DEATH IS UN-AMERICAN

Image by eqqman via Flickr
The Real World Again
It’s been over a month since Jo died – the actual date was December 22 2010 and the Memorials were on January 9 2011 – and I’ve been trying to adjust to the real world again. Mind you, death is as real as it gets though I’m not sure we accept that in the U.S. It is seen as somehow un-American and I have noticed that the general reaction to mentioning it is to change the subject and/or use euphemisms like “passed.”

The Blood Oaths Of Porsche Drivers
I can’t say I think much of that. I like words that that are clear and as free of hypocrisy as is humanly possible (a notable qualification). “Passed” doesn’t really convey the extraordinary transition which takes place when life leaves a body. Instead it reminds me of driving on German autobahns at 120 mph – something of a local custom - and being passed effortlessly by Porsche after Porsche. Rumor has it that Porsche drivers swear a blood oath to be the firstest and the fastest. My charming ex-wife, Liz, drives one now I think of it.

Forgotten Dead Bodies
As part of trying to trying to come to terms with Jo’s death – in particular of witnessing her drink the lethal dose and gazing at her for nearly thirty minutes until death was pronounced – subsequently I tried to recall all the violent deaths I had witnessed and/or bodies I had found, together with how I had felt at the time. It wasn’t a long list – it included a motorcyclist who had crashed into a wall in front of me who had broken his neck and a policeman shot close to me in Northern Ireland – but the odd thing was I completely forgot to include the hanging body I had found in a wood in Wales which had led to my writing GAMES OF THE HANGMAN.

The corpse was pretty damn gruesome and freshly dead; and the word “passed” did not come to mind.  The word "executed" did.

Go read the book.