The Women I Think About at Night by Mia Kankimäki

Author:Mia Kankimäki
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2020-11-10T00:00:00+00:00

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[LETTER IN A BOTTLE IN THE OGOOUÉ RIVER]

Dear Mary,

When I think of you at night, I think especially of all those basic things in life that you as a single woman had to deal with in the jungle: washing, eating, sleeping, the humid heat, headache, dizziness, fear.

I wonder how I would feel if I was suffering an infernal malaria migraine and all there was to eat and drink were beetle elytra and boiled river water. Or if I happened to wander into the village of the reputedly bloodthirsty Fang while I was on my period? (What did you use for pads, anyway? Tree leaves? Or did you wash your cloth rags at night in some river churning with hippos?) And would my corset start to pinch if the hut I was sleeping in reeked of rotting human hands and eyeballs? Would I start to panic if I was holding the last tin of smoked herring in my hand? Or if I ran out of tea, my beloved Japanese genmaicha, without which I never go anywhere, because its familiar scent gives me a safe, homey feeling and wraps me in a calming bubble in unfamiliar places?

Could I really sustain that unquenchable attitude of joy and good cheer the way you did? Could I remember to maintain a light, self-ironic touch and a sense of humor black as pitch? Could I keep penning droll quips diary page after diary page? Would I be able to view everything I did as if from the outside, and make of it sheer slapstick?

I wish I could!

Your M

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