3641. ENGINE ROLL-UP AND I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M DOING

ENGINE ROLL-UP 

AND I DON'T KNOW 

WHAT I'M DOING

Come forth from Elandraville,

friendly dog. That old South African

enclave was once my home too, and

I've not met anyone hailing from

there since 1982. Let's put down

the window glass, roll the awning

out, and just sit here glaring at

some wicked high tea and lemonade.

-

It was a very old Anglia she was 

driving, and he came by  -  and

unbelievably so  -  in what was,

back then, called a Humber 

Super-Snipe, a real 1960's car.

Parked together like that, even

their silly cars looked like sweethearts

on the South African veldt.

-

Yes,then, we just sat and waited.

They were still fighting harshly in

Vietnam  -  crazy American troops

and their allied British support-force

fools. Oh, everyone died together and

I guess it really made no difference.

While, here, in this swell place, the

blacks (as I would call them there)

had better, you said, 'keep their

place, mend their ways, and 

stay abreast of repercussion.'

-

Stay abreast of repercussion! What

a crazy phrase  -  I thought about it

and thought some more, over and over

turning the words : by repercussions

did you not mean retribution? And could

you not just have spoken that instead?

-

No, I guess not. In its place, murder on the

farmsteads, fiery necklaces of burning tires

'round dead men's necks, and  - of course  -

damned snookers and  tea at either noon 

or one, (I truly do forget).