Excerpt from The Little Girl and the Cigarette
Turning once again to the lawyer for the plaintiffs, Quam Lao Ching said, his voice full of unctuousness:
'There is no change. The condemned man is still condemned. Not having been pardoned, he will be executed in as short a time as possible, I promise. But I must know what procedure to follow.'
Then, turning to the guards:
'Take the condemned back to his cell!'
Johnson still seemed just as indifferent; just a little glum for not being able immediately to appease his desire for nicotine. But the director did not like the defence lawyer's smile as she allowed herself to add, as if she had just won a personal victory:
'I don't think you can send this unfortunate back to be executed so quickly. That's not how you play with the nerves of a condemned man!'
'We'll see about that!' replied her opponent.
Désiré Johnson followed his guards towards death row, in a direction that he was the first to take. As he was returning to life, all he did was mumble, as if other people were trying as hard as they could to complicate his life:
'I wasn't asking for much.'
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Last modified on July 26, 2006 | © Telegram 2005
