A shot in the dark

Well, it was early in the morning...

When tomorrow came as it always does so early in the morning, the left-over leaves of yesterday shimmered in the slight breeze as the yeoman of the guards flew past on his bike yelling whoopee and woke everyone up from their dark sleep until they were all yawning and wishing he wouldn’t do that every morning.

Most of the hopeless and down-trodden woke up too and began to lay their traps for the day for the unwary to fall into and made it to their begging bowls before falling back asleep.

The huge border wall that had nothing better to do than hold up the sky trembled as the drug runners burrowed deep beneath it one more tunnel to the Promised Land. They never slept and like hungry dogs kept on digging day after day into their dreams hoping one day to make it there, but there was always another tunnel to dig.

So they died in their death in the dark and never made it anywhere. One such brawny roustabout was an old soldier left over from the war and who had fought on the wrong side and now didn’t know any better and so carried the lantern in the dark doom of it all and nursed the dead in their dying until they were no more.

The need’s knees of this or any other mercy was a shot in the dark to get through the pearly gates but they may as well have stayed in bed for the gates were closed on that side of heaven which of course caused much wailing that woke up the dead and set them to wailing too.

This was another reason to stay indoors for most. There were times when going outside was a necessity. The young and disillusioned had to report once a week to The Duffs Exchange to sign on and look for work; but the only work was on the chain gang and that didn’t pay much, so after the mandatory weekly signature was done they all made their way to the grave-robbers pub for a beer and maybe a job on the side for cash if they were lucky.

Such was life on the border town in the gap between things where there was no escape, even for the dead that could only wail about it and walk the streets after dark as ghostly apparitions.

The broad leaf philosophy of this was eagle claw fights tiger’s feather while wearing a shoe on the other foot of change.

But inside there was a dread of their lives and it came out as the brave face with wide staring eyes that saw little and feared everything.

The Shadow on the other hand liked nothing better than to play ghost and frighten the locals behind their locked doors with whooping in the night on the way home from the pub, and many years this went on until one night he fell down a dark well and this is why whenever anyone goes near the well these days whooping can be heard from its deep.

This added to the town’s legend as a place in question but which shouldn’t be confused with Hades which is another place altogether on the other side of the wall and can be got to by taking the number 37 bus that will get you most of the way there, or so it says in the brochures.

Now, when you add this to the soup of the day you can see why the inhabitants preferred home cooking and why the warden didn’t get out much and why the governor could be forgiven for not counting his chickens every day when the sun went down.

Not everyone had the same concerns though, there were some who had a vested interest in other things that didn’t have an expiry date, but those ones were few and far between…

“I’ve just survived an attack of doubt,” said Kafka, happily, putting the book down and scratching his head.

“Lucky you,” said Dante and thought nothing more of it.

SLEEPING IN THE GRAVEYARD

Dante picked up the candle and shone it on the sleeping girl wrapped up in her sleeping bag.

“There is no way out of here for us, the dead, no esoteric means to become the living again. Life is for the living and death is for the dead. And so, while you are living then live all you can, live well, for the dead are dead a very long time.”

The girl snored softly in her sleep and heard none of what Dante said, but in her dreaming Dante’s words caressed her heart and touched the warrior in her that was sleeping also.

End of part 37

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