Teaser Tuesday: “The Necessary Beggar”

So this week I was reading The Necessary Beggar, by Susan Palwik, a fantasy novel in which, as the result of a heinous crime, a family from the paradisaical city of Lémabantunk is sentenced to be cast into an interdimensional portal and banished forever to … Reno.

Now, you may be wondering what a “necessary beggar” is. In the context of the world of Lémabantunk, a “necessary beggar” is a mendicant whom couples invite to their wedding to give a blessing. Instead of the marrying couple receiving gifts, they give gifts to those attending, as well as to the necessary beggar, to remind themselves of their good fortune. I feel like this approach wouldn’t fly here.

The children fared better, of course, and Zamatryna, the oldest, seemed to do the best of all. If she remembered the bejeweled streets and glittering waterfalls of Lémabantunk, the festivals and flowers, she never gave any sign. Instead, once we had emerged from the bleakness of the camp, she became a little American girl. She insisted that we call her Zama because her real name was too long; she kept pet plastic dolls and memorized insipid television jingles about underarm deodorant and automobiles; she acquired a distressing interest in watching young men in cumbersome body armor symbolically slaughter each other on fields which could have been used for more important things, like growing beets.

Susan Palwik, The Necessary Beggar

Hmm, young men in cumbersome body armor symbolically slaughtering each other … I am pretty sure this is describing some sort of popular American sport, but I’m sure I can’t say what … 🤔 But anyway, as for beets, you can’t go wrong roasting them.