Monday, December 06, 2010

taking over

I think it was my childhood friend E, although at times he looked like B., my German high school mate, who I had met and invited to my house. I was waking up that . They were cleaning the house, one room at a time, but with every room they cleaned there appeared two or three sisters or brothers of my friend's who would take over the room. Nobody could tell me where my granddad or my mum were and I was concerned as they had been poorly. There were girls and boys of all ages coming in and out of those rooms and milling all around the house now. I caught a glimpse of a boy sitting on a bed in one of the rooms, clumsily trying to play one of my guitars.

I went to my room and my book case and bed-side table (and their contents) weren't there; instead there were some buckets and mops. So I went to my friend and loudly complained and he started to speak before I'd finished, me in loud voices, he in soft tones. Where were my books and the contents of my bed-side table? My laptop was there and all my books and music, where were they. 'Calma', he replied; nothing's lost, we're just cleaning them and pruning the things you don't need. What? shouted I, 'you're not to decide what I need or don't need! I want my stuff back now!'. He looked to me with a smile, the sort of smile that you would direct towards somebody who is ill and perhaps a little mad and doesn't quite make sense. Then I saw the two twelve year old girls carrying bundles of my books out to the yard. I told myself I had to be dreaming, this just could not be happening. And he said, as if he'd been able to hear me 'of course it is not happening to you there where you are, but there are many of you in the universe and this is happening for real to some of you and the pain will resonate in you, I hope…'

That's when I woke up, covered in sweat and breathing noisily, the silence in my room like an overstretched bow string..

Wednesday, December 01, 2010

There was a celebration. It was a sort of very small pub/restaurant. It was the 200th anniversary of the place and they would be giving away food that was supposed to be fantastic. I'd driven a long way to get there… there was a crowd and people were clutching their passports. Many had pints of beer which one was supposed to be able to order from the bar. I went over to the bar and the girl behind the counter gave me some mumbling explanation about why she couldn't give me a beer and that her colleague would -at which point she left, but there was no-one else behind the counter.

I thought that it was a little pointless to stay at the bar, clutching my passport like the rest, when it could be hours before the food was served or given out. So I went in the other room and sat down. I was very thirsty and there was no-one at the bar. I think I was beginning to say this to the girl sitting next to me but she was pointedly looking away so I stopped talking and reclined on the kind of sofa. This guy from the Dev in London walked past and said hello. Well, I think he was from the Dev. Anyway, I said hello back. It was getting very warm and I took the outer one of the two t-shirts I was wearing but then I realised that the inner one had some ridiculous design and drawings on and I was a little embarrassed so swapped the two -and thought I better leave the other one and my bag in the boot of the car. Came out and pressed the car remote but -it was the wrong car. It was over there, past the street with trees and to the left, perhaps a mile or so. So there I headed..

.. couldn't find it. Ended up taking a mini-bus but this was going the wrong way, up the hill into a barrio and I was getting more and more nervous as I had no idea where I was. At some point I saw a tube station sign, the blue and red London Underground roundel, so I asked the driver to stop and paid -with a ten bolivar note, the driver gave me another ten bolivar note back, albeit a more crumpled one. I walked towards the station and saw that… it was only a tube sign but there was no station. How could there be, this was not London. So I stood there looking down to the valley and the mountains in the distance wondering how I would get out of that place..