I was in a hospital bed chatting with doctors who thought my case was
an interesting one and I enjoyed the feeling of importance,
when an officious woman came, told me I had to go to another hospital,
she wouldn’t tell me where, but threaten me to use force if I didn’t go.
The new hospital was pleasant enough, different coloured slippers for
each illness. There was a café nearby, a male nurse followed me there
for a pizza. As we crossed the lawn I noticed I was barefoot, the nurse
didn’t mind. I really had wanted to buy cigarettes but was told I had to
drive fifty miles to the nearest tobacconist where I had to sit in a damp
cellar to smoke as it was forbidden to light up under open sky.
Looking around I remembered the landscape I told the nurse I had
a house nearby, long before the pizza hut and the hospital was built,
let’s go the there I said; and we did. Lawn all the way and the cooling
grass was pleasant to walk on. The house was in ruin this made me
sad and the nurse patted me on my shoulder and called a cab on his
cell phone. Back at the hospital I looked out of the window and saw
workmen repairing the roof. I was told the house wasn’t mine anymore
It had been empty so long that the local authorities had confiscated it.
When they gave me yellow slippers for cowardice I knew I had lost
and I would never again find my way back to my fabled childhood.
