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buckle and the rusty zipper of my jeans open, and then wrapping myself back up again. I would never be able to manage all that and get back in place as I now was. My body had found its repose and was beginning to warm up. So why not just piss in my pants?

What’s the matter with you? Have you lost every scrap of self-respect? If you piss in your pants, you will be foul-smelling, and it will irritate the rawness of your thinghs. Make the effort, Yossi, get up.

No, I can’t. I just can’t.

I lacked the resolve and lay there motionless and peed on myself. The warm urine was pleasant, spreading out over my legs and up toward my belly, soaking into my pants and the nets. I could smell it. Later I peed twice more and actually enjoyed it; the feeling of warmth was so good.

Another hour passed, the night must have been half gone, but I couldn’t fall asleep. I tried to grasp some thought to occupy my mind until the morning light. I wanted to think about something pleasant: people, being rescued, a plane, a helicopter, food. My shrivelled belly churned.

‘Ow!’

Something pinched hard into my thigh. Startled and frightened, I took my hand out of my armpit and reached down to feel the spot. Something had dug itself into my flesh and wouldn’t let go. It wasn’t a leech, but some kind of bug, almost an inch long, and I couldn’t get it off my thigh. I pulled hard, and it dug its pincers into my thumb.