2084 by Andrew Caro

Author:Andrew Caro
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BookBaby

Chapter Fifteen

‘I thought you would never make it. This was the last time I was going to check this tree. My cousin has been at me for the last three weeks asking about you. He will be very relieved that you have finally turned up’ was the rather testy greeting I got from the new boss. My response was conciliatory, ‘it was touch and go but at least I managed to avoid any outside contact on the way and I should think that the pursuers will have given up the hunt by now. It’s great to see you anyway and I can’t wait to start work, any work’. I said. I knew that my future both immediate and possibly long term depended on how well I got on with this man. I also feared that as a result of all those years of effective isolation at the Camp I might have lost the skill of communicating with others. When I had been a beggar I had prided myself on being able to get on with almost all the people I met on the streets, the other beggars, the street vendors, who had often helped to assuage my hunger with gifts of fruit and bread from their stalls, the passersby with whom I often was able to pass a comment or two ensuring me of a small coin or note and even often with the police or other officials with whom I had to be on good terms to stay free for as long as I did. Apart from my relationship with the drivers, casual and transitory with all of them but one and the kitchen chefs where conversation had to be guarded, once my girl friend had left, I was like a man alone in a crowd, anonymous, disregarded and dehumanized. I had decided while lying awake in the jungle that I would accept whatever conditions the new boss imposed and would try and establish myself as indispensable in my new community by my hard work and cooperation. I already knew I was a leader - my work at the Camp had shown that quality quite clearly - but I also recognized that in my new role I had to sublimate these assertive qualities until I was completely accepted.

‘First of all you had better meet your new family. I have a son he is fifteen’ - only one child per family was permitted - ‘and he has just started as a junior on my second boat. I’m hoping you will keep an eye on him and help in his training so he will be able to take over as Captain of that boat in a year or two. My wife no longer works on the boats but she looks after the accounts and the logistics of getting the fish to market. My mother also lives with us and she looks after the house and the cooking. You will eat your main meal with us until you get settled and I will give you food each week which you can prepare for your other meals.

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