-Rock began to tell the same story. It was a part of the etiquette at a party not to say something like, "Are you talking about the same story as before?" Guests who had never heard his story formed a circle around him and listened enthusiastically what he was going to say.

 

(Continued)

 

 

Areha Kazuya

(From an ordinary citizen in the cloud)