Landing Gear A Novel by Kate Pullinger

Author:Kate Pullinger
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9780385681216
Publisher: Doubleday Canada
Published: 2014-04-14T21:00:00+00:00

5

Here was Jack at his happiest: in front of the TV with World of Battle Fatigues online, volume turned up so he could hear the Americans, who were also playing, talking to each other—Jack didn’t use the headset to talk while he was playing but he liked to listen to the other players. “Fuck you,” one American said. “Fuck that,” another replied.

Given that it was the end of the afternoon in London, it must have been morning where they were, but the Americans seemed to be online all day and all night. The graphics of the game—a burnt-out landscape that nature was reclaiming—were hyperreal and the game was light on gore, which Jack preferred: he liked to gun down his opponents in cold blood but he didn’t like to see them bleed. “Fuck you!” shouted the American. “Fuck that!” shouted another.

On Jack’s right, at a ninety-degree angle to the TV, accessible with a simple swivel of his chair, was the coffee table where he had the following to hand: a snack, preferably something sweet; a drink—some kind of smoothie as Jack’s mother wouldn’t buy fizzy drinks; his phone, so he could message with his friends; and his laptop. He had YouTube open so that he could play music videos; Facebook, with at least three, maybe even as many as fifteen chat windows open so he could chat with his friends in private; instant messaging as well so that all of his friends who were also online could join in the conversation, which mostly consisted of attempts to mimic the sound of their own farts through elaborate use of random fonts and keyboard symbols; one of the casual games sites Jack liked so that when the chat got boring and the texts stopped coming and his console was reloading he could race a car or two; Skype, in case he wanted to speak to someone face to face; and his Tumblr page so he could capture the best of it all for posterity. And his homework open in the background so when his mum came into the room he could show her what he was really doing.

So that’s what Jack was doing that day, getting on with what he thought of as “my glorious stupid life.” He was fiddling with his handset, wishing he could afford to buy some of the game’s currency, and thinking about how there should be a law to Give Kids More Money. Then a man appeared beside him.

Jack was so startled he dropped the handset and fell backward to the floor.

At this, the strange man laughed.

Then the strange man extended his hand, offering to help Jack up. “I’m Yacub,” he said. “I’m staying in the room at the back of the kitchen. Don’t tell your mother you saw me.”

“What the fuck?” Jack replied. He didn’t usually swear out loud at home; he used his “at home” way of speaking. But the stranger had a strong Middle Eastern–type accent that made Jack think of 24 and Homeland and a dozen other American shows and movies.

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