ABSTRACT
Making my way up the stairs to Cherry’s apartment, I notice that the curtains are drawn in her bedroom, which is strange as it is the middle of the day. If she was out I would have to lug my heavy bag back down the stairs and see if I could find her at one of her friend’s apartments in TDC’s American Alley. I knock on the door just in case and hear movement coming from her bedroom. She feebly calls to say she’s coming and emerges to open the front door looking dishevelled and squinting into the pale November sunlight. I go inside to put my things in her spare room where I often stay whilst in TDC and come back out to see if there’s anything I can do. “This happens sometimes, Sallie. It’s my eyes. Sometimes I can’t bear the sunlight and I have to just lie in the dark. It makes my head hurt so much that it feels like it will explode”. I ask. How long have you had this? Have you been to see a doctor? Do you have medicine? “It’s M Club, Sallie. For a whole year I am in that club and I didn’t go out. You’ve been in the club. You know how dark it is. For a whole year my eyes get accustomed to that darkness. My eyes are very weak now. There’s nothing I can really do”.
