Hands stretch out to hold on to the wooden headboard and the hip rotates slowly to the left.
Creak… creak.. creak..
Sweat trickles down the forehead and teeth gnash together as a spasm reverberates through the lower lumbar curvature.
Eyes widen as a ringing pain shoots up and down the spine. Aaahchooo, and yet another spasm as a sneeze rocks the body.
Eyes close and open again to take in pale pink walls. Faint smudges of a small palm, a dead mosquito’s squashed body and pink.
Sound of laughter, voices rising up in anger, a sun bird singing, a motorbike revving up…….creak. The hip rotates again and nerves stand out as the outstretched hand supports the roll of the body to the right.
Light streams in through the window and eyes shut again.
Tick, tock, tick, tock……
The tree outside the window looks like a gnarled old witch barren save a creeper inching its way up. A kite settles on the tree and stares ferociously. A crow swoops in and the kite flies away making long, sweeping circles in the sky. Clear skies, blue with wisps of cloud.
Another kite flies down and the crow flies away. The kite perches on the uppermost branch of the tree and pecks at a twig. It lifts the twig with its beak and the tendrils of the creeper cling on to the twig. The kite takes off flying to the coconut grove in the distance.
The kite is back again looking for more twigs.
The back and the bed seem as one and the eyes shut to the snatches of a song.
A smile flits over the face.