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Last India Overland

Page 51

by Craig Grant


  1 have since talked to Hasheeba. She didn't receive this letter. — D.W.

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  This page was written in Kelly’s careful calligraphic hand. — D.W.

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  At this point, Mick began to string some of his words together. As a kindness to the reader, I have separated these words, leaving only this phrase as an example. — D. W.

  An Australian slang word that refers to diarrhoea. — D.W.

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  Mother died on Dec. 10, while Christmas shopping downtown. At that point in time we hadn’t heard from Kelly since her postcard to me from Urgup, dated Nov. 11, which I’d received on Nov. 23. As I alluded to before, I was worried because the telegram Kelly said she’d send had not arrived. Still, I didn’t show mother that postcard until Dec. 8. I really don’t know why I did that. I certainly wasn’t thinking straight. As for the telegram, it arrived on Dec. 12, the day before the funeral. Kelly’s postcard to our mother arrived a week later. Needless to say, it was a horrible and heartbreaking time for me, but that is neither here nor there. I immediately wired $2,500 to Kelly via the Royal Nepalese Central Bank. — D. W.

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  This could be a bandicoot, which are native to India. Although a cat-sized kangaroo might’ve been a more accurate description.

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  This would be Patan. — D.W.

  That which is without source, according to my copy of A History of Religious Ideas. Eternal. — D. W.

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  The womb.

  Hasheeba wondered why Kelly wouldn’t mention Mick in this entry. I can only speculate. “She’s a monster,” said Hasheeba. That, I think, is an overstatement. — D. W.

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  1 was, of course, somewhat shocked when I received this package. I was further shocked by the frankness of some of Kelly’s diary entries. But I got over it. — D. W.

  This was as far as Mick got. This was the last page of his manuscript and his last word was incomplete. By and large though, the manuscript is complete. Perhaps thanks to Dave. Perhaps not. — D. W.

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  This diary entry, by rights, should precede the previous section. But I have no notes of Pete’s to fall back on at this point and I need a bridge between the two Mick sections. So I’m putting Kelly’s last diary entry here. — D. W.

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  This is the first chapter of Mick’s memoir. I decided to put it at the end of the book in the interests of continuity. At the top of the first page were quite a few titles scratched out. Among them: Last Bus to the Blue Star, Blood on the Bus Seat, Crossing Borders. The only one that wasn’t crossed out was All in Search of the Ko Samui Mushroom. — D. W.

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  As for the bags, though, as it turned out I got the best deal, because I got something thrown in for

  Pete had told us to get back to the bus by five and we figured it must’ve been getting close to that

  because this blond Swede came up to us and asked us if he

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