Microsoft Word - KoboAbe-WomanInTheDunes.doc by the woman in the dunes

Author:the woman in the dunes
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2011-11-27T17:26:02.225000+00:00

"Well, if we just got down to work… in no time at all they'd…"

"All right. You win. I can't help it. I give in." In his heart he had not given in for a minute. But this was certainly no way to die… he was not a dried sardine, after all. Yet he would have made a fool of himself for anyone to see if only he could get hold

of some water.

"I really give in. But it's pretty bad to make us wait until the regular delivery.

We can't very well work when we're

this dried out, can we? Get in touch

with them right away… please. Aren't

you thirsty too?"

"They'll know the minute we begin to work. There's always someone watching with binoculars from the fire tower."

"The fire tower . . what fire tower?"

More than iron doors, more than walls, it is the tiny peephole that really makes the prisoner feel locked in. Distressed, the man hastily went back through his memories of the village.

He remembered the horizon of sand and sky. There was no place for a fire tower to be. Moreover, he could not believe that he and the woman could be seen from the outside while they could see no one from where they were.

"You'll understand if you'll take a look by the edge of the cliff out back."

He meekly bent down and picked up the shovel. To worry about his self-respect after all that happened would be like ironing a grimy shirt.

He went out as if driven.

The sand was burning like an empty pot over a fire. The glare took his breath away. The air that filled his nostrils smelled of soap. But with each step he was getting that much closer to water. When he stood under the cliff on the sea side and looked up, he could make out the top of a black tower about the size of the tip of his little finger. The thornlike projection was doubtless a lookout. Had he already been noticed? The lookout had doubtless been waiting gloatingly for this moment.

He turned toward the black thom and, holding the shovel over his head, waved it furiously baclc and forth. He adjusted the angle of the blade so that it would reflect into the eyes of the watcher. A film of burning quicksilver spread over his eyes. Whatever was the woman doing? She had better come and help right away.

Suddenly a cool shadow fell over him like a damp handkerchief: a cloud had crossed above, like some fallen leaf driven before the wind into a corner of the sky. Damn it… if it would only rain he would not have to do this. He would hold out his two hands and they would be filled with water. Streams of water on the windowpanes… pillars of water bursting from the eaves troughs… splashing rain veiling the asphalt.

He did not know whether he was dreaming or whether his musings had become real, but suddenly he was aware of a commotion around him.

Coming to himself, he found that he was in the midst of a sand slide.

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