VernonDent

VernonDent t1_je59ceh wrote

I'll just leave this here:

In the Ruins

by Roald Dahl

IN THE RUINS

>!Somewhere among the bricks and stones, I came across a man sitting on the ground in his underpants, sawing off his left leg. There was a black bag beside him, and the bag was open, and I could see a hypodermic needle lying there among all the rest of the stuff.!<

>!“Do you want some?” he asked, looking up.!<

>!“Yes, please,” I said. I was going crazy with hunger.!<

>!“I don’t mind giving you a bit so long as you will promise to produce the next meal. I am quite uncontaminated.”!<

>!“All right,” I said. “Yes.”!<

>!“Caudal injection,” he said. “Base of the spine. You don’t feel a thing.”!<

>!I found a few bits of wood, and I made a fire in the ruins, and started roasting a piece of the meat. The doctor sat on the ground doing things to the stump of his leg.!<

>!A child came up, a girl of about four years old. She had probably seen the smoke from the fire or smelled the smell of cooking, I don’t know which. She was very unsteady on her feet.!<

>!“Do you want some, too?” the doctor asked.!<

>!She nodded.!<

>!“You’ll have to pay it back later,” the doctor said.!<

>!The child stood there looking at the piece of meat that I was holding over the fire on the end of a bent curtain rod.!<

>!“You know something,” the doctor said, “with all three of us here, we ought to be able to survive for quite a long time.”!<

>!“I want my mummy,” the child said, starting to cry.!<

>!“Sit down,” the doctor told her. “I’ll take care of you.”!<

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