酷我-北美枫

[Champagne]

The Reek



It had been weeks since I had awoken from a bad dream. When I woke up, I didn't open my eyes immediately. I had had the feeling of being back in a nightmare which had recurred from time to time since I was released from jail. It was always very much the same: I was standing in front of a wall of darkness, and on the other side of it there was something unendurable, something too stinking to smell.

Sometimes, I seemed to be familiar with this kind of reek. It was like the reek of human excrement, and, especially, the reek of the cell where I was jailed. The lavatory in my cell was often not functioning, and the cell stank abominably for days. One of my inmates, Paul, used the lavatory, loudly and frequently.

Thinking of the stinking smell, I couldn't help remembering Paul. It was absurd that a faithful party member like Paul committed the same crime as I did -- the thought crime.

One day, I asked Paul, "Do you think you're guilty?" "Yes, I'm guilty!" cried out Paul with a servile glance at the telescreen hung on the wall.

"You don't think the Party would arrest an innocent man, do you?" "No, definitely not." he said loudly, "The thought crime is a dreadful thing. It can get hold of you without your awareness."

"Do you want to know how it gets hold of me?" Paul leaned towards me in an eager tone with a childish facial expression, showing that he was about to disclose a top secret.

Without waiting for my response, Paul whispered, "In my dream. Yes, that's a one hundred percent fact. I used to be working hard and doing my best to fulfill my duty. I never knew I had any bad, dirty stuff in my pure mind at all," he seemed to take on a slightly sanctimonious expression, "and then I started talking in my sleep. Do you know what the secret police heard me saying?"

He sank his voice, and said, "’Down with Chairman Chiang!’ Yes, I said that over and over again. I'm glad that they got me before it went any further."

I couldn't stop my curiosity, and asked Paul, "Who denounced you?"

"It was myself." said he with doleful pride.

At the very moment, after Paul finished talking, he suddenly ripped down his shorts, and quickly plumped his fat posteriors onto the lavatory pan. He used the lavatory, loudly and frequently. It then turned out that the plug was defective, and the cell stank abominably for hours afterwards.

It had been twenty years. I couldn't believe that I still smelled the reek of my cell.
_________________
I'm Champagne,
Bottled poetry with sparkling joy.

[[Champagne]]

The Reek



It had been weeks since I had awoken from a bad dream. When I woke up, I didn't open my eyes immediately. I had had the feeling of being back in a nightmare which had recurred from time to time since I was released from jail. It was always very much the same: I was standing in front of a wall of darkness, and on the other side of it there was something unendurable, something too stinking to smell.

Sometimes, I seemed to be familiar with this kind of reek. It was like the reek of human excrement, and, especially, the reek of the cell where I was jailed. The lavatory in my cell was often not functioning, and the cell stank abominably for days. One of my inmates, Paul, used the lavatory, loudly and frequently.

Thinking of the stinking smell, I couldn't help remembering Paul. It was absurd that a faithful party member like Paul committed the same crime as I did -- the thought crime.

One day, I asked Paul, "Do you think you're guilty?" "Yes, I'm guilty!" cried out Paul with a servile glance at the telescreen hung on the wall.

"You don't think the Party would arrest an innocent man, do you?" "No, definitely not." he said loudly, "The thought crime is a dreadful thing. It can get hold of you without your awareness."

"Do you want to know how it gets hold of me?" Paul leaned towards me in an eager tone with a childish facial expression, showing that he was about to disclose a top secret.

Without waiting for my response, Paul whispered, "In my dream. Yes, that's a one hundred percent fact. I used to be working hard and doing my best to fulfill my duty. I never knew I had any bad, dirty stuff in my pure mind at all," he seemed to take on a slightly sanctimonious expression, "and then I started talking in my sleep. Do you know what the secret police heard me saying?"

He sank his voice, and said, "’Down with Chairman Chiang!’ Yes, I said that over and over again. I'm glad that they got me before it went any further."

I couldn't stop my curiosity, and asked Paul, "Who denounced you?"

"It was myself." said he with doleful pride.

At the very moment, after Paul finished talking, he suddenly ripped down his shorts, and quickly plumped his fat posteriors onto the lavatory pan. He used the lavatory, loudly and frequently. It then turned out that the plug was defective, and the cell stank abominably for hours afterwards.

It had been twenty years. I couldn't believe that I still smelled the reek of my cell.
_________________
I'm Champagne,
Bottled poetry with sparkling joy.

[Lake]

Never heard about 'the thought crime', and the psychology and psychological experiment are beyond my knowledge. It is said 日有所思，夜有所想。 I feel sorry the reek has haunted the speaker for so long and will never leave, it seems.

[[Lake]]

Never heard about 'the thought crime', and the psychology and psychological experiment are beyond my knowledge. It is said 日有所思，夜有所想。 I feel sorry the reek has haunted the speaker for so long and will never leave, it seems.

[Champagne]

Thanks for reading my story.

This is my mimicry of Orwellian "big brother" scenarios described in 1984

[[Champagne]]

Thanks for reading my story.

This is my mimicry of Orwellian "big brother" scenarios described in 1984

[ericcoliu]

[[ericcoliu]]