Somehow the old man had died in the bathtub. The water wasn't even cold yet. All was dark but his face by light through the opaque window. I shouldn't have been there just then but I was. They sent me the key, and I opened the mailbox and found the old note. The man's right arm was hanging down, and not a foot from his lifeless fingertips a flashlight.
I picked it up. If anything happened I would carry the light out with me. As I did so I felt the shadows slide across the floor. So when I saw the silhouettes outside the window I stopped breathing. Turning, I could make out at least one face shape, a long and serious face, and a young one. I barely moved. There was a small handgun in the soapdish. Suddenly the room flashed twice, and I could see that it was a signal.
My left hand made a splash in the water by his leg, and my right hand barely flashed the light once. I could make out now 2-3 persons outside the window. After the flash, they seemed to acknowledge and move on. I didn't wait for them to leave.
Ceux qui ont apparié notre vie à un songe ont eu de la raison...Nous veillons dormants et veillants dormons. -Montaigne
Intro
O full-orb'd moon, did but thy rays
Their last upon mine anguish gaze!
Beside this desk, at dead of night,
Oft have I watched to hail thy light:
Then, pensive friend! o'er book and scroll,
With soothing power, thy radiance stole!
In thy dear light, ah, might I climb,
Freely, some mountain height sublime,
Round mountain caves with spirits ride,
In thy mild haze o'er meadows glide,
And, purged from knowledge-fumes, renew
My spirit, in thy healing dew!
Goethe: Faust I.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
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