Primacy of Things: War-Dead?…

*

… Before I have time to feel pleased with myself

the air stewardess returns, “Mister Em will see you now,” she smiles.

Had she been waiting until I found the camera?

Would things have been different if it had taken longer?

*

We engage in pleasantries as we walk the long

corridors of Mister Em’s power but I do not afford them my full attention,

for my mind is still whirring from that discovery in the waiting room.

What can it mean?

*

I am shown into a large dining room and the door is

closed behind me with a final, full-on, highly suggestive smile.

*

It feels like I have passed some sort of test.

Maybe not everyone makes it this far?

*

The dining room when I focus on taking it in presents another test.

The walls are lined with ornately framed pictures of people who I

take to be Mister Em’s ancestors.

At the far end of the room two red-leather, brass-studded armchairs

are positioned on either side of an open fire place.

An elaborate chandelier hangs overhead and the rest of the room

is taken up by a long dining table and its attendant chairs.

Curiously, the dining table is draped with a St George’s Flag.

It calls to my mind the coffins of the military war dead.

‘What the…’ I start to think but before I can finish the thought,

the door on the opposite side of the room opens…

*