Plumbum by David Foster
Author:David Foster
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ligature Pty Limited
Published: 2021-11-09T02:39:00+00:00
11
In 1955, General Cariappa, recently retired commander-in-chief of the Indian army, en route from Canberra to Melbourne by car, was so distressed by the condition of the Gundagai war memorial that he ordered his driver to stop the car, got out and weeded it personally. The Missionaries of Charity of Mother Teresa have bhavans in Katherine, Melbourne and Bourke; but Pete, ignorant perhaps of the work that remains to be done at home, decides to commit the rest of his life helping the homeless poor of this village. Now that Satyaâs gone, heâll need a job if he wants to eat.
Itâs not a happy rhythm section sitting on the stairs. The death of little Satya has affected them all. At one stroke, it has put paid to Peteâs optimism, tightened Rolloâs money beltâthere, but for the grace of Mammon, went heâand convinced Felix, who blames himself entirely, that he has much work still to do on his body.
âIf only I could have gotten through, you guys, that kid need never have died. Itâs not enough to dance, Pete; you got to be able to stomp!â
The past is over and done: Pete has no wish to discuss it. As soon as his name plate is finished, heâll be off.
âYou know how this place got so overcrowded, Felix?â says Rollo. âMisplaced charity. You see, most of these street people are East Bengalis, which is to say East Pakistanis, which is to say Bangladeshis. Every time thereâs genocide, or a tidal wave, or a coup, or a famine, which is what they get when they donât get a flood, in they pour. All they have to export is jute, for which there is limited world demand. Youâve got to be cruel to be kind, Felix, thatâs the lesson to be learned here. Only Pete doesnât see it that way, right, Pete?â
Rollo is practically begging for an admission from Pete that Satya is better off dead. He hones in from all angles. Well, Pete wonât give him the satisfaction: let him live with his conscience.
âYeah, youâre right, man. If I hadda fuckinâ ploughed through that crowd, just cut my way through, that kid might have got to the doctor in time.â
At last: the carpenter with the name plate.
âHey, whatâs this, Pete?â
âMind your own business.â
They sneak a look as Pete is having his hair shaved off at the barberâs under the tree. Heâs borrowed the money from Mookerjee. Heâll repay it.
Dr Pieter Schwartzmann, MB, BS (Sydney), FAILed. Thatâs Fellow of the Australian Institute of Heavy Metal Medicine, psychology a specialty. Health through a Positive Social Attitude.
âYou canât do this, Pete,â says Rollo.
âFelix, you say thereâs a hole in the wall where I can pick up a stethoscope? Take me there, please.â
âSure, Pete.â Felixâs attitude to Pete has changed already. More respectful.
The barber, mistaking Peteâs gesture of grief as an expression of conversion to the Jain faith, has left the small Jain topknot.
Pete doesnât seem to care. An unconscious gesture of hope, maybe? A sign that
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