Cane, op. cit.
The President turned away from the coffin, it appeared by sheer act of will, and it occurred to me how hard it must be for the man to leave his child behind in a place of such gloom and loneliness, which never, when responsible for the living child, he would have done.
In private correspondence of Mr. Samuel Pierce, by permission of his estate.
He seemed to have aged greatly in the last few days. Many sympathetic eyes & prayers being directed at him, he appeared, then, to come to himself, and left the chapel, a most distressed look upon his face, but not yet giving way to tears.
Smith-Hill, op. cit.
I went up to the President and, taking him by the hand, offered my sincerest condolences.
He did not seem to be listening.
His face lit up with dark wonder.
Willie is dead, he said, as if it had only just then occurred to him.
Pierce, op. cit.
XCI.
The lad stood.
hans vollman
Emerging, in this way, from Mr. Lincoln.
roger bevins iii
Turned to us.
hans vollman
Stricken look on his pale round face.
roger bevins iii
May I tell you something? he said.
How I loved him in that moment. Such an odd little fellow: his long swoop of forelock, roundish protruding belly, rather adult manner.
You are not sick, he said.
hans vollman
Suddenly all was nervousness and agitation.
roger bevins iii
That thing in my box? he said. Has nothing to do with me.
hans vollman
Individuals began edging toward the door.
roger bevins iii
I mean, it does, he said. Or did. But now I am—I am something quite apart. From it. I cannot explain.
hans vollman
Stop talking, Mr. Vollman said. You will kindly stop talking at once.
There is a name for what ails us, the boy said. Do you not know it? Do you really not know it?
roger bevins iii
Many were now attempting to flee, causing a bit of a jam at the door.
hans vollman
It is quite amazing, the boy said.
Stop, Mr. Vollman said. Please stop. For the good of all.
Dead, the boy said. Everyone, we are dead!
roger bevins iii
Suddenly, from behind us, there occurred, like lightning-cracks, three rapid-fire repetitions of the familiar, yet always bone-chilling, firesound associated with the matterlightblooming phenomenon.
hans vollman
I did not dare to look around to see who had gone.
roger bevins iii
Dead! the lad shouted, almost joyfully, strutting into the middle of the room. Dead, dead, dead!
That word.
That terrible word.
hans vollman
Purdy, Bark, and Ella Blow were flailing within a window casement, like trapped birds, weakened and compromised by the lad’s reckless pronouncements.
roger bevins iii
Verna Blow stood below, pleading with her mother to come down.
hans vollman
Now look, Mr. Vollman said to the boy. You are wrong. If what you say is true—who is it that is saying it?
Who is hearing it? I said.
Who is speaking to you now? said Mr. Vollman.
To whom do we speak? I said.
roger bevins iii
But he would not be silenced.
hans vollman
Tore away years of work and toil with each thoughtless phrase.
roger bevins iii
Father said it, he said. Said I am dead. Why would he say that, if it weren’t true? I just now heard him say it. I heard him, that is, remembering having said it.
We had no answer for this.
hans vollman
It did not, indeed, seem to us (knowing him as we now knew him) that Mr. Lincoln would lie about such a momentous thing.
I have to say, it gave me pause.
In my early days here, I only now recalled, I had, yes, for a brief period, understood myself to be— roger bevins iii
But then you saw the truth. Saw that you moved around, and spoke, and thought, and that, therefore, must be merely sick, with some previously unknown malady, and could not possibly be— hans vollman
It gave me pause.
roger bevins iii
I was good, the lad said. Or tried to be. I want to do good now. And go where I should. Where I should have gone in the first place. Father will not return here. And none of us will ever be allowed back to that previous place.
hans vollman
He was hopping with joy now, like a toddler too full of water.
Look, join me, he said. Everyone! Why stay? There’s nothing to it. We’re done. Don’t you see?
roger bevins iii
Purdy, Bark, and Ella Blow, within the window casement, went, in a triply blinding blast of the matterlightblooming phenomenon.
hans vollman
Followed quickly by Verna Blow, there below, unwilling to endure (as she had been made to endure, for so long, in that previous place) an existence without her mother.
roger bevins iii
I knew it! the lad shouted. I knew something was off with me!
hans vollman
His flesh seemed thin as parchment; tremors ran through his body.
roger bevins iii
His form (as sometimes happens to those about to go) began flickering between the various selves he had been in that previous place: purple newborn, squalling naked infant, jelly-faced toddler, feverish boy on sick-bed.