Timothy de Paris Portfolio +
Heart Stopper
My heart just stopped.
But not in the cartoon boy-meets-ridiculously-attractive-and-impossibly-proportioned-girl kind of way. In the very scary, life ending way, that will wipe the smile from your face and make you realise what is important in this life.
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM
BOOM-boom, BOOM-boom
boom, boom
boom
Panic
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM. There are few things more relaxing than slowly submerging your naked body into the volcanically heated waters of a Japanese Onsen, cringing as each new inch of flesh is exposed to the pain, much to the delight of innocent Japanese voyeurs.
BOOM-boom, BOOM-boom. That is what relaxation does. It reduces your heart rate, removes the tension from your muscles and the stress from your mind.
Boom, boom. Feeling a little queasy, but to be expected after months of stressful days and work-filled nights.
boom. My stomach wants to empty its contents into the inky black waters. The pressure in my face, brain and neck is reaching bursting point. I can no longer hear.
Panic. Nothing can inspire the will to live more than the onset of death. My heart stays still for one second. Two seconds. Three seconds. More. My vision blurs and my neck muscles give in. As my head droops towards the steamy surface my audience tenses in anticipation, waiting for the moment the Gaijin will fall asleep in the bath. I must agree that the splash and instant re-composition is always an entertaining sight. I will my heart to beat again. Slower than a futsu (stopping all stations!) it rattles and beats. It falters. More will power. It starts again and slowly builds to a steady pace.
Pressure is released, muscles retake control and the sounds of bubbling waters and babbling bathers once again reaches my ears.
Chaos is averted on my global scale. Less than a minute has passed and the disappointed onlookers agree that it would have been much more interesting had the Gaijin fallen asleep.
Timothy de Paris
2006
