Plastic Sea (IT) — What's Left, Page 24
By Inkroost · Published
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Transcript
Vignetta 1: Sul ponte principale, sotto vele rattoppate, Roka siede avvolto in un telone blu, appoggiato a un barile blu. Nane si inginocchia accanto a lui con una bottiglia d’acqua. Nane: «Piccoli sorsi.» «Hai un nome?» Vignetta 2: Roka beve, con gli occhi spenti. Roka: «Roka.» Nane esita. Nane: «Roka? È un nome da giardino.» Vignetta 3: Una campana di ottone suona e Nane si volta per andarsene. Roka: «Un che?» Nane: «Lascia perdere. Non allontanarti.» Vignetta 4: Rimasto solo accanto al barile, Roka fissa intontito la paperella gialla che tiene tra le mani.
Image description
Sul ponte della nave, Nane porge dell’acqua a Roka e se ne va al suono della campana; rimasto solo, Roka fissa con lo sguardo assente la paperella gialla.
About this chapter
In the dark at the bottom of the sea, something is counting. On Candyreef, a candy-coloured island of floating trash, Roka wakes to a water bag in the face from his street crew, lifts breakfast from the old woman who would have fed him anyway, and tells the kid who follows him that he doesn't owe anybody. Then the gulls lift all at once, and a Maw eats half the island. A day and a night alone at sea later, the Garden Ship fishes him out and orders him to walk its treadwheels for fish heads. Roka is nobody's slave, so he goes looking for something to steal instead, and breaks into a barnacled case dredged from the seabed. The silver dust inside climbs into his arm and says hello. It is polite. It is curious. It wants every human dead. And it has just started counting again.