7.1: On death, in the den
Season 7: Nick Drake: Dead! Again!
It is a Saturday morning on a grey autumn day and Lottie, pTravis and Masongill have all arrived, slowly and by different wandering routes, at their shared den in the wood, an hour after breakfast. It seems too soon to make more coffee on the primus stove but no one seems much in the mood to do anything else. Perhaps the afternoon will be better.
After much staring into space, Lottie suddenly remarks:
“Do you think much about death?”
pTravis and Masongill give each other the look they do when, on those occasions of ‘hanging out’ with Lottie, who, a teenager, is younger than they are as ‘just-about’ adults, they suspect that there may be need for a more cautious approach.
“Not much.” – Masongill.
“Not as much as you’d think.” – pTravis.
“But that’s really odd isn’t it? It occurred to me a couple of days ago that we’re all going to die. I mean: we are. And we all know that. You’d think it would be the most obvious conversational topic in the Potting Shed. But no one ever says anything about it.” – Lottie, again.
“Well it may not happen for a while and what can we do about it anyway?”
“Yes…” Lottie objects. “But everyone talks a lot about lots of things they can’t do anything about. The weather, for one thing. ‘Oh it’s raining!’ ‘Perhaps it will be brighter tomorrow!’ ‘Not as cold as ’67!’ On and on about that, but not about death! An eternity as an angler in the lake of darkness! No one talks about that!”
“Well what is there to say, even?”
“I don’t know. But I suddenly thought that I’m young but I’ll still die. You’re almost grownups. You’ll die sooner. Alcock is middle aged. Lois and my tutor are older… Over at the Swan Hotel the Barman is ancient. It must be a wonder he even makes it through another day!”
“Still…” adds Masongill “Death is all around us. That tale Froggie told us the other year about actually meeting Death-the-Frog on Christmas Eve. That’s proper death! I do think he was telling the truth!”
“Or he was at least being sincere.” Lottie suggests.
“I suppose” says pTravis, philosophically, “that our own deaths are not an event in our lives.”
They all look glumly out into the wood in silence.
Nick Drake: Dead! Again! will air for 14 episodes from 19th October on Sundays and Wednesdays (6pm). The exegesis site, which contains spoilers, is here.