fourth book, beatnik bush

hermione

meet her in the forest on the run from the authorities. Garcia is with me, we have been out there for two months, killing animals to live.

I meet her, Hermione, the most beautiful girl in the world. She kisses me, gives me the flu (as she got the vaccination moments before she escaped - but she didn't tell me) I come down with the flu. For 6 days I am falling in and out of consciousness. 5 days of thunder and rain. Our camp is flooded, Hermione and her friend are taken. Garcia only just managed to escape with his life - he left me under ferns, almost half a kilometre away from camp - for 5 days it rained and I felt the rain, purifying me. For five days I drifted in and out of sleep, was I wide awake in my conscience? Was this heaven? On the 6th day Garcia came back for me. On the 6th day the sun came out, warming my bones, warming me to my core, the morning sunshine brought me back to life. But I was out there for too long, I began to burn. Before I shrivelled up to die Garcia came back. He brought me into the shade. Cooled me with the river water. Fed me fish and water from his cup. He explained to me that Hermione had been taken and that he had escaped with his life, and he apologised for leaving me here. He told me that he wanted to show me something, that it was important... but I should also be wary of my health and that I needed to rest for a few hours. For these hours I gazed upon the beauty of the place. The beautiful running water. The cool shade. The life-giving heat, the plants, the bushes, the animals, bugs and birds. In my sleep I dreamt I was in heaven. Upon waking I witnessed my dream first hand. Pure pleasure. The orchestral sounds. The perfume smells. All natural. All free, balanced, perfect, good. All too soon Garcia called me to follow him. For about 3 kilometres we walked through the bush until we

(intentionally leaving the last sentence broken. It characterises the situation we are in. It's not finished yet. It's up to us to choose what to do. To write the conclusion, so to speak. - Perhaps there could be a part 2 of the novel, who knows.)

the cool, calm peacefulness of night time.