The Island Nation by Bacon Christine;

Author:Bacon, Christine;
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 4764176
Publisher: Oberon Books

7.

REBECCA and JENNY at a bar in Colombo sitting near each other.

JENNY: Tourist?

REBECCA: No. No. I’m with an NGO in the Vanni. (Points up.)

JENNY: Tsunami reconstruction?

REBECCA: I’m running a public education thing around what causes tsunamis and/

JENNY: /Oh – you’re that Tom and Jerry woman, right? Someone from UNICEF was telling us about you.

REBECCA: They think I’m mad.

JENNY: Joseph is a prick. I thought it sounded fun.

REBECCA: You go from talking about tectonic plates and doom and gloom … I had 500 people on a beach in Mullativu who had lost up to 28 members of their family crying with laughter for half an hour. That’s good therapy in my book.

JENNY: Did you have to get it cleared with the Tigers?

REBECCA: That was part of the reason I chose Tom and Jerry. Because you can’t play anything that could be interpreted as … that they would see as delivering the wrong message. But what could they say about a cat chasing a mouse?

JENNY: You know a few of them do you?

REBECCA: They’re the only game in town up there so yeah we’ve had quite a bit to do with them.

JENNY: A lot of my colleagues hate dealing with them.

REBECCA: They rule the place with an iron fist, it has to be said, but individually, really nice people. My mum and dad came up to visit a few weeks back and when we were going through the checkpoint, they were all like oh, would you like some tea and cake and all of this stuff and my dad sort of whispers to me – you know, these are the loveliest terrorists I’ve ever met. Collectively though, yeah, they’re ruthless. But I get along with a lot of them. Mutual respect sort of thing.

JENNY: Do they really think they’re going to get their own state up there?

REBECCA: Yeah. They believe it. They’ve had a rough deal – and they don’t want to live like slaves under the Sri Lankan government. What do I say to that?

JENNY: We can all see what’s coming. You must see it too. The ceasefire is technically still in place, but I mean – the number of checkpoints everywhere. And look at that soldier – stroking his Kalashnikov like it’s his cock or something. This ‘peace’ is evaporating in front of our eyes.

REBECCA: You do feel it, under the skin of the place.

JENNY: What are you running away from?

REBECCA: Uh … dunno.

JENNY: Everyone in this game is. I cheated, he cheated. Marriage ended. Lost the house.

REBECCA: Maybe it’s small town syndrome. Drugs maybe? I did quite a lot of drugs at one point.

JENNY: Finding yourself. That’s standard. People assume being a humanitarian is a selfless kind of thing don’t they?

REBECCA: Yeah.

JENNY: But the ego stuff is huge. I used to work till I couldn’t stay awake anymore and I loved that elevated state. I was one of those who got on the next flight out when some new disaster hit. You must be in that kind of honeymoon phase?

REBECCA: I’m having fun.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.