PARABLE



Someone broke into a car. The car had a red anti-theft lock wedged across its steering wheel. The thief hot-wired the car and began driving down the road. The police were watching. They began to follow the car. They turned on their red flashing lights and then their sirens. It was a police chase. It was high speed but the driver could only turn the wheel in one direction. Left, he was forced to turn. Then left. Then left again. He could not turn back. Left. His route spiraled in until he had nowhere to go and the police surrounded him. Now's a good time for a metaphor. Or a lawyer, he thought.


*
for my wife, Beth, a criminal lawyer, whose client this was.
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Comments

Anonymous said…
Ach, said the thief, the world is narrower every day. At first, it was so wide, that I had Fear, I drove further, and I was happy, that finally in the distance to left and right I saw Walls, but these Walls ran so quickly together, that I am now in the last street, and there in the dead end is the trap, into which I drive.

You have only to change your direction, said the policeman, and ate him up.
7:08 PM
gary barwin said…
Very nice translation of Kafka. I particularly like the "ate him up," a great juxtaposition that wasn't there in the original.
1:17 AM
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