in search of the lost sea 4

In search of the lost sea

 

2. Moustache 

 

  I . Moustache 

 

For almost  5 years of his 20s in a TB sanatorium, he happened to grow

a mustache resembling that of Nietsche. The mustache began to

grow at first without his consciuosness, when he was lying unmoved

in bed for a couple of weeks in fear of blood-spitting again. Then

he did not shave himself to get all of his face  to be thick- haired .

​

?.as a serious case showing no progress, he had to spend days and night, lying unmoved

in bed  for fear of blood-spitting .At that time he had nothing to desire

but to breath in with no difficulty. In the morning when he awoke up,

the first thing to do or his daily life was to check what was the sound of

his breathing, whether or not it gets unclearer than yesterday. 

Right after that, the next things he done with care are as explained

below:

He begins to cough slightly,still in bed ,for the purpose of driving

up, to the throat little by little,  the phlegm amassed through night

in the upper part of both chests and spits it all out into the phlegm bottle.

After making sure, with his eyes wide open, there is no trace of blood,

he goes out to the washroom, with the bottle in his hand,

continuously coughing.

If  there is mixed a bit blood in phlegm, which may be a sign of

lung hemorrhage, he lie again on the bed, with a thermometer put

beneath the tongue , and concentrates his eyes in fear

of expected coughing up blood. So it is not just to wash up

that he goes out to the washroom . More than that,

it is to inform  his sick colleagues of his being well,

with no problem from the last night till now in the morning, 

 

 

For 4 years and half of his youth in the sanatorium, he grew mustaches. 

on his upper lip resembling that of Nietsche. It was when he ,as a serious

case showing no progress, he had to spend days and night, lying unmoved

in bed  for fear of blood-spitting .At that time he had nothing to desire

but to breath in with no difficulty. In the morning when he awoke up,

the first thing to do or his daily life was to check what was the sound of

his breathing, whether or not it gets unclearer than yesterday. 

Right after that, the next things he done with care are as explained

below:

He begins to cough slightly,still in bed ,for the purpose of driving

up, to the throat little by little,  the phlegm amassed through night

in the upper part of both chests and spits it all out into the phlegm bottle.

After making sure, with his eyes wide open, there is no trace of blood,

he goes out to the washroom, with the bottle in his hand,

continuously coughing.

If  there is mixed a bit blood in phlegm, which may be a sign of

lung hemorrhage, he lie again on the bed, with a thermometer put

beneath the tongue , and concentrates his eyes in fear

of expected coughing up blood. So it is not just to wash up

that he goes out to the washroom . More than that,

it is to inform  his sick colleagues of his being well,

with no problem from the last night till now in the morning, 

 

.................

(It was almost 20 years before the little sea vividedly came ebbing and

flowing into Hagya's mind. The moving image, silver-colored, 

of the little sea suddenly appeared flickering  before his eyes in a day

of early summer when he was taking a nap in  bed in a TB sanatorium ,

full of arvitas trees soaring up and blocking out the light so that

you could only see fragments of sky through the screen of leaves. 

 

During his stay in bed in the sanatorium, the little sea in his boyhood

was no more where it used to be and the spacious mud field,

which was the little sea at low tide, was turned into a site

for export industry with a lot of factories and office buildings.

 

Probably it would be right to say that the little sea never slipped his mind

while he was forced to remain in it . How was it possible for Hagya

for whom the little sea was another Badugi ?

As you know, in his boyhood  the 2 Badugis were his playfriends.

Then the boy went to bed smelling the sea breeze and got up

at the the familiar sound which Badugi made by its paws knocking

on the window of living room. It is presumed that ocasionally the little sea

was dimly seen in his dreams and also he tried his best in vain

to catch the image of it in bed next morning stealing out

of consciousness. Recently in his convalescence he could have

a hope to get down the world, missing the little sea which is no more.)