Gourmandise And Perdition

My old friends (hot fever and backache) have returned
after reading The Enchanted Horse and a few pages of
Pyramids I tried to sleep, in vain, bored with my thoughts.
This is why people enjoy horror movies: Anything is better
than boredom, being scared out of your mind or feeling
shock and disgust is better than rolling over and over!

It has been so long since I had to sleep on the floor; the
tiles are so cold… Looking back; I have lost today. The
foods I consumed – curry mince on Friday, cream caramel
on Sunday – messed up my system to such an extent pills
could not suppress the headache, I could not think or
accomplish anything all day.

In the end, when I asked for extension to eat lunch with my
colleagues and you got angry, I gave up, left the lunch
uneaten and went home with you to continue the day
under the bane of the headache.

Like a good little Calvinist I counted my many blessings: I did
not run out of fuel though the fuel gage said empty, I did not
hit you with a hammer, did not tell you what I thought of your
demeanour - everyone’s health is fine, the sun shone today,
nobody that I know of has ever died of boredom, I did not
throw burning oil all over you – however tempting
the prospect…

Sitting here, a million cicadas singing in my ears, headache
intensifying, unwilling to do anything, yet unable to continue
in this molasses of nothingness, I try to while away the time
by making new resolutions: Getting onto the straight and
narrow and staying there, not forking down the wide, happy
road of gourmandise and perdition, no more experimenting
with food; finding better books to read when I feel ill – the
books I have are not riveting enough…