Flights

MEDIA PRESENTERS

There was an attack this morning. One person was killed and several wounded. The body has since been removed. The police surrounded the place with red-and-white plastic tape past which you could see enormous bloodstains on the ground; flies circled above them. A motorcycle lay on the ground, and near it a pool of petrol turning opalescent; beside it a plastic bag of fruit, tangerines tossed out, dirty, grimy; further on some rags, a sandal, a baseball cap of indeterminate colour, part of a mobile phone – where the screen had been now gaped a hole.

People clustered over the tape and looked on in horror. They spoke infrequently, in half-whispers.

The police waited on giving site clearance because a journalist from one of the important stations was supposed to come and do a story. Supposedly he particularly wanted to get those bloodstains on camera. Supposedly he was already on his way.