TE23 Double Feature

Anke Laufer

“The Island”

“The Island”

Now, two years later, I’m back. The day has been much too hot again – a sign that everyone can now read. The carpark is almost deserted. I am sitting in my van, sweating and looking out at the woods, which all at once seem sparse to me and strangely empty, as if the wolves had left for good. Just look at those bats. Do you see them dancing? The world changes. What remains to us is hope. I take another sip of coffee and wait.

And while you scan the shrubs and brush you will barely notice the supportive grip under your shoulder that holds you firm, nor the straight-back razor tucked beneath your neck; the confounding, the understanding that comes with it Matt Bryden 12:13 First stop, Nachtweihe Services. The sun at its zenith. There it is again: the terrible blue of the cloudless sky. Layers of air are shimmering over the tarmac as you make your list of words on the way to the bathroom, an old habit: Firebrand. Fireball. Wildfire. Hellfire. In the silence of the air-conditioned sanitary facility, your wanderlust splashes and trickles away.

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