The Camera Killer by Thomas Glavinic Read Free Book Online Page B

burst into tears some time ago. Whimpering and hopping up and down on the spot in a silly way—and, interestingly enough,clutching his genitals—he requested the cameraman to release him and his brothers from their disagreeable predicament.
    After that, the camera panned to the second of the three in age. His hair, which had not been cut for some time, hung down over his eyebrows. The camera voice asked him if it would give him pleasure to see the brains of his brothers or parents. To this, the boy replied in the negative. He also rejected the suggestion that he might like to thrust the whole of his hand into their backs or abdominal cavities.
    The cameraman then said that, this being so, the brothers must at all costs comply with every one of his instructions. The least recalcitrance would compel him to take one of them and cut off his nose or a finger and put salt on the wound, thereby doing the boy in question harm.
    By now, all three children were in tears. The cameraman’s remarks had also caused uproar in the living room. The gap between the seven-year-old’s front teeth was clearly visible in close-up. He never stopped crying. This prompted the man behind the camera to warn the boys that they must not interrupt the proceedings by indulging in exaggerated emotional outbursts. In particular, it was imperative that they answer his questions. Their replies must not be impaired by sobbing or vocal distortions occasioned by despair.
    A cut ensued. The clock in the top right corner of the screen now showed 0:48.
    Eva helped herself to a heaped handful of chips. Some of them escaped from her fingers and cascaded down her white T-shirt, which bore the legend, “Morning Star.” Heinrich called her a greedy pig. Eva greeted this jocular rebuke expressionlessly and without looking at anyone.
    The cameraman was just instructing the gap-toothed brother to climb a tree.
    Oh no, said Eva, here it comes.
    The boy jibbed. He complied only when the camera voice explained that having his abdominal cavity slit open and then salted would be an extremely unpleasant experience for his hog-tied brother to undergo and that this would be promptly put into effect in the event of further resistance on his part. Bawling, he climbed the tree with the second brother’s assistance. The camera also recorded his ascent.
    Once he had reached the top of the tree and the other boy had returned to the ground, the camera voice instructed him to jump when ordered to. The resulting cries of anguish and protest from the treetop were graphically illustrated by a close-up. Then the camera panned to the hog-tied boy. The man asked him how it felt to know that his brother was about to rejoin them in free fall and what his chances of survival would be after a descent from approximately forty-five feet.
    The hog-tied boy wept. He referred to the possibility of vengeance on the part of his father, whom he claimed to be extremely tall and strong. The cameraman took note of this with evident interest. He asked exactly what his father would do on receiving news of his brother’s death, not forgetting to add that this question possessed only theoretical importance. Why? Because his father would meet an even more terrible fate unless the brothers obeyed every order given them by him, the cameraman, to his complete satisfaction.
    He also asked the long-haired boy how it felt to be about to lose a brother.
    It felt quite awful, was the reply. Wasn’t there any way of preventing this adverse development? There was one, the cameraman responded: The going rate for a brother’s life was one eye. The long-haired boy must poke out his hog-tied brother’s eye with a stick—not with a single thrust, but by drilling it out goodand proper. The boy thus addressed replied that he didn’t want to do this and made a renewed plea to be released from captivity, together with his brothers. This request was rejected.
    The cameraman then asked the gap-toothed brother how he