Chapter 26: “Who’ll Look Me Up When I Am Gone?”
[Here’s a little scene that transpires
about a half of a century subsequent
to the previous scene; our location
is the bedroom of Mr. Dougless
Ridenhour.]
I can hear myself say it aloud
in the middle of an unusually
quiet night, as my eyes slam
open. Confused, desperate,
I feel my eyes flutter uncon-
trollably, a sort of half-wince
reaction to the sound of my voice
and what it has just uttered be-
tween fits and starts of disturbed
slumber. It is a dramatic night
indeed, as just as suddenly, I am
back down into semi-consciousness
and then further and further still,
so that I am, while sharply aware,
unable to even feel the mechanics
of the rasped rattlings that come
from mid-way down my throat,
incapable of hearing what surely
comes as a loud and breathy
wail: “But I am still here!!”
[Here’s a little scene that transpires
about a half of a century subsequent
to the previous scene; our location
is the bedroom of Mr. Dougless
Ridenhour.]
I can hear myself say it aloud
in the middle of an unusually
quiet night, as my eyes slam
open. Confused, desperate,
I feel my eyes flutter uncon-
trollably, a sort of half-wince
reaction to the sound of my voice
and what it has just uttered be-
tween fits and starts of disturbed
slumber. It is a dramatic night
indeed, as just as suddenly, I am
back down into semi-consciousness
and then further and further still,
so that I am, while sharply aware,
unable to even feel the mechanics
of the rasped rattlings that come
from mid-way down my throat,
incapable of hearing what surely
comes as a loud and breathy
wail: “But I am still here!!”
