De Canadese schrijver en scenarist Patrick deWitt werd geboren op 6 maart 1975 op Vancouver Island. Zie ook alle tags voor Patrick deWitt op dit blog.
Uit: The Sisters Brothers
“He does not drink often, but when he finally lifts his bottle, he lifts it to become completely drunken. He pays for his whiskey with raw gold dust that he keeps in a leather pouch worn on a long string, this hidden in the folds of his many-layered clothing. He has not once left the town since I have been here and I do not know if he plans to return to his claim, which sits some ten miles east of Sacramento (map enclosed). Yesterday in a saloon he asked me for a match, addressing me poli
tely and by name. I have no idea how he knew this, for he never seemed to notice that I was following him. When I asked how he had come to learn my identity he became abusive, and I left. I do not care for him, though there are some who say his mind is uncommonly strong. I will admit he is unusual, but that is perhaps the closest I could come to complimenting him.’
Next to the map of Warm’s claim, Morris had made a smudged drawing of the man; but he might have been standing at my side and I would not have known it, it was so clumsy a rendering. I mentioned this to Charlie and he said, ‘Morris is waiting for us at a hotel in San Francisco. He will point Warm out and we will be on our way. It’s a good place to kill someone, I have heard. When they are not busily burning the entire town down, they are distracted by its endless rebuilding.’
‘Why doesn’t Morris kill him?’
‘That’s always your question, and I always have my answer: It’s not his job, but ours.’
‘It’s mindless. The Commodore shorts me my wage but pays this bumbler his fee and expenses just to have Warm tipped off that he is under observation.’
You cannot call Morris a bumbler, brother. This is the first time he has made a mistake, and he admits his error openly. I think his being discovered says more about Warm than Morris.’
‘But the man is spending the night in the streets. What is holding Morris back from simply shooting him as he sleeps?’
‘How about the fact that Morris is not a killer?’
‘Then why send him at all? Why did he not send us a month ago instead?’
‘A month ago we were on another job. You forget that the Commodore has many interests and concerns and can get to them but one at a time. Hurried business is bad business, these are words from the man himself. You only have to admire his successes to see the truth in it.’
It made me ill to hear him quote the Commodore so lovingly. I said, ‘It will take us weeks to get to California. Why make the trip if we don’t have to?’
‘But we do have to make the trip. That is the job.’
De Australische dichter en academicus Paul Hetherington werd geboren op 6 maart 1958 in Rose Park, Adelaide. Zie ook alle tags voor Paul Hetherington op dit blog.
Lente
Deze weken hebben een zorgwekkende intensiteit.
De zon prikkelt de bloesems van de acacia,
geel als reddingsvesten, vogels
barsten uit in een lied, en avonden worden langer.
De laatste tijd leek op een samenraapsel van jaren,
verstrikt op de spoel van dit seizoen,
die zich dan snel afwikkeleden, gedachten terugjagend
naar een samengeklonterde en verwrongen liefde,
naar uren besteed aan het vergaren
van deze ongemakkelijke pijn, deze fragiele bloemen.
Vertaald door Frans Roumen
Zie voor nog meer schrijvers van de 6e maart ook mijn blog van 6 maart 2020 en ook mijn blog van 6 maart 2019 en ook mijn blog van 6 maart 2016 deel 2 en eveneens deel 3.