The Last Execution
Page 7
Now the final words of the letter come to him. The final verse:
One town’s many mouths, a chorus fair,
Whilst a head that still doth stare
Rolls to the ground
Without a sound.
It’s not just about that executed boy. She will understand that.
The poet sees it before him, as if he were sitting in the same room. He sees a figure reading a letter in a chair by the window. She looks out the window, hugging his words to her bosom.
The boy has felt, and not felt, the hand that has taken hold of his hair.
“Mississippi.”
The boy doesn’t know why, but he says it out loud. He tries to count them. He is not good at words, but he keeps trying, till he’s as sure, as sure can be: four. There are four s’s in that meandering river. But there are also four i’s. So there are just as many i’s as there are s’s; just as many men without heads, he thinks, and dives into the water. That’s how it feels when the hand pushes his head down onto the block: like diving headfirst into water.
Now the executioner is swinging his ax, and the boy is executed on Gallows Hill; the movement is quick and resolute, the head is already severed from its body, but still it feels like the age of a mountain; the boy has taken note of all the people, not that he consciously wished to block them out—he makes a note of everything and everyone—but he fixes irrationally long on certain things: A mother, who has discovered a louse in her son’s hair, how she rakes through it, finds the louse, tries to squash it to death between her fingers; he hears shouting, many voices yelling, but one voice in particular stands out—it is loud and clear, a young man calling, “Simon! Simon! Simon!”; he can smell a particular tobacco that reminds him of that time when he found a cigarette case on the road, picked it up, and put it back where he’d found it—only to turn and see it taken by another; it ought not be possible, but the boy is sure he can hear the dog; the hill is black with people, but again one man stands out—he twists his upper body, looks down, and lifts his elbow, and a whine pierces the noise as the man kicks the dog lying at his feet; the boy realizes that it was right here where he once sat with his father to rest his broken body; finally, he sees a birthmark on the executioner’s hand and that the sun is already lower than it stood before. The boy thinks that everything happens so unbelievably slow, yet so unbelievably fast. Also this is something he has felt before:
The river water is surprisingly warm, and he swims easily upstream, with effortless, powerful strokes.
Then there’s a thump against the back of his neck as the raft drifts in. He grabs hold of it, crawls up onto it, and lies on his back with his hand under his head; lets himself be led with the stream.
His body dries in no time under the sun. A fly lands on his knee.
The raft drifts gently down the river.
S after S after S.
After the next S,
he catches sight
of the dog on land
three legs and
a wagging tail
he lifts an arm
and waves
with a boy’s
hand so slim
and sunburned
into the
next curve
he sees his father
tall and straight
like a soldier
he salutes
before the girl is
on the bank
tousling
her hair
she throws
a flower
red leaves
like a roof
he cannot
grab
hold
of
them
he looks up
she is standing there
and smiling
her hair is
so black
so shiny
that he still
thinks
there
you
are
before
the last
swing
Author’s Note
On February 22, 1853, fifteen-year-old Niels Nielsen was executed, sentenced to death on charges of arson and murder of the sheriff’s little son. It was the last execution in Svendborg, Denmark. Gallows Hill still exists. At the top of the hill there is a bench. From here, you can sit and look down over the town. Just to the right of the hill is a kindergarten, the Parrot, attended by my two sons, Jeppe and Jacob.
JESPER WUNG-SUNG is Denmark’s most-read young adult author. He received the 2010 Danish Ministry of Culture’s Author Prize for Children’s and Young Adult Books. His young adult novel Kopierne was awarded the Danish School Library Association’s Children’s Book Award. He lives in Svendborg, Denmark, with his family.
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ATHENEUM BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division • 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020 • www.SimonandSchuster.com • This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. • Text copyright © 2010 by Jesper Wung-Sung and Resinante & Co./Host & Son, Copenhagen • Published by agreement with Gyldendal Group Agency • English translation copyright © 2016 by Lindy Falk van Rooyen • Illustrations by Sonia Chaghatzbanian • All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. • ATHENEUM BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc. • Atheneum logo is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc. • For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or business@simonandschuster.com. • The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event, contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com. • Book design by Sonia Chaghatzbanian and Irene Metaxatos • The text for this book was set in Adobe Jenson Pro. • CIP data for this book is available from the Library of Congress. • ISBN 978-1-4814-2965-8 • ISBN 978-1-4814-2967-2 (eBook)