The Two Cups - Final Chapter

© KSW 31/3/99

In the places I was wet, the stickiness had run off. I put my hand to my mouth and tasted the medicinal taste of the familiar red liquid. I realised I could escape and I dragged myself to another door. Getting up, as though my legs had gained sudden strength, I walked quickly through the building and out into another alley. This led to other countless alleys. I was lost, confused but still alive. I came across a gang of men in one alley who were eating. They offered me some, which I saw was part of a human body, a clean human body! Beyond them I saw the street or so I thought. I screamed and charged through. One of the men lunged at me half-heartedly so I easily dodged him and tumbled into the street. The flames were glowing to my left. People walked about the street, however the roadway itself was totally clear. The traffic flowed no more however neither did the people walk on the roadway.

I drank from another cup of the dark syrup, but this caused so much pain, I crumpled into a heap on the ground. My body wracked with the pain. My legs felt as though the flesh was dropping off them. One passerby hooked the toe of his shoe in the small of my back and heaved me into the gutter to lie there with the rest of the frail and the dead. A lion paused and gnawed my leg. I couldn’t feel the pain but my fingers found a stick which I used to beat the lion until it walked to the next body.

After what seemed an eon I crawled onto the pavement because I knew I needed to get away, anywhere but here. I moved into the roadway. This wide empty space was where I at least could move along calmly without getting jostled. Directly ahead was a building I recognised . I fixed my eyes on it and walked steadily towards it.

Just outside it, I was handed another cup of syrup which I drank almost automatically but I did not expect its consequences. The sweet taste was comforting but I doubled up in severe pain once again and I fainted.

I came to and found myself back in the gutter. A large vehicle stood stationary a few metres away and a terrible growling noise was emanating from it. The back of it was open and it looked as though it was on fire. What I saw horrified me. Two men were picking up the bodies out of the gutter and throwing them into the back of the vehicle. These men were street cleaners and the fire was a furnace. There were just four bodies between them and me. I attempted to move however my legs were trapped. Someone lay on top of me. They took away the body lying on top of my legs and I lifted my head and rolled onto the pavement. I continued to roll across the pavement and into the building ahead bursting through the door.

I was back in the familiar room with the two cups in the centre, but this time two people were standing beside the cups. The one next to the black cup beckoned me to him. He shouted promises that I would be well and wealthy once I was rid of this sickness. He told me it was only an initiation sickness and that if I was to become better, I would need to drink the syrup every hour for just the next few days then all would be well. The black cup looked enormous, as though it had grown.

The other person held a ladle of the clear liquid and simply called my name. I rolled towards the cups. I wanted both but they would not let me and made me choose. In my fuzz I knew the syrup was the cause of my sickness, of the cramps and blindness and disability and I thought of the street cleaners just outside. I knew I had had too much of the syrup. I reeked of it. I rolled towards the other cup, took the offered ladle and drank its contents as though refreshing water. Strength returned to my limbs. I stood up, reached over the rim of the cup, but in my haste, I fell into the cup. After the initial panic, I stood and saw that the stickiness had gone. There was no pain and I was fit and whole again.

I climbed out of the cup and ran around the room in delight. The two people had already left the room. I stepped outside and stopped. I saw the same street but the people were different. They called me by name. They jostled me and beckoned me to join them. The roadway shone like pure gold. The buildings sparkled like diamonds in the sun. The harsh traffic noise was replaced by a gentle softer noise emanating from all areas. It was singing. The people were singing. All the wild animals had disappeared, but there were different creatures about, some with many eyes. I looked about but I could not see any cups of either syrup or the strawberry drink, but I noticed that a few were carrying the black cups about trying to offer them to any willing takers. I turned and looked back the way I had come. The two cups had grown out of the building. They were gigantic and now were labelled. The glass cup was the larger by far. It looked as though it would topple its contents onto the street. The label read LIFE. The black cup read SIN.

Suddenly the glass cup did topple. Its contents spilt into the black cup however. The earth shook and the darkness of the black cup became lighter. I watched it as the clear liquid poured into the cup, watched the syrup disappear and saw the cup become transparent and like glass. The label fell off it and then it cracked. The crack became larger and the liquid spilt down in to the street. It flowed like a tremendous river down the golden roadway. The cup of sin broke into pieces which flowed along with the torrent. Those carrying the syrup were overwhelmed by others, their cargo discharged into the roadway and then allowed to join in with the others who were now dancing, singing, celebrating. I walked, danced and jumped along with the crowd following the torrent into the noonday sun.