Invitation to a Beheading

Pierre comes to Cincinnatus’s cell for “intimate chit-chat.” Pierre says he is aware that Rodrig seems to praise him above all others. He wonders whether Cincinnatus is jealous of this “privileged position.” Pierre notices something on Cincinnatus’s neck. When he checks Cincinnatus’s neck, his touch is unexpectedly tender. He finds nothing, and Cincinnatus asks him to leave.

Pierre reveals that he has been accused of trying to arrange an escape attempt for Cincinnatus, which is why he is in prison. Pierre insists that he never lies, but he will not say whether this accusation is true; all that matters is that he was accused. He assures Cincinnatus that they will “mount the scaffold together” (111). Cincinnatus thanks Pierre, deciding to believe him. Cincinnatus dislikes Rodion and Rodrig, but Pierre praises both men. He criticizes Cincinnatus’s “haughty contempt” for them. When Cincinnatus asks Pierre whether he knows the date of the execution, Pierre reproaches him for his “foolish curiosity.”

Cincinnatus wonders whether Pierre would like to escape, but Pierre changes the subject. To show off his physicality, Pierre rolls up his shirt sleeve—revealing a tattoo—and lifts his chair above his head. Next, he performs a labored handstand. Someone outside the cell claps. Pierre performs a handstand on the table and bites the back of the chair. Rodrig enters, applauding. He doesn’t see that Pierre has left his dentures biting into the back of the chair. Pierre quietly retrieves the dentures and leaves, taking the chair with him. Rodrig claps less enthusiastically and leaves.

Cincinnatus tells the guards that he no longer wants to read the daily newspapers, from which every mention of his impending execution has been removed. The guards bring Cincinnatus tea rather than hot chocolate, which Cincinnatus takes as evidence that Rodion has “grown bored of serving the silent and fastidious” Pierre (117). Rodion returns the chair to Cincinnatus’s cell; Pierre’s teeth marks are still visible. The chair is returned with a note from Pierre, which proudly describes his “agility and astounding muscular development” (118).

After spending so much time in the cell, Cincinnatus knows the room intimately. He knows where and when the shadows fall across the four walls and how the shadows darken their yellow color. The overhead electric light bulb is not quite centered, which Cincinnatus finds maddening. He has a table, a chair, and a cot; only the chair can move. Beside the window, there is a spider that Rodion occasionally feeds. Any writing that was once on the walls has been cleaned. His pitcher of water has been taken away, as has the list of rules. Now the cell seems like “a waiting room” (119). Amid Cincinnatus’s “violently scribbled pages” is a letter to Marthe (120), which he has not yet decided whether to send.

Cincinnatus’s “vague” physical features suggest that “one side of his being [has slid] into another dimension” (121). Cincinnatus examines the books on his table. Among them is the famous novel Quercus, of which Cincinnatus has now read about 1,000 pages, about a third of the book. The protagonist of the novel is an oak tree, witnessing hundreds of years of history. Though the novel is “unquestionably the best his age [has] produced” (123), Cincinnatus only feels a sense of melancholy as he reads. He pesters Rodion with more questions, then examines the shadows on the walls, thinking how his imprisonment has softened him. When Rodion brings dinner, he criticizes Cincinnatus for pestering him with “stupid questions” rather than acknowledging the love and care that he provides. That night, Cincinnatus puts down his book and laments that there is no one to save him. A breeze blows an acorn onto his blanket.

In the early hours of the morning, Cincinnatus wakes to the sound of a “muted tapping.” He lies in his bed, listening to the scratching noise, then sits up to search for the source of the scratching sound. When he bumps his food tray, the sound stops. After a short time, the sound resumes, “quieter, more re-strained, but more expressive and wiser” (128). While trying to fetch his slippers, Cincinnatus makes another noise and the sound stops again for good. He thinks about how to communicate his interest to whatever is making the sounds, should they start again.

A storm brews during the day. Rodrig visits the cell and announces that Cincinnatus’s mother has come to visit. Cincinnatus hardly knows his mother and declines to meet with her as it would be “pointless.” Rodrig leaves, then returns with Cincinnatus’s mother, Cecilia C. She immediately complains about the storm then discusses the quietness and cleanliness of her son’s cell. The two resemble each other. Cincinnatus asks why his mother has come, as her visit is “neither kind, nor interesting” (132). To him, she seems like a parody of a mother. Cincinnatus bemusedly asks her to tell the “legend” about his father. Cecilia tells the story, claiming that she has no clue about the identity of Cincinnatus’s itinerant father. All she remembers is that he was “also like [Cincinnatus]” (133), then she begins to speak about the weather.

Cecilia tells Cincinnatus about her daily routine, but he continues to dismiss her as a parody. As he complains about the prison, she launches into a story about “absolutely absurd objects” that she remembers from her childhood (135). When he hints at his imminent execution, he notices a strange expression flash across her face. He recognizes this “spark” of horror or pity and is gratified to see this genuine emotion. Cecilia prepares to leave as Rodrig bursts into the cell. Cecelia departs as Pierre enters, carrying a collection of games.