Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Elocution

elocution \el-uh-KYOO-shuhn\, noun:
the art of speaking or reading clearly in public, including gestures, pronunciation, and tones

They were going to let him say something before they flipped the switch.
Most guys he talked to before their Long Walk said it didn't much matter to them. What was saying something profound going to do for them? Where they were going, it wasn't no stage. There wasn't going to be no acceptance speech. There would be no award handed out, unless perhaps you were thinking of the people there to watch the proceedings, the...festivities.
No, most men he talked to advised him to simply enjoy his last meal, say a prayer to the Guy-in-Charge, and try not to think of anything. Remembering the past, loved ones, happier days, would only aggravate the situation, they told him. It was best to remain numb, pretend as if he were already dead.
But none of it helped. How does one march calmly to one's death?

Imagine a deer, standing stiffly, staring down the barrel of a gun as the trigger is pulled, simply waiting for the bullet to pierce him
. Imagine a man standing with his arms and legs spread wide in the path of a train, its headlights illuminating his body, creating a bulls-eye of light in the darkness, not stopping, but instead, speeding up. Imagine a crowd of people watching, eagerly awaiting for what they have come to see.

This is what he thinks about the night before. He has asked for a pen and a pad of paper. He has eaten his steak dinner, tasted his last fudge sundae, even indulged in a single cigarette. Now he fidgets with the pen, scribbles down these sharp images, startled by his own dark thoughts. But on a night like this, could they be any other hue?
He wants to say something. Say something. Something.
He wants to say he didn't do it.
But he wonders, if in the end, it really even matters.

1 comment:

  1. I wanted to read something different at the end. I was hoping it would be a sketch on the paper instead of words. Great work though. I like you switching between double negatives and proper english. Bravo.

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