Glittering Gallows

Chapter 38

241 C Chapter 38 rom a world of claustrophobic whirlwinds and roaring tempests, Katherine rose with eerie buoyancy until she began drifting among serene, purplish clouds. In the world below, the tumultuous turmoil swished, mingled, roared and hissed like a sea of beheaded gargantuan dragons. She knew that as long as she was in the sky and far above the commotion below, she couldn’t be safer. In the dark mayhem, she had escaped death, but not before a masked devil lashed at her head with a sword, almost fatally injuring her. Her forehead hurt from the assault as did the back of her head. But something irked her–her daughters, all of them; Eula, Eunice and Eurydice, were running helter-skelter naked and in dread. Their nudity didn’t pique them, but the dangerous environment. When she rose into the air, her daughters were bumping into each other and falling, colliding with the masked devil and falling again, and fleeing in confused circles such that their tormentor wasn’t bothered by their attempts to escape from him. It appeared there were invisible cords leashing them to posts in the heaving ground. The scenario was like a substandard opera. The clouds were coy and warm, but her mind swarm. She looked up to see what lay above the clouds. Was there yet another sky above the sky? She strained to look up. Katherine’s eyes pried open. She was lying on a hospital bed. Tubes and electric wires linked her to machines and gadgets semisurrounding the bed. Her head hurt and she was weak. Careful not to jerk the intravenous tubes attached to her arm, she felt her head. It was bandaged around the temples leaving a tonsure-like egg-plain crown. Just then a door opened. Moagi Makgunda walked in carrying a banquet of flowers. He dropped them and rushed to her bedside on seeing that her eyes were open. “What happened?” She asked him, her voice panicky. F 242 “Thank God you’re back!” He exclaimed, clasping her right hand in his. “What happened? What I’m doing here?” “You walked in your sleep two days ago.” She looked at him perplexed. “I’ve never walked in my sleep all my life.” “Believe me, sweetheart. You sleepwalked.” “How did I get hurt?” “You tumbled down a staircase. I heard you screaming as you fell. By the time I got to the foot of the staircase you were bleeding and unconscious. You don’t remember anything?” “How bad are my wounds?” “There’re four stitches on you brow and a few minor head bruises.” She shut her eyes, thinking, shuddered and opened them. “Where were you when I fell?” “It’s my fault. I was in bed sleeping, honey. I didn’t hear you leave the bed.” He paused and sighed in exasperation. “I might’ve restrained you at least. You need to collect yourself.” She stared at the ceiling. A gavotte of images flashed in her mind in recollection. Her face creased. “I had a bad dream,” she began thoughtfully. “Tell me about it.” “I dreamt of Rasputin... Gregory Rasputin, would you believe it? He chased me in the house.” She paused and sighed. “I remember waking up and looking for you,” she said thoughtfully. “The time was 02:20 hrs. You weren’t in bed with me at that hour, were you, Moagi?” “Take it easy, Katy. What did you do when you thought you woke up?” “I was weak and drowsy. I went into our bathroom. You weren’t inside, but water was running in a sink. I remember knocking the porcelain cat on the shelf. It shattered on the tiles. I left the bedroom and began looking for you in the girls’ bedrooms. I broke many vases and wall-hangings.” She stared at him for confirmation. 243 His response was long in coming as if an obstruction was in his throat; for some time his lips moved, but no words formed. “The passage was a mess. You walked like a blind goat.” “That means I wasn’t dreaming. It doesn’t make my life more bearable. I wish I could take my life.” “What’re you talking about, Katy? You aren’t suicidal for God’s sake.” “I saw you, Moagi,” she said in an acidic voice, her eyes searching inside his. He avoided eye contact by looking at her brow. “Where was...