FOURTEEN

He is

(swimming)

(drowning)

(dying)

(dead?)

being jostled on a bed. The room is shaking. Acutely, he becomes aware that there are other people. He can’t make them out; everything is blurry. All he can distinguish is a white cloak on every one of them. One yells something, then motions at another. A quick nip of pain in his arm and everything fades to darkness…

He is

(still)

(sinking)

(floating)

(no)

lying in another bed. The quaking is gone. The room is yellow, but a soft yellow, not that of stained teeth. A door creaks open, and his vision blurs…

He is

(alive)

FIFTEEN

(amazing grace, how sweet the sound … that saved a wretch like me)

It wasn’t in his head.

(i know that voice)

“I once was lost, but now I’m found

Was blind, but now I see.â€