Little Place of Forgetting - Brass Window Books

Chapter Five: A Beautiful New World
Ilooked out over a field where filthy four-legged
creatures rooted and burrowed in whitish mud. Some of
them slept and some of them ate. Some of them dug for
food. Some of them fornicated. Some of them fought and some of
them died. They were human beings.
I was on top of a hill, looking down at them. The hazy sun
baked the white mud into a thin crust in patches. Worms and insects
made the mud writhe under the surface. One of the human beasts
fell into a pool and was eaten alive by tiny fish while he bleated like
a sheep.
Someone was standing behind me. He put his warm, damp
hand on my shoulder, and crooned in my ear.
“Look at the beautiful new world we are building in your
hearts.”
I had been awake for a long time, staring at the ceiling. I
wanted to get up and lick some water from the damp stone, to
soothe my throat. But I couldn’t move; I didn’t have the strength. I
no longer had the will.
“If I sleep,” I told myself, “I probably won’t die tonight. I’ll
wake up tomorrow morning and I’ll get some water. I’ll be able to
do it.”
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