THE FIRST YEAR OF MY LIFE
"How was it before? Did they behave in the same way? Did society function
as efficiently as it does today? I wonder sometimes, but have no way of knowing.
It's all a blank. Shifting images appear sometimes, scraps of blue, green and
pink, but when I try to snatch them they drift out of sight, fading, fading. leaving a slight fragrance of Victorian posies trimmed with
trailing ribbons, or a smear of prisms against the light.
Sometimes in the darkness of a quiet night I think I remember the early days. Beautiful green meadows with great trees; flowers and birds
singing. Great white clouds massed in the east, before the rain descends
in a cooling downpour. But that is only for a short time. Then they drift away
and the sun shines brilliantly and the people are content.
Music, music. Yes, there was music. Gushing, soaring
music, in great chords of happiness, or delicate, soothing, careful melodies
played on a grand piano by skilful fingers. In the background a canary sang
counterpoint. And I remember blossom. Fruit trees in blossom with huge clusters
of fragrant white, and the bees flitting from flower to flower, so industrious
and careful, so hardworking!
That was one thing impressed on everyone. To work hard.
It was considered one of the ways to eternal goodness. People enjoyed working,
strove to do better. Achievement gave great pleasure and a sense of purpose.
But those achievers went away. Like the others, they all left, and it seems
that things grew very still after that. I remember darkness, long days of
darkness with life at a standstill while people crouched indoors fearful of the
masses outside.
Lots of dancing too. Some of it lewd with sexually
suggestive movements from the hips and pelvis, but the feet were
marvellous. Criss-crossing, twisting, twirling, up and down, whirling in a
flurry of feverish ecstasy, we could have watched for ever and it was not long
before everyone wanted to be whirling like the others.
And the food! Wonderful food of all nations, French, Greek,
Italian and Chinese, exciting ethnic foods in all their weird variety, colours
and flavours. Some spicy, some bland. The foods
were washed down with a huge range of drinks, but really it's too late to go
into all that, I'll leave it to your imagination.
Do you remember the pretty girls? Their beautiful long hair,
their saucy looks, their up-thrust breasts and long, long legs. They
were so lovely, so appealing in their naivety and spontaneity, their freshness
and their sheer exuberance! Everybody loved them, no matter what they did.
You ask me, what do I do now? Well, I lie here in the dark, tied to this
unforgiving platform waiting for them to come to me. Sometimes I remember what
they're here for, sometimes not. It does not matter, I hardly care, I've got all the time in the world.
Because this is the first day of my life; it all lies ahead of me. What has
passed before is gone, I'll never experience it again.
You see, I can't move. My memory's gone as well as the rest of me. The only
things that move are my eyelids. I think I'm happy now, but I can't be
sure.
I've been here a long, long time.
BARBARA
DURLACHER
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|
Name |
Comment |
Date |
|
James |
I really enjoyed this piece. Points 4 - Pretty close to perfect. I was captivated |
2008-02-22 |