Dissociation Technique

If it helps, imagine yourself in the arms of your husband.

You are an ordinary person undertaking an extraordinary task.

Your whereabouts will never be a mystery; you will be visible at all times as a dot of light on the screens of those watching over you.

Depress twice to indicate to loved ones that you are well and thinking of them.

You may feel afraid as you do this.

The Dissociation Technique

3

first thirty seconds in a person’s presence

simply the accident itself,

No one can escape death

the truck slows and, with high-powered jets of water, flushes away any remaining traces of blood.

“It’s easier with your son—daughters are more of a worry to their parents.”

“I don’t want to argue with you.”

There are happy sighs of relief. As the howling grows louder, the people around the child also come to life: it is as if they have been liberated. They rush to join the crowd by the body.

You may remember our meeting in the mist under the broken bridge. __

The front wheel of the bicycle passes the front of the bus, and the man starts pedalling harder—maybe he will just make it. At the same time, he reaches out to touch the red-and-blue checkered shade, as if he is trying to push it down. When his hand touches the shade, the carriage flies off, bouncing away on its single wheel. The man’s legs are caught as he throws up his arms and falls backward off the bicycle. In the clamor of the horn, the brakes, and the woman’s screams, but before onlookers have time to gasp, the man is crushed under the wheels of the bus. The bicycle he was riding is twisted and thrown ten feet away.

Sensation of ripping, of burning in the brain, in the scalp, with fear, with fever, with anguish. Fullness and heaviness in the forehead, as if there were a weight inside that is pushing outward: as if everything were being torn out through the forehead.

We keep telling ourselves not to brood over this occurrence, we work without admitting that now we are alone, without a horse to cover the six leagues to Puan, with provisions for a week, now being used by useless bums making the rounds of towns, now that the stupid rumor has spread that we breed mancuspias and everybody should keep clear of us for fear of infection.