AN ETERNAL JOURNEY
He and seventy others departed from Djiffer on a pirogue of decayed wooden hull. His journey, however, commenced eons past by others. Generation after generation. The chimera of a better life. A life.
Six days they had been on the high seas, when they got lost. Without fuel, the boat went adrift. Food and water ran out two days later.One night, a gale began to blow stronger, and heavy rain poured with ferocity. Jumping and twirling, the boat was tossed by the storm. An immense wave made him tumble into the water.
Trying to keep him afloat, his arms whirled madly. With every movement, a sense of infinite exhaustion invaded his body.
He continued sinking in the impenetrably black water. He fought the inhalation of water by holding his breath, but he became too exhausted to go on.
In an unconscious terminal gasp, he allowed the water to rush in. He felt the abandonment with relief.
His name was Papa Moussa Diouf.
His corpse was labeled J15.