Мариам Петросян: The Gray House

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Text copyright © 2009 Mariam Petrosyan

Translation copyright © 2017 Yuri Machkasov

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

Previously published as "Dom v kotorim..." by Gayatri/Livebook in Russia in 2009. Translated from Russian by Yuri Machkasov. First published in English by AmazonCrossing in 2017.

Published by AmazonCrossing, Seattle

www.apub.com

Amazon, the Amazon logo, and AmazonCrossing are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc., or its affiliates.

ISBN-13: 9781503942813

ISBN-10: 1503942813

Cover design by David Drummond

CONTENTS

BOOK ONE SMOKER

THE HOUSE MALE STUDENTS

AS OF BOOK ONE

The House sits ...

SMOKER ON CERTAIN ADVANTAGES OF TRAINING FOOTWEAR

THE HOUSE INTERLUDE

THE HOUSE

SMOKER OF CONCRETE AND THE INEFFABLE PROPERTIES OF MIRRORS

THE HOUSE INTERLUDE

THE BACKYARD INTERLUDE

SMOKER OF BATS, DRAGONS, AND BASILISK EGGSHELLS

THE HOUSE INTERLUDE

THE FOREST

SMOKER VISITING THE CAGE

THE HOUSE INTERLUDE

SPHINX VISITING THE SEPULCHER

THE HOUSE INTERLUDE

SMOKER ON MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN BLACK SHEEP

THE HOUSE INTERLUDE

SMOKER POMPEY's LAST STAND

BOOK TWO EIGHT DAYS IN THE LIFE OF JACKAL

THE HOUSE MALE STUDENTS

AS OF BOOK TWO

RALPH A SIDEWAYS GLANCE AT GRAFFITI

TABAQUI DAY THE FIRST

SMOKER ON APHIDS AND UNTAMED BULL TERRIERS

THE HOUSE INTERLUDE

TABAQUI DAY THE SECOND

THE CONFESSION OF THE SCARLET DRAGON

TABAQUI DAY THE THIRD

TABAQUI DAY THE FOURTH

THE SOOT OF THE STREETS SHARDS

THE HOUSE INTERLUDE

TABAQUI DAY THE FIFTH

TABAQUI DAY THE SIXTH

THE HOUSE INTERLUDE

A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT CORRIDOR

WALKING WITH THE BIRD

TABAQUI DAY THE SEVENTH

SORCERY

BASILISKS

GHOST

TABAQUI DAY THE EIGHTH

THE LONGEST NIGHT

SPHINX THE LONGEST NIGHT

BOOK THREE THE ABANDONED NESTS

THE HOUSE MALE STUDENTS

AS OF THE END OF BOOK THREE

SPHINX

SPHINX

RED

RALPH

SMOKER

BLIND

TABAQUI

SPHINX

SMOKER

NOBLE's TALE

GINGER's TALE

SMOKER (CONTINUED)

RED's TALE

TABAQUI's TALE

SMOKER (CONTINUED)

EPILOGUE TALES FROM THE OTHER SIDE

BETWEEN THE WORLDS

VOICES FROM THE OUTSIDES

THE HAPPY BOY

THE ENCOUNTER

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR

BOOK ONE

SMOKER

THE HOUSE MALE STUDENTS

FOURTH

BLIND

SPHINX

(TABAQUI)

BLACK

HUMPBACK

(NOBLE)

LARY*

ALEXANDER

( TUBBY)

(SMOKER)

THIRD BIRDS

VULTURE

(LIZARD)

(ANGEL)

DODO

HORSE*

(BUTTERFLY)

(DEAREST)

GUPPY

BUBBLE*

BEAUTY

ELEPHANT

( FICUS)

( SHRUB)

SECOND RATS

RED

SOLOMON

SQUIB

DON

VIKING

CORPSE

ZEBRA

HYBRID*

MONKEY*

MICROBE*

TERMITE*

PORCUPINE

SUMAC

CARRION

RINGER*

TINY

WHITEBELLY

GREENERY

DAWDLER

AS OF BOOK ONE

SIXTH HOUNDS

POMPEY

CROOK

(OWL)

GNOME

SHUFFLE

LAURUS

WOOLLY

RABBIT

ZIT*

TRITON

(SLEEPY)

GENEPOOL*

DEALWITHIT*

SPLUTTER*

(HEADLIGHT)

(HASTEWASTE)

EARS

NUTTER

RICKSHAW

BAGMAN

CRAB

(FLIPPER)

FIRST PHEASANTS

(GIN)

(PROFESSOR)

(BITER)

(GHOUL)

(STRAW)

(STICKS)

(BRICKS)

(CRYBABY)

(GYPS)

(HAMSTER)

KIT

(BOOGER)

(CUPCAKE)

(SNIFFLE)

(PIDDLER)

LEGEND

(PARENTHESES):

WHEELERS

UNDERLINED:

INSENSIBLE

BOLD:

UNDER 17

STARRED*:

BANDAR-LOGS

PHEASANT CRYBABY IS NOT THE SAME PERSON AS CRYBABY OF THE “PAST” EPISODES, WHO BECAME HORSE

The House sits on the outskirts of town. The neighborhood is called the Comb. The long buildings of the projects here are arranged in jagged rows, with empty cement squares between them—the intended playgrounds for the young Combers. The teeth of the comb are white. They stare with many eyes and they all look just the same. In places where they haven't sprouted yet, there are the fenced vacant lots. The piles of debris from the houses already knocked down, nesting grounds for rats and stray dogs, are much more appealing to the young Combers than the empty spaces between the teeth.

In the no-man's-land between the two worlds—that of the teeth and that of the dumps—is the House. They call it Gray House. It is old, closer in age to the dumps, the graveyards of its contemporaries. It stands alone, as the other houses shun it, and it doesn't look like a tooth, since it is not struggling upward. Three stories high, facing the highway, it too has a backyard—a narrow rectangle cordoned off by chicken wire. It was white when built. It has since become gray, and yellowish from the other side, toward the back. It is bristling with aerials; it is strewn with cables; it is raining down plaster and weeping from the cracks. Additions and sheds cling to it, along with doghouses and garbage bins, all in the back. The facade is bare and somber, just the way it is supposed to be.

Nobody likes Gray House. No one would admit it openly, but the inhabitants of the Comb would rather not have it in their neighborhood. They would rather it didn't exist at all.

It all started with the red sneakers. I found them at the bottom of my bag. The personal-possessions bag, that's what it was called. Only there was never anything in it with any touch of personality. Two standard-issue towels, a bunch of handkerchiefs, and dirty laundry. Same as everyone else. All bags, all towels, socks, briefs—all identical, so that nobody would feel slighted.

It was an accident that I found them. I'd lost sight of them long ago. An old present from someone forgotten, from the previous life. Bright red, wrapped in shiny plastic, the soles striped like a candy cane. I tore open the package, ran my fingers over the flaming laces, and quickly put on the shoes. My legs looked funny. I forgot they could look like that. They acquired this unfamiliar walking feel.