The Wall (64 page)

When the dying folk heard the last word, they felt energized, for it was a powerful speech, and it meant more to them at this hour than the voice of their blasphemed Lord. Their most courageous speaker replied:

“That’s the way it has to be, which is why we are here. We will take your advice. Give us a little time and we will make mannequins that will look just like us, though they won’t know what is good or evil. They’ll be life-size and look entirely natural, not made of earth, as if resting in fields and caverns but instead made of an artificial material that is used for the kinds of mannequins one sees in the display windows of clothing stores, except much finer and more expressive, so deceptively the same that the only thing preventing them from being living souls is the lack of any breath. You’ll be startled by how alive our people can appear, even when they are extinct. Then you can experience again the fear of us that has so possessed you. Cold terror will grip your spine and run deliciously throughout your very core and bones. But spare yourself any fear, for even stronger within you is the feeling of unconquerable power, for you are protected and saved; the mannequins, with their painted faces and hands and glued on hair, will perhaps not be innocent, yet innocuous and harmless. You can take comfort from them, as the mannequins are dead and will not persecute you, for a blow can break them. They will be alive only in your past fears, otherwise not at all.”

The speaker had arranged it such that his speech ended with the very same words with which the conqueror ended his. The recommendation about the mannequins was approved, followed by a lengthy discussion of how the figures should be presented and dressed. Wax was decided against, as it was hard to handle and too expensive, nor did earth, stone, or cast stone recommend themselves, as they were too stiff. Something simpler was needed, and indeed the dying were inventive: a frame made of poles and staves covered with rags, flax, and coarse fabric to make up the raw forms, and over that a layer of plaster, on top of which there would be a pliant paste made of wood fibers and a binding material that would allow one to finely work the surface before they were set in their final form.

It was supposed to consist of a family: a grandfather, a father, and a mother, a daughter and a son. First, little mannequins were commissioned. Quickly, cute little dolls were made that were played with, smiled at, fitted out with flapping limbs, with characteristic alterations made such that they more closely resembled the distorted image of this ancient people as they were made in larger sizes. Then a wave of activity was set in motion; sculptors, painters, decorators, many hand workers and other skilled people worked with a minimum of rest in a hastily assembled workshop. They were driven and encouraged, even receiving more to eat, but they always had to be prepared to be interrupted by high-placed visitors, to demonstrate their progress under careful inspection. Proud, the men stormed in without knocking, their hands placed pertly on their hips. Sometimes a hand would free itself from tight-fitting silk in order to underscore a desire or command with a pointing finger. Humorless rebukes could be heard, but also encouraging praise. Monitored continually in this manner, the work moved quickly toward the sought-after result. Each face was a masterpiece, the glass eyes piercing, the brows wrinkled in concern and the eyelashes individually applied with tweezers, heads and lush beards appointed with real hair that had been cut from the heads of the dying and collected, the expressions of the faces and their mien true to the way the extinct folk had expressed themselves. It all looked magnificent, especially the grandfather with his venerable long beard.

Then the clothing of the family of mannequins was made. Tailors did this who chattered a lot when their gags were taken off, but soon the conquerors
didn’t want to hear any more of their childish suggestions. Garments from the somber times of extinction were distasteful to the conquerors, for that was no longer the time of this people, so instead the costumes of a hundred years before were requested, the fine clothes of the Biedermeier period, the good old days of this people, in which they flourished rather than were destroyed. And so it was done. Everything was prepared in accordance with old pictures, then heads nodded approval, the fabric rustled, the scissors cutting brightly through, the needles flying, the sewing machines singing; soon the most beautiful tailoring possible was done.

Yet how were the mannequins to eke out a living? They were not up to the long workday, so it would be better to present them on a holiday. Not a holiday of penance and sorrow, however, but one about freedom and joy. They should think of their forefathers, who were once slaves of the king in that land. But the eternal one, their Lord, led them from there with a strong hand and outstretched arms. If the eternal one had not led them, whose name must be praised, had not led the forefathers from that land, then their children and their children’s children would have remained in servitude in that land forever. He had parted the sea for them, and they safely passed through it. Then the eternal one had required them to memorialize the story of the exodus as Passover and to tell of it, while those who told of it were praiseworthy. It must not be forgotten; if the people indeed were extinct, then the mannequins had to commemorate it, and not on just one day but every day, year after year, so that the liberation of the extinct folk would be commemorated for all time. Thus it was right, for the commemoration was not necessary only for the days of Passover but on all days. Also included were the nights of those days. Yet what was named was not only “all days” but “all the days of life,” for the “days of your life” referred only to the length of their temporal lives, whereas “all the days of life” meant the time of consummation, when the Messiah would appear. Therefore it was right that this people no longer existed, but instead the mannequins awaited His coming.

Once the garments were finished, and shoes and buttons were prepared, the mannequins were wonderfully fitted out, mothers and daughters decorated with jewelry made of artificial gold and silver and appointed with artificial gems, necklaces and brooches, bracelets and rings, and everything that
a rich family should have while celebrating the High Holy Days, while the men wore silk shawls and yarmulkes made of velvet. An initial display of the family in the workshop charmed the conquerors, as they felt no shyness in touching the faces and gently fiddled with the garments. An apartment was then set up in the hermitage, where the mannequins were given a dignified setting. On the street side, the hermitage had three spacious alcoves with windows beneath the women’s balcony, which had already been divided into display chambers, one a kitchen and the other a room decorated for the High Holidays. These served to provide all the needs of home for the family of mannequins, the conquerors giving the command, there being no need to speak with the housing office. The move from the workshop was followed in haste. So that the High Holy Room display was not damaged, the mannequins’ clothing was removed. The finely made things were sprinkled with white moth powder and placed in suitcases as the mannequins were laid in chests full of soft cotton and carried to the hermitage. Everything was placed in a corner, with cloth sheets draping over it, the mannequins initially assured of their rest.

What was necessary for the kitchen of a religious household was brought in, everything precise and exact according to ancient law. The living room was painted with soft pastel colors. Precious old shrines, chests, and commodes displayed the wealth of the mannequins; a Persian rug was rolled out, a sofa with a sweeping, stately back and silk covering invited one to sit, the wide circular table encircled by five comfortable chairs. A sideboard next to the window was covered with heavy old folios. A forged bronze lamp hung discreetly above the table, and four silver candleholders were attached to the walls, where some pictures were also hung in order to display the forefathers of the mannequins in quiet gravity, followed by a religious saying embroidered in silk and framed, and a delicately cut mirror. Homey doilies were spread out on top of the chests, as well as precious and useful items carefully set out, such as bowls, pitchers, cups, vases, plates made of tin or hammered silver, dull stoneware and bright-flowered porcelain, a sewing box made of rosewood, a heavy box decorated with ivory letters, another mirror that could move in a frame and be attached to a wash table, a soft pillow with gold-brocaded fringes and borders laid out on the sofa. The only thing that was denied this devout collection was a clock, for
it was meant to continue forever; therefore, it needed no time and no means to indicate the time.

Otherwise, the mannequins lacked nothing. There was no reason to think that their live spitting images were expelled from the commemorative table of the Passover celebration and led to their death and extinction. Protected and enclosed, the mannequins had only to just be. In order that they not worry when there was no one living to spend time with them, nor any visitor to share their celebration, they were mercifully provided with lush plants in cobalt-blue majolica pots on forget-me-not blue bases. They were placed before the window in the middle, where the softly gathered curtains let the daylight stream through the delicately cut panes. Then the table was set for the model family, the cloth a brilliant white, two tasteful candleholders with ivory-colored candles (these having been burned a bit, so that the wicks were black), a splendid jug with its sides bulging and a crown cover for the holiday wine that had yet to be poured out. As good as it all looked, neither could the mannequins, who were given five cups, be relied on to pour out four servings of drink, nor did anyone believe the prophet would appear, whose goblet was also placed on the table. However, they did make sure that the mannequins had a meal that was set out on a tray, three flat loaves of unleavened bread made of white cardboard, with brown flecks that looked amazingly real, the other food made up just as artfully, be it the boiled eggs, the lamb shanks, the bitter and green herbs, or the two little bowls next to them, in which to dip one’s fingers like someone arriving out of the desert thirsty for water.

Once the room and the table were fitted out after continual fussing here and there, the mannequins were carried in carefully, in order to make sure not to harm them, which the curators managed not to do, the move going as planned. As fast as caution would allow, they were dressed and attended to. The grandfather was set up first and a pair of glasses put upon his nose, since they worried that his eyes looked tired. He didn’t say anything, but it was remarked how the glasses made him look all the more dignified. Next, the parents and the children were just as carefully placed on their chairs. Before the conquerors arrived to inspect the completed work, five precious little books were brought in that contained the story of the exodus, just as would be read aloud during the evenings of the Passover celebration.
They were different editions, but each was opened to the page that read, “Thereby we are gathered to give thanks, to laud, to praise, to extol, to exalt, to glorify, to bless, to give respect and to worship to He who gave us our ancestors and all of these wonders.”

Jagged medals glistened on the doublets of the conquerors who showed up to greet the dead group encircling the table, three sagging men with bent knees. Reserved faces examined things closely, yet excitedly, but the conquerors could not hide their delight for long, for they were so moved, praising the installation as informative and useful. One of them, who was moved to speak first, carefully touched the grandfather’s velvet yarmulke as he began to speak.

“Unbelievably lifelike! We will live and die, but our children will live. Then they will come and look and know. With gratitude the future will recognize our achievement. They were something! But we need more of them. You are gifted and clever. Get together and create a big group of elderly standing before the ark!”

The speaker for the extinct was shocked. He was not a religious man, but he trembled before this assignment and also didn’t know what the purpose of the mannequins really was. He wanted to raise a concern and opened his mouth to do so. But the men were not at all willing to allow any objections. Then his courage died before such sharp threats, there being nothing else to do but fulfill the new order down to its last particulars. What was asked for was the face of a wise old man, or, at least, what the extinct folk thought looked like a wise old man wrapped in a long prayer shawl with his face turned toward the ark, his long arms raised up high, in his hands two wooden spools with the holy scroll upon them. The extinct listened with softly bowed heads and nodded in understanding. They were ready for anything. No matter what. And their fear of the conquerors was greater than their fear of the Lord. Thus this sacrilege was completed, going off without a hitch. A huge group of the elderly were created, their hands embracing the handles of the scroll and unable to lower the sacred text, which would be praised on high for all eternity.

The conquerors filed in again, their jackboots marching quickly and heavily across the floor before they saw what overwhelming strength had been granted the mannequins, for their arms would never lower again. They
stared on, for no living person had ever held the sacred scroll high without faltering. Then the men erupted in resounding applause. They slithered up to the mannequins that rose up high above them. The conquerors, however, disapproved of the open installation, for it needed to be closed off, so before the shrine a sumptuous curtain was hung, an ancient cloth augustly embroidered with strong threads of gold and many other colors, depicting two powerful columns standing to the left and to the right, covered with grape leaves and grapes, while between the columns the areas were filled in with flowers, and above in the middle a large shining eight-sided rosette, above which was an ornate inscription in an intricate framework, to the side of which two lambent lions stood on their hind legs, double-tailed, on their heads a small lit crown, the lions holding in their paws a powerful crown glittering with jewels. This, the conquerors decided, was what was fitting.