SHAPE-SHIFTERS
After that hall – the hall where we found ourselves by chance, as it were, the hall we left only to be met by her empty eyes – everything happened swiftly. Swifter than you could imagine. It was as though time had bolted; she had been holding it in check by her own power, by her brave and steadfast presence alone, but now it was galloping towards a victory which – starting with that hall – was already secure. Time began spinning on every tongue, speaking in every tongue. Some days later, F. called Sophie and me and suggested we prepare a scene from Twelfth Night by ourselves. Six girls from Olivia’s retinue, making a fool of simple Viola. Setting aside pages marked in her hand-writing, right then and there she showed us what it should look like: “Each time you bow, you see
