the sun climbed through the sky, reached its zenith, beganto come down. i spent the entire day perched on the oar,moving only as much as was necessary to stay balanced. mywhole being tended towards the spot on the horizon that wouldappear and save me. it was a state of tense, breathlessboredom. those first hours are associated in my memory withone sound, not one you'd guess, not the yipping of the hyenaor the hissing of the sea: it was the buzzing of flies. therewere flies aboard the lifeboat. they emerged and flew about inthe way of flies, in great, lazy orbits except when they cameclose to each other, when they spiralled together with dizzyingspeed and a burst of buzzing. some were brave enough toventure out to where i was. they looped around me, soundinglike sputtering, single-prop airplanes, before hurrying home.
whether they were native to the boat or had come with oneof the animals, the hyena most likely, i can't say. but whatevertheir origin, they didn't last long; they all disappeared withintwo days. the hyena, from behind the zebra, snapped at themand ate a number. others were probably swept out to sea bythe wind. perhaps a few lucky ones came to their life's termand died of old age.
as evening approached, my anxiety grew. everything aboutthe end of the day scared me. at night a ship would havedifficulty seeing me. at night the hyena might become activeagain and maybe orange juice too.
darkness came. there was no moon. clouds hid the stars.
the contours of things became hard to distinguish. everythingdisappeared, the sea, the lifeboat, my own body. the sea wasquiet and there was hardly any wind, so i couldn't evenground myself in sound. i seemed to be floating in pure,abstract blackness. i kept my eyes fixed on where i thoughtthe horizon was, while my ears were on guard for any sign ofthe animals. i couldn't imagine lasting the night.
sometime during the night the hyena began snarling and thezebra barking and squealing, and i heard a repeated knockingsound. i shook with fright and – i will hide nothing here –relieved myself in my pants. but these sounds came from theother end of the lifeboat. i couldn't feel any shaking thatindicated movement. the hellish beast was apparently stayingaway from me. from nearer in the blackness i began hearingloud expirations and groans and grunts and various wet mouthsounds. the idea of orange juice stirring was too much formy nerves to bear, so i did not consider it. i simply ignoredthe thought. there were also noises coming from beneath me,from the water, sudden flapping sounds and swishing soundsthat were over and done with in an instant. the battle for lifewas taking place there too.
the night passed, minute by slow minute.
