All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel
By Anthony Doerr
…
Marie/ˈmɑ:rɪ(:)/-Laure LeBlanc is a tall and freckled/'frekld/six-year-old in Paris with rapidly/ˈræpɪdlɪ/deteriorating/dɪ'tɪrɪəret/eyesight when her father sends her on a children’s tour of the museum/mjuˈziəm/where he works. The guide is a hunchbacked/'hʌntʃbækt/old warder/'wɔrdɚ/hardly taller than a child himself. He raps the tip of his cane/ken/against the floor for attention, then leads his dozen charges across the gardens to the galleries/'gæləri/.
The children watch engineers use pulleys/'pʊli/to lift a fossilized/ˈfɑsəˌlaɪz/dinosaur/'daɪnə'sɔr/femur/'fimɚ/. They see a stuffed/stʌft/giraffe/dʒə'ræf/in a closet, patches of hide wearing off its back. They peer into taxidermists/'tæksi,də:mist/’ drawers full of feathers and talons/'tælən/and glass eyeballs; they flip through two-hundred-year-old herbarium/ɝ'bɛərɪəm/sheets bedecked/ʌn'dɛkt/with orchids/'ɔrkɪd/and daisies/'dezi/and herbs/hɝb/.
Eventually they climb sixteen steps into the Gallery/'gæləri/of Mineralogy/ˌmɪnə'rælədʒi/. The guide shows them agate/ˈæɡɪt/from Brazil/brəˈzɪl/and violet/'vaɪələt/amethysts/'æməθɪst/and a meteorite/'mitɪə'raɪt/on a pedestal/'pɛdɪstl/that he claims is as ancient as the solar/'solɚ/system itself. Then he leads them single file down two twisting staircases/'stɛrkes/and along several corridors/'kɔrɪdɔr/and stops outside an iron/'aɪɚn/door with a single keyhole/'kihol/. “End of tour,” he says.
A girl says, “But what’s through there?”
“Behind this door is another locked door, slightly/'slaɪtli/smaller/smɔl/.”
“And what’s behind that?”
“A third locked door, smaller yet.”
“What’s behind that?”
“A fourth door, and a fifth, on and on until you reach a thirteenth, a little locked door no bigger than a shoe./ʃu/”
The children lean forward. “And then?”
“Behind the thirteenth door”— the guide flourishes/'flɝɪʃ/one of his impossibly wrinkled/'rɪŋkld/hands—“ is the Sea of Flames/flæm/.”
Puzzlement. Fidgeting/'fɪdʒɪt/.
“Come now. You’ve never heard of the Sea of Flames?”
The children shake their heads. Marie-Laure squints/skwɪnt/up at the naked/'nekɪd/bulbs/bʌlb/strung/strʌŋ/in three-yard intervals along the ceiling/'silɪŋ/; each sets a rainbow-colored halo/'helo/rotating in her vision.
The guide hangs his cane/ken/on his wrist and rubs his hands together. “It’s a long story. Do you want to hear a long story?”
They nod./nɑd/
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