Disco for the Departed by Colin Cotterill

Author:Colin Cotterill
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: For the Benefit of Mr. Kite
Published: 2005-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

11

A Thoroughly Decent Proposal

Mr Geung had been in the tree for eighteen hours. He could tell the time quite well but his watch was hidden safely under a loose tile beneath his bed at Mahosot. So, eighteen hours was a guess. It could have been three hours or a week. He still had food and some water, but he was missing sleep. He hadn’t been able to work out how to catch a little shut-eye without falling to the ground. His shoulder ached but he’d changed the dressing as instructed and the wound looked free of infection. He was something of an authority on the look of wounds but only now realised how badly they hurt. Climbing up the tree hadn’t helped in that regard. He was quite proud of himself that he’d been able to get as high as he did with one arm. He’d never been much of a tree climber, but then again he’d never had such an incentive.

The tiger hadn’t chased him up the tree, not in the sense that the animal runs, is about to pounce, and the prey is forced to scurry up to a high branch in panic. That hadn’t been the way it happened. Geung had been sitting waiting for the sun to return to his shoulder strap when he noticed the tiger at the edge of the clearing. The only time he had ever seen anything like it was at the last New Year show. It had been apparent then, from the reaction of the audience, that large cats with fangs were fearsome creatures. By the end of the show, he’d been as nervous as all the other onlookers. The sense of danger is contagious, and that is just as well, for, without it, he might very well have approached the animal to make friends. If the tiger had been of a mind, she could have attacked and devoured Mr Geung during any one of his eleven attempts to get up the tree. It was, however, daylight, and her prey was still strong. She had him cornered and weakness would soon overcome him.

Dtui and Geung sat there in the tree exchanging jokes and laughing at their predicament. They kept each other awake. Once, when the tiger attempted to climb up after them, Dtui egged on her champion as he poked at the drooling mouth of the cat with a dry twig. It was fun having his friend there. Only the fatigue and discomfort stopped it from being a most enjoyable adventure.

♦

Dtui was in the sleeping ward. Again the image of Geung came into her head. If only there were a telephone in the morgue she might have phoned to see if everything was well. The bed vacated by Mrs Nuts was now being used by little Panoy. She still hadn’t regained consciousness but her pulse was as strong as a horse’s. Dtui could recognise all the signs of a fighter in her. She’d already made up her mind to do all

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