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startled by a stranger's ruined face

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-eight years and a million words

Sydney, 2001.05.01

Well, that lunatic who paid to get on the international space station is up there. No less an illustrious egomaniac than Canada's own James Cameron wants to be next. Oh, what a world!

I got a fright today, while looking at some backpacks. I was bumped rather clumsily, and immediately spun around with my hand going to my wallet. The wallet was still there, but so was the fellow who'd bumped me.

He had a reconstructed head. Clear grooves around his upper skull - complete with matching lines of stichwork - made it obvious that he'd had his head opened up at some point, and that it hadn't gone back together the same way. His upper face was all remade, too. I won't go into detail. But I couldn't help gasp.

rand()m quote

My grandfather once told me that there are two kinds of people: those who work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group; there was less competition there.

—Indira Gandhi