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A Drink in The Passage by Alan Paton
A Drink in The Passage by Alan Paton
118
A R 1 CA
SG UTH
first?"
DRINK
IN
THE
PASSAGE
119
120
AFRICA
SOUTH
DRINK
IN
THE
ii
PASSAGE
,
121
122
A. F R I C A
S O U T Fi
DRINK
IN
THE
P AS S AGE
123
day. And it was a pity he was blind, and c o u l d n ' t touch m e , for
black m e n d o n ' t touch w h i t e m e n any m o r e ; only by accident,
w h e n they make something like M O T H E R A N D C H I L D .
He said to m e , " w h a t are you t h i n k i n g ? "
[ said, " m a n y t h i n g s " , and my inarticulateness distressed
me, for I k n e w he wanted something from m e . I felt h i m fall
back, angry, h u r t , despairing, I d i d n ' t k n o w . H e stopped at
t h e main entrance to the station, but I d i d n ' t tell him I c o u l d n ' t
go in t h e r e . I got out and said to him, " t h a n k you for the
sociable e v e n i n g . "
" T h e y liked having y o u , " he said.
" D i d you see t h a t ? "
I said, " y e s , 1 saw that.'*
H e sat slumped in his seat, like a man with a b u r d e n of
incomprehensible, insoluble grief. I wanted to touch h i m , but
1 was thinking about the train. He said " g o o d - n i g h t " and 1
said it t o o . W e each saluted the o t h e r . What he was thinking,
God k n o w s , but 1 was thinking he was like a man trying to r u n
a race in iron shoes, and n o t understanding why h e cannot m o v e .
W h e n I got back to O r l a n d o , I told my wife the story, and
she w e p t .
THE TOKOLOSH
by Ronald Segal
Illustrated
by David
Marais