Chapter 4: Table Fourteen

Ulla had seated me at Table Fourteen, which was a folding card table beside the dish pit, and she had made me a tent card.

It said LAITINEN (REJECTED).

She had used the lodge laminator.

I found this out on Thursday morning, in the Long Hall, rehearsing my entrance.

The seating chart was pinned beside the door in four colors of pen.

It had two versions of the hall.

One was labeled BEFORE ITEM 14.

In it I sat at Table One at the Alpha's right hand, with a small crown drawn next to my name.

The other was labeled AFTER ITEM 14.

"She's thorough," Petra said, reading over my shoulder.

"She's found a card table with a short leg. She's written down the wobble."

"Where do you want to start?"

"With the door," I said. "Nils, you open it on your hand. I walk in behind you."

The Long Hall door stuck in June, because the wood swelled.

Nils took the handle and pushed.

Nothing happened.

He pushed again, with his shoulder, and the door gave all at once, and he went through it sideways into a coat rack.

"Rehearsal," he said, to nobody, and straightened his collar.

I walked in behind him.

The Walk is sixty-two steps down the center aisle to the Alpha's table.

I had counted it at nine years old, and every time since.

I had twelve judges for run one.

They were the lodge school's children, in a row of folding chairs, each with a scorecard that went from one to ten.

They had been promised pie.

I did the Walk in my work boots.

On step three I stepped over the board, which had been loose since before I was born.

The children held up their cards.

Most of the scores were fours and fives.

One child held up a two.

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