SPRING AND I AM ALIVE
Picture: The harbour of Tancred’s Landing
Spring and I am alive
By Teal Razor, slave of Captain Siri Emerald Jr., Port Olni Warrior
The time of En’Kara came in on a kur’s back and commenced to spawning a battalion of evil. One may say, “What’s got Teal’s panties in a wad?”
With all I have been through at the beginning of the Gorean New Year, I must look back and say how grateful I am. I am still here. I am able to once more serve my Master and all free. I am permitted to go on with my purpose in life. Back on earth there is an expression, “Into every life a little rain must fall.” The wording makes you think that travails are experiences that are nothing more than going outside on a warm summer’s day and being sprinkled by a passing shower. This cannot be further from the truth.
Platitudes have never been my cup of Bazi tea. I would prefer someone smile and nod and not utter a single word rather than pollute the air with the breath from their lungs with a banality. Before this escapes me, I must say that recently I have heard the most incredible words out of the mouths of citizens and slaves of Port Olni. It all has to do with my five weeks in the infirmary cylinder in my Master’s city.
I contracted what I thought to be the of Bazi plague. The Physicians of Olni, some of the finest healers around, noticed that there was a twist to this “so- called” Bazi plague that I appeared to have. I had very high fevers but no pustules (yuck!). I did have a yellowing of the whites of my eyes but the head physician chalked that one up to my paga drinking, which most have witnessed, sad to say.
I lay in fevers for six days in my Master’s home in Olni Var, before he decided to take me to the infirmary. When he delivered me into the capable hands of our smart physicians, he was chastised for not bringing me in sooner. I should have been the one verbally flogged since I was petrified to leave my Master’s side to be cooped up in the infirmary and begged him not to take me there.
My diagnosis at one point looked grim and I drifted in and out of hallucinations. Every time I opened my eyes I was greeted by my Master sitting by my bedside holding my hand. He told me of the free and slaves in Port Olni stopping by the infirmary to leave food, funny scrolls to read to me, and flowering plants that I might enjoy. In fact, when I came home to my Master’s house, the front veranda was awash with blooming plants that the concerned had left. No, these were not platitudes that I received; they were positive and loving thoughts being expressed in my direction. Pretty heady stuff for me since I am only a slave and do not deserve anything.
My only regret is that I can’t properly thank each Gorean that sent positive thoughts and love my way. In the infirmary I kept drifting in and out of consciousness…things that were not there appeared real, and I began living in two worlds, reality and delusion. In this altered state I could not remember what was real and what wasn’t. I saw and talked to many in Port Olni, although I now realize there was no such meeting with anyone. But that was how I felt the unfeigned concern of good citizens and slaves.
It is quite nice that I now have my mind back, although my Master would debate you on that one, and I am pushing forward. I hope to serve you in the commons if you are free and I hope to help you serve and clean if you are a slave very soon.
From the NEW VOICE OF GOR v.4 Issue 151