The Call of Nature
I went along Rectory Avenue, remembering the “psychedelic tree” that stands on the corner. Once years ago I looked through it and saw each leaf move separately in the breeze and imaginatively merged with it, so that its limbs were my limbs and I felt it all at once. Now it’s strangled by ivy, but still the same tree, still standing to remind me of that momentary experience.
Just as vividly, I remember one Christmas when my younger children were little, and I thought it time to take them out from the warm house to breathe the frosty air. Rectory Avenue was a few minutes’ walk away. We made a game of looking in at Christmas lights in the big houses there. As they were mostly set far back from the road, it was no impertinence to gaze through their windows, their curtains not yet being drawn against the long dusk of these winter afternoons. In our new house we follow the Dutch custom and seldom close our curtains, though we’re only a yard from the narrow pavement, and show our Christmas tree gladly in this mainly Mahometan street.
The children were of an age for fairy tales and I wove one into our stroll: Hans Andersen’s The Little Match Girl. That urchin’s entertainment was to look into the windows of restaurants and rich people’s houses, imagining their warmth and feasts, whilst igniting her own matches one by one to try and keep frostbite at bay. We pretended to be ragged children envying the rich who lived in Rectory Avenue, with its neat gardens and fancy gates.
I passed a man yesterday on that same road, installing a new pair of very solid gates. The wood was pale, freshly planed and sanded, with the aroma of pine. It was yet to be painted with preservative, and looked good enough to eat. He was stretching over to nail up some final piece of trim, and I could see he found it hard with only two hands. I nearly offered to help, or he nearly asked for help, I am not sure which. But when our eyes made contact, the moment had passed already. He became a distant stranger like someone glimpsed from a train. Passing him again on the way back, I felt even more distant, as if he saw me as a ragged wayfarer, or an outsider like Hesse’s Steppenwolf.
Just after I’d passed by the man and his gate, I felt an urgent need to take a leak. Now I really was a miscreant wayfarer, eyeing the hedged or walled frontages for some neglected front garden, preferably of an empty house. No luck, but the end of the road faces a little park on the hillside, with children’s swings and winding paths, one of which takes you into a wood. I hastened my step, hoping to reach the desired spot undisturbed. Suddenly from nowhere a tall teenage girl appeared with a dog on a lead, going in the same direction. I overtook her in long strides, not daring to look behind me. If I got to the woodland path first, she might be dissuaded from going that way. On the other hand I didn’t want her to shun me as a possible pervert. We had made momentary eye-contact when she had first appeared and she did look attractive. Fortunately, she lagged behind, allowing me privacy to complete the mission.
Half a century earlier, I’d have slowed then, till she caught up, and addressed some friendly remarks to her dog, to see where things might lead.
8 Comments:
If I were your editor, I'd suggest, "The Lawless Bladder" as an alternate title...
I suppose that bladder lawlessness, like most forms, is more common with men than women, although in this case it seems to have less to do with innate aggressive tendencies than conveniences of equippage.
Ah yes, Paul, but nature calls in many different ways, so if you were my editor, I'd insist on the ambiguity of the original . . .
May this year be victorious for you in many ways, and i hope you will keep posting in the same inspiring way.
Try pulling off to the side of the road between Nairobi & Mombasa and trucking into the bush to relieve yourself ... not knowing what animal may or may not be watching or stalking. :o)
Isn't it funny how a moment where we can meet someone new passes in a blink of an eye ... a thought ... and inclination of introduction ... and then it is gone. Astounding!
I am finding beauty and inspiration in reading your art. In fact, it's better than anything I've read lately. I was moved by your description of the black cat, in your last post. It is just these subtle and insightful glimpses that give me a glimmer of hope. And it is my hope that I can find my voice, as eloquently as you have found yours. Lucky, lucky girl in the woods, and your truth is eye-opening.
I don't know about the roadside in Kenya, but an old lady told me how she had observed women managing by the roadside in Kashmir. This was in the nineteen-forties. There being no natural cover, they would simply squat to do their business---of whatever kind. If a vehicle came past, instinctual modesty demanded they hide their faces by lifting their skirts---exposing their busy nether parts to full view.
Malcontent, you have given me inspiration when I was almost losing hope myself! Another post is on the way and the latest two have been significantly improved by further editing. And I have glimpsed at your own blog, which I recommend to all!
Yes, well, I haven't been home in over 13 years, but I assume they still squat without cover ... I preferred to find a bush regardless of what mammal may have been lurking.
I must echo malcontent's sentiments on your writing. You can not lose hope ... as I am drawn here day after day to see what you have written next.
Riveting Vincent, a great pleasure to sit and read, and wonder. And, as usual, our subjects seem slightly synchronized, here and in the next one forward. I have always loved your writing, subjects and style.
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