Jesi Bender share’s an excerpt from her upcoming novel Child of Light, out August from Whiskey Tit.
Excerpt from Child of Light by Jesi Bender
Conte d’Électricité
In 1888, Gaulard will make his way past the gardens and up to the formidable entrance of the Élysée. He will be in a crumpled brown suit, his thick dark brow raised in an ever-present consternation. It will be July and his entire body will be covered in a light sweat. He will seem very concerned making his way to the concierge, who sits behind a desk in the Vestibule d’Honneur.
“Monsieur,” he will say hurriedly, “monsieur, I need to speak to the President.”
“I’m sorry, monsieur,” the concierge will reply, looking over Gaulard’s shoulders for the guards. “I’m afraid that’s impossible.” He won’t be lying—Carnot will be abroad in Andorra, giving a speech.
At this point, Gaulard will become frantic. “No, no, you don’t understand. I have to speak to the President. I have an urgent message for him. I have to speak to him right away!” The last sentence will crescendo to a bellow that echoes off the stone walls. The guards will now start to move in behind him.
“I’m sorry, Monsieur—the President is not available at this time.” The concierge, a thin, pallid man of meek nature, will maintain a surprisingly calm demeanor, like some unknown act had prepared him for this moment. He will speak slowly, enunciating each syllable, like one would do to a child. “What is the message? Perhaps I can relay it.”
At this point, one of the guards will place his hand on Gaulard’s shoulder, though he will hardly seem to notice. Gaulard will place both of his hands, palms down, on the concierge’s desk and bend closer to his face. The concierge will be able to see the beads of sweat accumulating on Gaulard’s broad nose. His dark eyes will become completely encircled by the white sclera as they bulge out with alarm. “Monsieur,” Gaulard will say, his voice now more hushed and breathless. “Tell Carnot that I am G-d.” He will let the gravitas of that sentence settle into the room for a moment before he adds, in a whisper both delicate and deeply malevolent, “And I wait for no man.”
The guards will then pull Gaulard back toward the door but he will never break his gaze from that of the concierge. As Gaulard and the guards slip through the door out into the sunshine, the concierge will wipe the sweat from his own brow and pull himself upright from his cowering slouch in his chair. What, he will think to himself as he looks blankly around the foyer, what dark evil was that?
Carnot will eventually hear about the G-d that came to visit him. The G-d who will die, this time in a hospital, convinced of his piety and power, while Carnot dies in short succession, killed by an anarchistic Italian who is convinced neither of Carnot’s piety nor his power.
Those goddamned Italians…
Anarchie, anarchie, tout est anarchie!
About the Author
Jesi Bender is the author of the novel Child of Light (Whiskey Tit 2025), the chapbook Dangerous Women (dancing girl press 2022), the play Kinderkrankenhaus (Sagging Meniscus 2021), and the novel The Book of the Last Word (Whiskey Tit 2019). The Brooklyn production of Kinderkrankenhaus was a top-five finalist for the BroadwayWorld’s Best Off-Broadway Play 2023. Her shorter work has appeared in Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Denver Quarterly, FENCE, and Sleepingfish, among others. She also runs KERNPUNKT Press, a home for experimental work. www.jesibender.com
Thirteen-year-old Ambrétte Memenon has lived her entire life estranged from her wealthy mother, career-minded father, and older brother Modeste. After a series of financial failures, the family is forced to reunite in rural upstate NY in the Spring of 1896. Together in the new house but basically strangers, the family struggles to understand each other. Ambrétte endeavors to connect to her parents through their interests (Spiritualism for her Maman and electricity for her Papa). As she works towards better understanding, Ambrétte is drawn into a deep abyss of the unknown as she learns more about both death and the invisible pulse of the spirit.
