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114|Like A Pendulum

Author: Val Sims
last update Last Updated: 2025-04-13 22:04:04
"First time?" asked Thabo, Lev's mortuary technician friend. His brilliantly white teeth, as he smiled at Andrei, were a stark contrast to his smooth mahogany skin.

"Hardly," Andrei replied and quickly shut his mouth, afraid if he didn't, the unbearably warm stench would creep into him and taint every inch of his soul.

They passed several closed doors as Thabo led them down an endless corridor. He candidly explained that the air-conditioning system was out of order, hence the humidity and smell.

"We logged it two days ago, but they have yet to send the technicians to fix it. I guess no one cares about the material comforts of the dead," he said, taking them deeper into the bowels of the morgue.

Just when Andrei began to think the man had no idea where they were going, Thabo abruptly stopped in front of a cavernous room whose metal doors were wide open, like a gaping mouth.

"There they are," he said, pointing at several bodies lying on cadaver carriers.

"Why are they out in the o
Val Sims

Translation: Afrikaans "Ons het gekom so gou ons kon. Die polisie het sy rybewys gevind. Maar ek dink nie dit is hy nie. Sê vir my dis nie my Jannie nie. Sê vir my dis nie my man nie. Hy moes by die werk gewees het." "Hy werk as bestuurder, jy sien, in die suide.. Dit kan nie hy wees nie. Dis nie Jannie nie." English: "We came as soon as we could. The police found his driver's license. But I don't think it's him. Tell me it's not my Jannie. Tell me it's not my husband. He must have been at work." "He works as a manager in a mine, in the south, you see...It can't be him. It's not Jannie."

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