I
was trekking along
that old dirt path to the well. I
carried an old bucket in my right hand. Around me, there was a
paucity
of people. Well, that was usual. It was the early morning. Judging
from where the sun is, it's probably nigh on the sixth hour. My bare
feet scraped on the ground, every footstep making a little sound.
Chuff. Chuff. Chuff. Chuff.
My
thoughts wandered, but my body automatically followed the daily route
to the well. I could see it about a hundred metres away, sitting in
the open, as the day began to brighten. I wondered mutely
whether I would ever have a different life, whether I would have to
walk this long and odiously
insipid
walk everyday, for the rest of my life.
As
I reached the well, an image flashed into my mind. It was an image
I'd never seen. I was a little stunned for a moment. It was such a
strange image, and I had no memory of ever seeing it. In
the image,
there
was a big...hole in the ground, and metal fencing around the rim of
the hole. The walls of the hole were made of planks of wood, and the
wooden planks went all the way down to the bottom, the hole got
smaller the further down you looked. There were people leaning on the
fence. Their faces looked calm, and not amazingly interested. But
what they were looking at was definitely interesting. In this image,
a car was driving on the walls of the hole, on the wooden planks. The
man in the driver's seat had a bit more than half of his body out of
the window, his hands held high in the air. But I don't know if the
car was moving. Perhaps it is a model, a dummy, a fake, but perhaps
he is driving the car with his feet, and the car really is moving. I
can't say, I have only that single frame.
As
I reached my abode
many minutes later, I wondered, where that image came from? That
picture was planted in my brain forever, and it still remains. I
often wonder about it. About the intrepid
man
driving the car, the people looking on with little interest. That
image was planted in my brain, and it still remains. But it will
always be a mystery to me.
