Two men met in the early morning
half-light. They looked at each other
and realized, at the same time, that each carried a hoe and an axe on his
shoulder. They exchanged greetings. They talked about smoking.
One brought out a long piece of dried tobacco and dealt with it on his palm.
The other brought out neatly torn pieces of newspaper and a box of matches.
They rolled stubby cigarettes and smoked quietly. They knew from
experience that the smoke must be grayish blue because now they could not see it in
that elusive half-light. Afterwards, they whispered to each other, and from a
distance you thought these two were bulls threatening and challenging each other to
a horn-to-horn fight. Suddenly the two men knelt down and the acute
movements of one's hoe handle meant he was drawing something on the ground, a map?
A diagram? Drawing something on the ground that they could barely
see? Describing directions only?
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