Want to experience something eerie? How about walking through a Ukrainian alleyway alone at midnight when the lights go out. You’ll never feel so far away from anything you know, there, in the pitch black of night, with no sound in either direction, unable to see where your next step forward will land, searching your shoulder bag for a flashlight. And then, from seemingly nowhere, a man appears in front of you with his hand out. “Do you have a cigarette?” he says. “No, I’m sorry,” you say. He seems not to mind. He sort of half grins. He’s fine, numb from all the booze he’s drunk tonight. But as you excuse yourself and pass the man, who’s swaying there from side to side, he makes his hand into a pistol, raises it to your head, aims and fires one shot at point blank range. The rest of the way home you take the main roads, checking over your shoulder every few steps, counting the clicks of your boot heels, estimating the number of steps it will take to reach your home, each one bringing you closer to safety.
Jul
02