A glimpse of Eternity....

So he changed his mind and took me to a big tourist hotel.

He said "I'll drop you here; I'm not going to take you.”

I pleaded with him to take me.... but he leaned over, undid my safety belt and opened the door. "Get out!” he demanded. But I couldn’t get out, I could barely move............ So he just shoved me out.


My legs caught on the doorsill so he lifted them up and pushed them out, slammed the door and drove off.

I lay there, and thought, “This world stinks.........I've seen death, hatred, violence; this is hell, this place is hell on earth. This is a filthy, sick world we live in.”

I lay there and I felt like giving up. I thought, “What's the point of even trying to get to hospital? If your number's up..... let it go, just die.”

Then my grandfather came to mind. He went through the First and Second World Wars. He'd been to Gallipoli and had fought in Egypt against Rommel. I remembered this and thought how my Granddad had survived two world wars and here was his grandson giving up because five miserable jellyfish had stung him!

So I thought, “I’ll go to the last breath....... don’t give up yet... Ian!”

Using my one remaining working arm..... I tried to drag myself towards the hotel entrance.
I could see some lights on.......

To my amazement the security guards were doing the rounds and their flashlights spotted me groveling along in the dirt.

A man came running over.
I looked up and recognised him to be one of my drinking friends...... He was a black guy called Daniel, a big lovable man.
He came running up to me and asked, "What's wrong with you, are you drunk, are you stoned, what's wrong with you?”

I pulled up my sweatshirt to show him my arm and he could see all the blisters and the swollen-ness.

He scooped me up in his arms and ran.

It was like having an angel pick me up.

He ran in.......past the swimming pool and dropped me into a cane chair.

About three metres away the Chinese hotel owners were playing mahjong and drinking. All the tourists had gone to bed, the bar was closed but they were still gambling.

Daniel dropped me there and disappeared into the darkness again.
I wondered where he had gone.... but then I realized that a black man couldn’t speak to a Chinese man in this country unless he is asked to speak.

I was going to have to try and communicate to these Chinese men myself.

So I pulled up my sleeve and showed them my swollen and blistered limb. I said, “I need to go to ‘Quartre Bonne’ hospital, immediately, I’ve been stung by five jellyfish.”
I even used some Chinese. They laughed. One of the young men got up and said “Oh white boy, heroin no good for you, only old men take the Opium.” He thought I was on drugs because I showed him my arm and from that distance it looked like I had injected myself.
to be cont'd....
Blessings,....
Yaddy.