Life and Times of Michael K by J M Coetzee

Author:J M Coetzee
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781409027645
Publisher: Random House

THERE IS A new patient in the ward, a little old man who collapsed during physical training and was brought in with very low respiration and heartbeat. There is every evidence of prolonged malnutrition: cracks in his skin, sores on his hands and feet, bleeding gums. His joints protrude, he weighs less than forty kilos. The story is that he was picked up all by himself in the middle of nowhere in the Karoo, running a staging post for guerrillas operating out of the mountains, caching arms and growing food, though obviously not eating it. I asked the guards who brought him why they made someone in his condition do physical exercise. It was an oversight, they said: he came with the new intake, the processing was taking a long time, the sergeant in charge wanted to give them something to do while they waited, so he made them run on the spot. Couldn’t he see this man was incapable? I asked. The prisoner didn’t complain, they replied: he said he was fine, he had always been thin. Can’t you tell the difference between a thin man and a skeleton? I asked. They shrugged.

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