Samsa was now a human. He’d recently become a human after his architect decided to put a human heart in him and give him feelings. The five litres of blood that now pumped around his body warmed him up. It made for incredible nose bleeds, spasms, cramps and bruising, to name o nly a small fraction of the symptoms, but his architect assured him that it would all be worth it and that he'd feel normal very soon. He didn't know what normal was, but he knew it wasn't puking and shitting and bleeding all over the place for the first two months and then just feeling terrible for several weeks after that. Human life is agony, he thought, but he trusted the process. One day, a little over twelve weeks after the operation, he woke up from his first good night's sleep and was able to open the curtains without the light splitting his skull in two. Samsa had known Shabeezi before she became a human woman. All they had done was fight. Samsa especially liked doing flying
Fascinating stuff, Tom! Was your grandfather in the Glosters? Were the Hiroshima pictures his own and, if so, did he serve in WWII also?
ReplyDeleteI used to know an ex-Major ( sadly gone now ) who fought at the Battle Of Imjin River in Korea, where the Gloucester Regiment made a brave stand against overwhelming Chinese forces. He was captured and tortured but still maintained his enthusiasm for the army in the years after his military service. They were made of strong stuff in those days!
Hi Simon. No one really knows much about his time in Korea. It obviously had a great impact on him as he promised to name his first son Kim after (it is assumed) someone he met out there. His first son was my dad. Granddad was too young to serve in WWII so, again, I assume the photos that appear in his scrap book were given to him by fellow soldiers who had. Apparently he was part of The Welch Regiment rather than The Royal Welch Fusiliers, two army regiments posted there. A grainy picture of my Granddad's cap badge in one of the pictures would seem to corroborate this.
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