Opium Runner in Kashmir

The room was large and filled with a terrible stench. Spider-

webs of peeling paint formed maps on the walls. Two parallel

rails surrounded by an unruly mass of spectators allowed the

prisoner to approach the stand.



As he walked down the aisle in a slow -motion parody of dignity,

the guards followed, fully prepared to send him to his maker

at the first wrong move.As he moved, the ceiling and the lighted

globes receded behind him.



He stopped as the judge, who was perched like a vulture in his

massive oak nest, came into focus. "Thomas Watkins, you are sen-

tenced to life in prison.


Next."


                                                                         By W.A.B.