Showing posts with label BE BRAVE. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BE BRAVE. Show all posts

Tuesday, 20 March 2007

MAMA, TAKE THIS BADGE OFF OF ME

It was about twenty k’s outside Pretoria, where the veld begins to turn into Magaliesberg scrub.

On the way back the driver decided to treat us to one of those famous joyrides designed to scare the shit out of green roofies like us. They had a special name in Afrikaans, but I can’t remember what it was.

We ended up hitting a concrete barrier on the side of a sloot and somersaulting into the middle of the R107. Those of us who weren’t pinned under the truck managed to crawl out through the torn canvas into the afternoon sunlight. There was a weird smell that included petrol, battery acid, piss, blood and, yes, shit.

That’s how I got to One Military Hospital. But it isn’t how I got to Ward 11.