Long pale

I was petrified when I was entering this planet called earth. Even the thought of it sent a shiver up my spine. I do not know, how on earth, I ever ended up here by this zebra crossing looking at the pelican sign. How a colour blind can tell when to cross a road.

Crossing this wide road and reaching the other side of the pavement, to me, is remote and frightful. In this technologically polluted world, I am not sure when it is safe to cross a road. I wonder if anyone cares to stop for me, in a world where I witnessed children tie empty drink tin cans to a dog’s tail. While the horrified dog was trying to free her tail from the rattling tin cans, children stoned her, running after her and laughing.

In a world where I witnessed a cat’s feet glued to Coke bottle tops, by some lousy guys. The terrified cat wanted to climb the wall and escape that crazy situation. But each time he desperately jumped and tried to climb, he had no chance and slipped down. Those guys were filled with joy from tormenting the poor creature.

In a world that a teenage boy had nailed a live frog to a board. He connected one end of a wire to a bulb and screwed the other two ends to the frog’s leg and its stomach, trying to obtain an electric current in order to light the torch while the frog’s heart was beating fast from the horrific pain. He had probably read in some physical or natural science book that some species of frogs produced electric currents as a means of defence.

In such a cruel and sadistic world, who cares for me, if I were crossing a road? What if an insane driver suddenly decides to crush me, while I’m crossing, just for the sake of a quick laugh?

Here I was. Cars had stopped at both sides of zebra crossing. Surely not for me. Most probably for the sake of the traffic light, whatever colour it might have been.

I took a chance and moved forward while cars were waiting for the traffic light to change. As I reached the other side of the zebra crossing and tried to reach the pavement a young boy went berserk as if he had seen a monster, run, picked up a broken brick threw it at me, screaming, snake, snake… He missed me by a fraction. Fortunately there was a hole by the wall, I quickly, moved and snuck into it. Thinking, between life and death, there is a split hair distance. But here to kindness, there is a solar year distance, in this wicked planet of earth

Fridoun