Invitation to a Beheading

Cincinnatus C. is sentenced to death and dragged back to the fortress, where his jailer, Rodion, fumbles with the keys. Cincinnatus’s lawyer, Roman Vissarionovich, is waiting inside the cell, but he asks to be left alone. Inside, he paces back and forth, then sits at a desk and writes on a blank sheet of paper, claiming to have had “premonitions of this finale” (13). He crosses out his words while Rodion watches through the peephole. Cincinnatus is the only prisoner in the fortress. Later, Rodion offers to dance a waltz with him. He agrees and they waltz into the corridor, past a nameless masked guard and back to the cell.

As evening approaches, the fading light illuminates a chart on the wall that lists the rules for the prisoners. Cincinnatus takes stock of his cell, which features only a table, a chair, and a cot. After dinner, the prison director, Rodrig Ivanovic, visits. As he questions why Cincinnatus has not eaten his food, he begins to eat the “bowl of coagulated stew” as Cincinnatus watches (15). Cincinnatus wants to know when he will be executed but Rodrig claims not to know.