They passed a sentence. I’ll be executed and two friends. They said it be by euthanasia which had nipped off before a friend of ours. We groped for meaning…what did they really mean? We were left free, unguarded, unbarred. It is to be a grace, death by a mercy killing. It’s to be performed by a middle-aged woman with an innocent face. The end will be painless but is death anyway.I spoke with my mother and my friends ritually before the painless rite. Can I escape? Everybody agreed that I should go while my two friends waited for the woman. As I walked out after they’d given me all the money they had I faced the benign lady. Close to my house. Neither of us looked into the other. She passed by me and waded off and I trooped past her and began to run looking over my shoulder for another land.
Translated by Tabia Ammar
