Hells are crowded. Chinese hells even more so. Don’t be surprised to learn that due to the sheer amounts of shades that arrive continuously combined with the slow pace of the administration, you may have to wait an eternity before your case is put for judgement in front of the First Court. If like me you haven’t anybody left above burning paper money to grease one clerk’s palm, there is no way your name will end up soon on any condemned list. And this of course is for the First Court only, picture yourself going through the ten courts before getting your turn for reincarnation and you have the prospect I was facing after I passed away.
Now, I don’t mind the crowd and I am more patient than most. Above, I had my shares of ageing in lines before drowning in the collective hug of elevators and subway cars. But here, honestly, I miss the point of cutting queue to get a well deserved punishment. And with nine torments for each one of the ten courts, I rather not start today.
On the other side, as a foreign devil, I kind of blend in Chinese hells landscape. Red hair, pale hairy skin, long ugly nose, too tall and too big, the other damned look up to me in a kind of stupor. So it’s easy for me to move on, I just push through while they slowly give way.