And so I told them of the time I was backpacking around India in my youth. I related the story of how I was sitting at the edge of a village in a rural area when a King Cobra approached and raised its head ready to strike.
‘Blimey,’ said one of the boys, ‘that must have been frightening. What did you do?’
‘I picked up my guitar and played Mr Tambourine Man.’
‘And what did the snake do?’ asked one of the boys.
‘Remained perfectly still until I’d finished and then slithered away again.’
A sallow-skinned girl of around seven or eight was sitting alone on the grass, colouring in a picture of a ceremonial elephant complete with howdah. Without averting her eyes, she asked quietly:
‘Was any of that true?’
‘Nope.’
In fact, none of this is true apart from the first sentence. The rest is just making a point.
No comments:
Post a Comment