Sketchbook Stories pt. 1

'Do you have a cigarette?' my friend asked me. I tossed a sweaty pack of Hopes and some matches across the table.

'A blind willow looks small on the outside, but it's got incredibly deep roots,' she explained. 'Actually, after a certain point it stops growing up and pushes further and further down into the ground. As if the darkness nourishes it.'

'And the flies carry the pollen to her ear, burrow inside, and put her to sleep,' my friend added, struggling to light his cigarette with the damp matches. 'But what happens to the flies?'

'They stay inside the woman and eat her flesh - naturally,' his girlfriend said.

'Gobble it up,' my friend said.

- Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman (Haruki Murakami)

//Happy Birthday, Al! :D