He wondered what he had done to deserve this, until it dawned on him that merit had nothing to do with the situation he was in. His left leg was falling asleep and the blood was rolling in and out of his head like surf. His heart was pounding so hard he thought the sound must be carrying up to the mouth of the well. It felt as if his veins were going to burst they were stretched so tight, and the blood was going to start squirting out of his body, filling the well and drowning him. He would choke to death, croak, perish in his own blood. No, easy now. Easy. Whoever or whatever it was, he said to himself, he had to get himself out of there. Slowly he attempted to lift the upper part of his torso. It was hard going. He had a feeling there was someone or something up there watching, so he tried to be quiet. Quiet as a mouse, so whatever it was up there would forget about him and not come and drown him. He kept trying to pull himself up again, then falling down again, hanging. And again. Slowly. Another try. No go. Again. Slowly. One more time. Almost. No. Again. And … quiet. Grab hold. Try again. One more time … Got it. No, yes. Slowly, don’t breathe. Just a little more. A little bit. A little bit more. Careful. Careful. Almost there. A little more. Made it. I made it. Yes, yes, yes … I’m there. Got it, holding on. Josef slowly pulled himself up. First he grabbed hold with the middle finger of his left hand. Pulled himself up. Grabbed hold of the rope and swung. Virgin Mary Mother of God and the Seven Mercies, no! He wanted to scream, but kept quiet. He waited for the rope to stop swinging, then grabbed hold with the other hand. Little by little he pulled himself up. Didn’t even breathe. Tried not to breathe. Tried not to be. The rope started to sway again. No! He wanted to yell, but didn’t dare. Now he had his head up to the level of his ankles, he could prop himself up with his hands. He could feel the blood pulsing in his hands and his rope-choked leg. He swallowed hard, breathing softly. It worked. His leg was back where it belonged. Feet below, head above. Josef held the rope a while, thinking, not in words, but in screams inside the walls of his skulclass="underline" It wants to kill me! It wants to kill me! Something wants to kill me. Something or someone. It threw me down the well. Careful now. It wants to kill me. Gotta get up. Caaareful, Josef, caaareful. He was climbing higher and higher, but just to make sure, he let go of the rope and wedged himself in between the walls. Feet and hands. Slowly, yes, very slowly, clawing his way up. At first all he could see was stars in the black circle of the well’s mouth. But the higher he climbed, the brighter the sky became. Until at last the stars melted away and the blackness dissolved into a desolate powder-blue sky. He was halfway up the well when suddenly it went black again. He looked up and saw an outline. Nothing more than an outline. Nothing more, nothing less. Then he heard a roar roaring at him: “Not enough for you, you bastard? Wanna crawl outta there, huh? You piece of shit, you just wait!” “Jesus Christ,” Josef said out loud now. “They really want to kill me,” and he began clawing and scraping his way up even harder. Before it went black again, he could feel pebbles dropping into his hair. He tried to squeeze as close as he could to the wall as a boulder went flying past. “Nooooo!” shouted Josef. “Please, nooo. I didn’t do anything to you, leave me alone. Let me climb out. I didn’t do anything. Please just let me climb out!” Josef screamed. Now he could clearly make out the outlines of a human shadow. The shadow stopped moving and a voice called down, “Who the hell are you?” “I can explain everything,” Josef shouted. “I didn’t do anything, I’ve done nothing!” After a while the voice called down again, “Say thrushes.” Josef didn’t understand, but he shouted up anyway, “Thrushes!”