The Restoration Rival novel · Chapter 11 of 21

Chapter 11: First Round

I didn't sleep.

I lay in the bunk and listened to him breathe across the room and I didn't sleep.

At six I got up and got the bowl.

The chip was seated. The new break was closed. It wasn't clean, but it held.

The first round was in the auditorium at seven in the evening.

Six entries in the applied arts division.

I got there at five thirty and set up on the stage.

A long table, the bowl in its box, the lamp, the dish of adhesive, the clamps in a row.

The auditorium filled up.

By six forty it was three quarters full. Art students. Some econ students. Wen in the fourth row with her folder on her knees.

At ten to seven the front row filled.

Four people from the university. A woman from the city paper. Two men in suits from the donor board.

And Lu Ming.

He sat down in the middle of the front row and crossed his legs and put his hands on his knee.

At seven the lights went down over the audience and up over the stage.

The host read the rules.

Five minutes to set. Fifteen minutes to work. The judges score the method, not the result.

I stood behind my table.

Keep reading free with an account. Start The Restoration Rival from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.