nayagua

xii. lavaHe did not know how long he had been asleep.Black central stalled night. He lay hot and motionless, that is, motionwas a memory he could not recover(among others) from the bottom of the vast blind kitchen where he was buried.He could feel the house of sleepersaround him like loaves on shelves. There was a steady rushing soundperhaps an electric fan down the halland a fragment of human voice tore itself out and came past, it seemedalready long ago, trailinga bad dust of its dream which touched his skin. He thought of women.What is it like to be a womanlistening in the dark? Black mantle of silence stretches between themlike geothermal pressure.Ascent of the rapist up the stairs seems as slow as lava. She listensto the blank space wherehis consciousness is, moving towards her. Lava can move as slow asnine hours per inch.Color and fluidity vary with its temperature from dark red and hard(below 1,800 degrees centigrade)to brilliant yellow and completely fluid (above 1,950 degrees centigrade).She wonders ifhe is listening too. The cruel thing is, she falls asleep listening.99