PLOT
The Glass Snail is an
interactive story where you can choose the chapters you want to read but chosen
previously by the author.
When we start to read the story we
find the First
Crossroad where you can choose between two chapters: Miss Hatshesput or Mr.
David Senenmut, Architect.
Miss Hatshepsut woke up often feeling alone. She stole in order to feel
better. She stole one thing and gave away another. But she didn’t choose what
steal or to whom. One day, she stole a lighter to a man from his pocket in a
newspaper kiosk. On the lighter were engraved the following words: “If you strike me three times,
your wish will be granted” and
“Moses III”. After she stole the lighter she left a tiny mirror in a bag of a
woman who was in the street. Then, she goes to the ladies’ lingerie store where
she works as salesgirl and she remains alone during few minutes and takes the
opportunity to see what she has stolen. Suddenly, a young man goes into the
shop. He wants to buy a nightdress to his wife. He put the raincoat and a box
wrapped in gold paper topped with a bow on a small table. Miss Hatshesput
thinks in steal this tiny box. The young man ask for a nightdress and he
request her if she could put it on to know if is the correct size. Before
acceding to his request she leaves the lighter on the pocket of the man to be
able to steal the gold box. She put the nightdress on and, when she appeared
wearing it, he becomes amazed. He says it is impossible to buy it because
everytime his wife puts it on he thinks of her and he goes out. She unwrapped
the tiny box and noticed there was a beautiful glass snail filled with silver
powder, sealed with pink wax, with a wick in the centre, inside.
-
Mr. David Senenmut, Architect
This chapter start talking about the
ex wife of the young architect. She lives in one house and her ex husband in
another. Despite of to be divorced, he can go to the house were they lived but
with two conditions: she can’t be at home and he can’t take anything out of the
apartment. She decides to leave a Christmas present wrapped in gold paper
topped with a bow. The present was a glass snail filled with pink powder but
she throws the pink powder into the washbasin and in its place she put gunpowder.
When Mr. Senenmut sees the gold box he takes it and leaves it in his pocket.
Then, he goes to the street and sees the lingerie store and a pile of
nightdress on the counter. Without hesitation, he goes to the store in order to
steal one. He asks for the salesgirl if she could put it on, because she and
her wife are of the same size, the 8. She accepts and while she is in the
cubicle he is stealing a nightdress size 6. When the salesgirl appears he is
captivated by her appearance. He says they possibly have
known in another life. At the end, he decides not to buy the nightdress and
leaves the store saying that it is very expensive and he has no money. After
visiting some bars, he returns home where he finds his things outside of the
house. He listen the messages from his answering machine. His ex-wife says that
she knows he has got the box but it is her Christmas present. The young
architect look for the gold box in his pockets but he only finds a lighter in
which there were written the following words: “If you strike me three
times, your wish will be granted.” The
gold box was disappeared.
♦
The
Daughter Who Might Have Been Called Neferure
The young architect David Senenmut
spends the night in a hotel. He comes back to the lingerie store with the
nightdress he had stolen the night before. Senenmut apologize to the salesgirl
and gives her a present. But the salesgirl realizes the nightdress is a size 6,
not size 8. Suddenly the salesgirl asks Mr Senenmut if he wants to be with her
for Christmas Eve, because she thinks he is feeling alone. He accepts the
invitation. Senenmut asks her if she had a daughter a long time ago. The
salesgirl answers that it is possible but she actually hasn’t any daughter.
Before he goes out of the lingerie store, the young architect says to the
salesgirl the name of the daughter she doesn’t have: Neferure
Now we go into the Second
Crossroads. Again, we have the option to choose between two chapters. One
brings the reader to a tragic ending and the other one to a happy ending.
It is Christmas Eve and Miss
Hatshepsut is waiting for the guest arrived. She is preparing the supper and
getting ready for the occasion. She decides unwrap the gold bow she stole to
the man of the lingerie store and takes the Glass Snail to empty. She changes
the silvery powder by blue bath powder. She wrap the Glass Snail again because
she wants give it to the guest. He arrives with a bottle of wine. They both sit
down at table and Miss Hatshesput gives him the gold box with a tiny bow as her
present. The guest opens the gold box and seems disappointed but he likes the
present. He gives her a present too, and it is a lighter. She says she knows
what is his name, which always has known.
She says his name is Senenmut. Then, David Senenmut, after reading the
words that were written (If you strike me three times, your wish will be
granted.) he flicks the lighter
and lights the wick of the Glass Snail. But Miss Hatshepsut says he must to
flick the lighter three times. The second time he struck it a green flame appears and the third time it produces a big
explosion in which only the names remained. And they can be found in the
history of Egypt.
♦ 18th Dynasty (Historical Background)
The author briefly explains us in the
eighteenth egiptian pharaonic dynasty a queen called Hatshesput existed and the
construction of her mortuary temple was supervised by a man called Senenmut.
Also the author explains Senenmut became in the tutor of the daughter of the
queen, who possibly was the daughter of them. His daughter was called Neferure.
Queen Hatshepsut was killed by Thumoses III, who became in the king.
[Second Paper] [Introduction] [Plot] [Time] [Conclusion]
Academic year 2008/2009
© a.r.e.a./Dr.Vicente Forés López
© Dolores Nácher Rubio
donaru@alumni.uv.es
Universitat de Valčncia Press