THE SICK MAN
He didn’t touch anything for three long days, not even water.
Doctors spoke of general denial. Lying on his bed, white
already like dead, with crossed arms, speechless, with clenched
teeth. On the fourth day, he got up, like a ghost, with large eyes,
fixated on a point, not scared eyes, rather brotherly and
impenetrable; he drank a whole glass of water, wiped
his lips and talked to us with a very distant voice yet in a manner
clearly informative and impersonal. From time to time, he made
an imperceptible gesture as if he was straightening a fine fabric
on his knee, a woman’s handkerchief. This movement of his had
a strange tenderness, totally different from the tone of his voice.
Manolis Aligizakis 