I woke up cold on an empty beach

With four other people I hardly knew

I was wearing a brightly coloured swimsuit

Why the fuck was I wearing a swimsuit

I hate all fucking swimsuits especially these

Middle Aged I Have Given up on Life Ones

I looked at the people with whom I had shared the night

Two guys and two girls all younger than me

For a moment I thought they had all drowned

And that I was the sole survivor of a tragedy

But then the hairier of the two men farted

Back to Life Back to Reality

I hated that fucking song

To my right there was a movie poster

It was quite weathered and tatty

Valérie sur la plage

The slight model-like blonde girl

Smiled at me and then returned

To her compelling dreams

I looked at the film poster again

It showed four people standing in shadow

On a wide French beach

A slight movie by Ann de Mal

It was the story of four strangers

Who meet on a train a decide

To go to an out of the world beach

Some distance away

Where the two brothers

Would release the ashes

Of a dear friend into the lonely sea

I had read the book which I liked

As apart from the committal of the ashes

Very little happens

They go to a bar and later sleep on the beach

That is all

The short story ends on a railway station

Where each of the characters prepare to travel

To their original destinations

After exchanging names

Valérie sur la plage