Friday 9 March 2007

TALKING TO THE DEAD

"Wys my jou hand," said one of them.

I gave him my hand, palm upward. He turned it over.

"Ander een," he said.

I gave him the other one. He looked at me curiously for a second or two. Then he showed me his hand.

On the fleshy amphibian fold between the thumb and the index finger of his right hand were three black dots in the shape of a triangle tattoed into the skin. The seven or eight others who were huddled together with me at the back of the Bedford showed me their hands in turn. All of them had the same triangle of black dots in the same place.

They could see I that I didn't have a clue.

*

Sometimes, when the venlafaxine takes longer than usual to kick in, I watch Ysabella Brave singing "Mack the Knife" on YouTube. She helps to push back the darkness.

3 comments:

John Dovey said...

The dead walk with me every day, ghosts in my mind. They watch my actions to see if I measure up to the reasons that they made the sacrifice.
http://www.justdone.co.za/ROH/

ysabellabrave said...

I'm so honored I could be of any help :)
+MaryAnne
aka ysabellabrave

The Torr said...

You're a help already, gorgeous. Just keep on crooning.