Page 120 - I Live in the Slums: Stories (The Margellos World Republic of Letters)

I couldn’t detect any flavor. Maybe the flavor was too complex, and I just

couldn’t describe it. After finishing a bowl of soup, I felt strong all over.
I lay down on the floor again and listened intently. I didn’t hear those sweet
voices. I heard only the depressing north wind blowing hard outside, one gust
after another. Tired of listening, I twisted my head around and looked back. Ah,
there was my tail. My tail was as large as a dinosaur’s. In the dim light, I could
sometimes see it and sometimes not. It was real and illusory at the same time. It
had grown on my back and was a support for my whole body. Now I understood
what the cook had said. He had spoken that way because he envied me.
I—a shadow with a tail: I belonged to the Shadow People, and yet I was
different from the others.