In the Absence of Absalon by Simon Okotie

Author:Simon Okotie [Okotie, Simon]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Salt Publishing Limited
Published: 2017-05-15T04:00:00+00:00

22

How, though, did he know that the car was facing in the wrong direction, he wondered, as he noticed that the key ring also had a metallic fob attached to it with a short section of chain? After all, cars did travel in that direction along the street that the car was parked alongside (albeit on the opposite side of the road). It must be a combination, then, of direction of travel plus side of street that was critical in these cases, he surmised, noticing that the metallic fob had a sequence of numbers stamped upon it; he must have used his expertise in this area instinctively in his determination in this instance, he thought.

But how did one know which side of the road was which, he now wondered, as he realised that some of the numbers matched those scribbled in ballpoint inside the book of matches? If you need assistance in this area then imagine, he thought, that you are standing in the middle of a conventional two-lane road and that it is a quiet road – this will help you keep your mind on the example since there’s nothing quite as distracting lorries, combine harvesters and tractors passing you when you are standing in the middle of a conventional road about to be given a briefing on which side of the road is which. Note that there is no need to actually physically move anywhere, unless you believe that would be of assistance to you in visualising the scenario more clearly and distinctly; and if you do feel the urge to actually move to a nearby (or more distant) similar highway (and more imaginative souls could skip the foregoing passage, he thought) then you should take care, in a number of ways: firstly you should ensure that the road is as quiet as the rural road under consideration in the imagined counterpart to your actual physical experiment; this means not too many vehicles (including cycles) – the number of pedestrians is immaterial. In fact, it would be useful to have as many as possible there, pedestrian-wise, because you would be able to pass on this briefing directly to them, that is, without bothering our investigator with it, or without them having to refer to the scenario that is currently (still geminating) in his mind – that, then, would be the most efficient means of conveying this briefing, taking as many friends and family and acquaintances with you to this quiet road so that you can demonstrate to them directly, without them having to bother themselves with the source material, as it were, how to work out which side of the road is which; you, your family, friends, acquaintances and anyone else who doesn’t fall into those four categories should all wear bright clothing (this only applies to those people who are actually going on the excursion to the quiet road; other people who fall into the now five categories (which in fact now encompass the whole of humanity)

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