TE19 Iberian Adventure

My Plague Diary (excerpts) Gonçalo M. Tavares Translated from Portuguese by Daniel Hahn

19 May

Cars motionless for a long time.

Someone heard a strange sound in the engine, before it started up.

After a month and a half.

The engine doesn’t usually make noise when the car is stopped.

The lid of the machine, and there the noise was.

Not an engine noise, a mouse noise.

Lots of peaceful little mice who’ve taken over the engine like a cold metallic nest.

TomWaits, Chocolate Jesus.

The first song the engine has heard in weeks.

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