POLICE INTERROGATION AT THE SCENE OF THE CRIME
– Your name, please?
– My name is not me. It’s just a name.
– What is your name, ma’am?
– Why is that important? You can also call me Burnt Flowerless Lotus by the Drying River.
– Good. Did you report the dead body?
– Yes.
– Do you know the deceased?
– Yes.
– When was the last time you saw him alive?
– A few minutes before he died.
– So, you were here when he died?
– Yes.
– And what happened?
– I don’t know.
– What do you mean you do not know? Weren’t you here? Didn’t you see anything?
– I did not see.
– Why didn’t you see it?
– I was squinting.
– Were you squinting? Why?
– I practiced what it’s like to be dead.
– You practiced being dead?
– Yes.
– Why?
– To know what it will be like when I’m dead.
– And?
– What “and”? Empty. No voices and colors. No noise or light. No thoughts and dreams.
– And what happened after that?
– Nothing. I opened my eyes and saw that he was dead. Damned lucky man, the exercise worked for him.