CONVERSATION

In the deep of the ocean
a leopard shark
hears a voice.

“Your name is
Kaal” says the voice.
“My name is Kaal” repeats the shark. “The
water around you:

that is water” says the voice. “That is

water” understands the leopard. “It is dark
here” says the voice. “It is dark” repeats
the shark. “My name is Kaal, and that’s water dark around me.

-What if something caught you by the tail?” asks the voice. “Oh,

but my name is Kaal, and I am a leopard shark of the dark. In
the water around me
there is
no
shark dark enough for me not to see it
before it could catch me by the tail, you see? -I see,” says
the voice “but what if what caught you by the
tail wasn’t a shark or something you could
see in the dark? -Now, you got me
frightened!” says the shark. “But who are you, anyway? What’s
that voice that is suddenly speaking to me in the
dark? -I am a rat in the forest,” says the voice “it is
dark here, and I am afraid. My name is
Raek. -Do you have a
tail, too, Raek-in-the-forest?” asks Kaal, the leopard shark. “Yes,”
answers Raek “but I cut it. I was too much
afraid of the dark. -I see”, said Kaal the leopard shark
from the deep of the ocean. Then he
swam in silence.

::: ::: :::

[Picture: Roma by I. A. Fomin (1910)] (fragment)