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Direction |
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Kethry Member Rara Avis
since 2000-07-29
Posts 9082Victoria Australia 
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Why do they always put the numbers running the wrong way when I’m late? 76…78… 80…88…Wait, go back, it has to be here somewhere. It’s vital I find it. Move slowly, cruise past, it has to be there, they can’t skip it’s not legal. It’s not possible Late, I’m so late. Why does this always happen to me when I’m running late? Let me see south and east the map book is held the right way up, north and west upside down. I think that’s correct or is it south and west right way…no it’s definitely the first way. The directory is spinning like a gyroscope matching my eyes, which travel in different directions but don’t see. “Twelve days late and a labour to kill a horse, she never had no consideration. It’s not like she coulda got lost in the birth canal. Is it? I mean it’s because of her. I never had no other children.” Scanning for numbers definitely 80, 80a, 82, 82a, 88. What the demonspawn have they done with 86? I’m so late. I need to get there on time. I need to get there. Tears run freely. Looking right, left, left. Tears winding down sniffing back, like thoughts in a maze with no way out. There has to be a way out! “Left, left, left right left, Get it right Clara. If you can’t tell your right from your left how will you ever fit in with the marching group? Ok try again. Left, right, left right. No! You turn left, LEFT. It’s a quadrangle, you can’t get lost in a quadrangle. Well nobody on God’s green earth could - except for you.” Should I stop and ask directions? There’s no-one about, just when I damnwell need someone, the street’s as deserted as a birth canal thirty minutes after the birth. Stop the car at the end of the street. Get out and walk. Remember to breathe in and out. Now march, head held up, left, right, left right. Skip a bit, left, left right. Remember to breathe. Look carefully. It has to be here. It has to. “What I’m going to say is important and I’m only saying it once - so listen. This is left,that is right.” “You stupid bloody woman, you couldn’t find your way out of a paper bag with directions and a compass! We’re going to Hawthorn, not bloody Dandenong. Can’t you tell left from right, this from that. You’re bloody hopeless. That’s what you are.” Stop and squint, definitely no 86. Definitely lost –again. Tears flow great racking sobs shake me. Uncontrollable hysteria. Slide to the pavement uncaring, unseeing. A hand on my shoulder, gentle, tentative. “Are you alright dear?” Looking up I see a wizened old lady, someone who looks as out of place in this world as I feel. “I’m sorry, I’m lost. I need to find 86 Commercial Road. I can’t find it anywhere.” “Ah you want the clinic! You’ve made a mistake. Lots of people do. This is Commercial Way. - I live here. Why don’t you come inside? I could make you a cup of tea and we could talk. Perhaps I can help you?” Hours later, it feels like decades, I leave, calm and collected. “Will you be alright dear?” - “Can you find your way to the clinic now?” “I’m not going to the clinic. I’ve changed my mind. I was lost but now I’ve found my way. Thank you for setting me in the right direction. I’ll be okay now.” Sitting in the car wearing the charm bracelet, a relic of an older time I realise it’s on my left hand, perhaps it’s always been there. Here in the midst of my lonely abyss, a single joy I find...your presence in my mind. Unknown |
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| © Copyright 2004 Lynne Dale - All Rights Reserved | |||
suthern
since 1999-07-29
Posts 20723Louisiana |
You write the frenzy of being lost... and the despair of always accepting what's been said about you rather than what might really be... so very well... The tension develops to where my own foot stomped in frustration at the similarly named streets. *S* Excellent write! |
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JL Member Ascendant
since 2004-04-01
Posts 6128Texas, USA |
As we collect our thoughts, remember, or reminisce then we do realize the hectic frenzy was all for not. I felt this one deeply... Very nice write Kethry. JL She said: ”You look cute in the dark.” |
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Sunshine
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354Listening to every heart |
I don't see this as lost in the sense of direction when it comes to a map; I sense a frenzy at being told to do something that goes against our grain, our morality, our sensibilities. I sense a woman who was told to perform an act so heinous to her, that she could not comprehend following through with it. Her "better self" lost her way there, on Commercial... until it was found, with a kind word, a cup of tea, and a reason learned NOT to go to the clinic. Bravo, Kethry! |
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Dautz Write Member
since 2004-11-16
Posts 96 |
Great gads! All this direction stuff is right up my alley! I couldn't stop reading this, shaking my head all the way. Enjoyed. Dautz Write... |
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