Category: Love

Every metropolis, every city, every town
has a hierarchy –
pyramid,
smaller = steeper.

They said the population on a good day
was 200 or 300
give or take a hundred. It didn’t matter
everyone knew her parents ranking.
I or 2
probably 1.
There were rumours
stories of a wilful teenager
high spirits or habits or vice – spite could choose.
I’d never been witness
but listened and wondered
until I saw the Community Centre …. and didn’t.

Trashed.
Condomed.
Bottled.
Roached.
Body waste-d.

Sarah from the committee ignored it all :
the overcast stench
the nihilistic eruptions 
the graffiti of disrespect –
the only person not outraged or schadenfreude-d
“Poor Katey, she’s only 16,
and done it all ……
she’s got nothing to look forward to.”

We got in early –
too early for the banks
9 a.m. in the days before
10 days in the wilderness – the southwest
rugged and beautiful and lonely
even by the standards of a rugged, beautiful, lonely country.
Left our packs at the bus station,
lighter – 29 kg on day 1
and lighter headed … we’d done it!
But, until the banks opened, no celebration –
two weeks of dried pasta and dehydrated vegetables
something else pleeeeease.
“What’s in kitty?” –
a handful of coins and soon to be extinct $2 note.

It was a 24-hour place
something between McDonald’s and KFC
not expensive ….. but even then …
“not enough for…
…… we could order some extras …”
We did the maths
1 coffee, 1 bread roll, 2 roast potatoes –
“each? Yup.”

The man on the till took the money,
said nothing –
only the price.
When he brought the food to the table
he moved quickly –
no words –
no eye contact.
Two coffees
and
two plates : three bread rolls six potatoes –
full,
both.

It’s probable we had seen her before
but people look different in uniform
and even more out of ….
no one had the presence of mind to ask her name.
She approached us at the funeral
afterwards, outside the church
in that no man’s land between service and cemetery
Grandma,
no longer present, but not quite gone.

She had been one of the nurses –
she said
“your grandmother took a long time to die
endured much discomfort and pain
as did those who tended her and witnessed it.”
She told us –
one day it was too much
she broke into tears sobbing, “you shouldn’t have to suffer like this.”
Grandma took her hand
placed it between both of her own
and said
“it is better that I have this than a small child.”