The 20 Seconds
I was in a school gym, looking at the new, varnished floor, having nothing particular to do. Then Mr. Yamashita, a gold medalist at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, came in. He was going to coach the judo team of this school today. I couldn’t see his face, but I noticed that he dropped a lit cigarette on the floor. OMG!! I stepped on it right away to put it out. I felt its warmth in the back of my right foot, but when I lifted it up, the cigarette on the floor was still burning. Why?! Why still burning?! The burning end of the cigarette was red… such a bright red color, growing larger and larger…
Someone was shaking me really roughly. I was in futon mattress on the floor in my apartment, awaking from the dream. The next thing I noticed was that no one was shaking me. And it wasn’t only me that was being shaken. The floor, the wall…. NO, THE WHOLE APARTMENT WAS SHAKING!!
It took me a few moments to realize it was an earthquake --- a big one. The whole apartment was making terrible noise. I sat on my futon but couldn’t stand up. It was as if two gigantic hands were shaking the apartment real hard, vertically, just like you do when rinsing an empty PET bottle with water. OK, it’s an earthquake. But it has to end soon. It has to. Now! Right now!! Otherwise this apartment will break down!! NO, IT HAS TO END NOW! NOW!! And still the whole world was shaking. Oh, God! Please!! Stop this! I’ll be good from now!! I won’t do anything bad any more!! So PLEASE!! STOP!! RIGHT NOW!!! I felt my vocal cords vibrating, but couldn’t hear my voice. AM I SCREAMING??!! AM I??!! OH THIS HAS TO STOP NOW!!! NOW!!! RIGHT NOW!!!
After a while, which seemed to be at least more than 5 minutes to me, the shaking began to subside, and finally stopped. (Later I found out that the shaking lasted only for 20 seconds or so.) I was still sitting on the futon mattress. Now what? What do I do? It was pitch dark, and cold, but I had no idea what I could do about them.
At 5:46AM on January 17th, 1995, I was trembling on my futon mattress in my sweatshirts/pants and bare feet, totally at a loss.
It was so dark and cold
So dark and cold
So dark and cold
So dark and cold
So dark and cold
.
.
.
.
.
Someone was shaking me really roughly. I was in futon mattress on the floor in my apartment, awaking from the dream. The next thing I noticed was that no one was shaking me. And it wasn’t only me that was being shaken. The floor, the wall…. NO, THE WHOLE APARTMENT WAS SHAKING!!
It took me a few moments to realize it was an earthquake --- a big one. The whole apartment was making terrible noise. I sat on my futon but couldn’t stand up. It was as if two gigantic hands were shaking the apartment real hard, vertically, just like you do when rinsing an empty PET bottle with water. OK, it’s an earthquake. But it has to end soon. It has to. Now! Right now!! Otherwise this apartment will break down!! NO, IT HAS TO END NOW! NOW!! And still the whole world was shaking. Oh, God! Please!! Stop this! I’ll be good from now!! I won’t do anything bad any more!! So PLEASE!! STOP!! RIGHT NOW!!! I felt my vocal cords vibrating, but couldn’t hear my voice. AM I SCREAMING??!! AM I??!! OH THIS HAS TO STOP NOW!!! NOW!!! RIGHT NOW!!!
After a while, which seemed to be at least more than 5 minutes to me, the shaking began to subside, and finally stopped. (Later I found out that the shaking lasted only for 20 seconds or so.) I was still sitting on the futon mattress. Now what? What do I do? It was pitch dark, and cold, but I had no idea what I could do about them.
At 5:46AM on January 17th, 1995, I was trembling on my futon mattress in my sweatshirts/pants and bare feet, totally at a loss.
It was so dark and cold
So dark and cold
So dark and cold
So dark and cold
So dark and cold
.
.
.
.
.
posted by obachan at 1/23/2005 01:48:00 AM
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