A CAN OF SOFT DRINK

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34047, 10 January 1976, Page 12

A CAN OF SOFT DRINK

By

WHIM WHAM

As a matter of fact his ball hit a can of soft drink and stopped dead.—Golf commentator on Radio N.Z.

That was the Moment we were all waiting for. Me and the Rest of that enormous Crowd— The tension was dreadful, we couldn’t have stood any More— Strong Men fainted, and a Woman moaned aloud. Out of the Sky like a Bullet the Ball flew. Singlets and Shirts grew apprehensively damp, We stood and shuffled and stared—What else could we do? The Excitement caught at our Hearts, like Cramp. Our Faces were drawn, and yellow the Grass at our Feet, Nobody noticed when an Ambulance Man dropped dead. You could hear the Air vibrate in the summer Heat. Suddenly the fatal Ball passed whizzing overhead.' Ah. Sir. Things never turn out the Way you think— Or the Way you wish—and the Future can’t be known. As a Matter of Fact his Ball hit a Can of Soft Drink AND STOPPED DEAD, like a Stone.

A strange Thought haunts me. if only I knew the Brand Of the Drink the Ball hit. and died in its Tracks — I could live with It better, I might understand Life’s hidden Heaning, the Truth my Spirit lacks. Any why was the Can of Drink so fatefully There? Was it empty or full? What Child or Woman or Man Abandoned It? Is Life just a random Affair, Or am I but a Ball, and You—a Soft Drink Can?