I wondered if car alarms go off in the night
because they feel unappreciated. When they
go off, they know that people have turned over
in their beds thinking about them. The other night,
an alarm was going off in bursts of eighteen.
Then a pause. Then another eighteen. After
about five bursts, I tried counting in between.
It came out as twelve. After the tenth burst the
alarm changed. A second beat came in, then a
guitar. It was a remix of that song they released
after Bob Marley died, ‘Blackman Redemption’. In
fact, I think the release was a remix...I went
downstairs and put on a pair of trousers. I went
into the street, walked down to the car and I was
right. I wondered whether there was any recording
of Bob Marley doing it without the remix. After that
bit where it goes, ‘Spread ou-ou-ou-out...’ , it went
back to doing the alarm. Bursts of eighteen. I
counted the twelve in between and went back indoors
to bed.
