The Black Australian:

Chapter 16 (Part II)

Floating clouds

by Sunil GOVINNAGE

The next day after breakfast, Siri wondered how to spend the time before he left the city to visit another part of Queensland - Cairns.

He looked at the tourist brochures and wondered whether to visit the Redcliffe, which was the first settlement in Moreton Bay area. After visiting Botany Bay in Sydney, and remembering the disillusionment and the conversation he had with Sisira afterwards, he decided to visit the Art Gallery and the Museum in the City Hall.

When Siri returned to the motel, it was almost three o'clock. After a brief nap, he decided to have a swim and walked to the other side of the motel.

When he reached the pool, he saw two black men, a black woman and two children swimming in the shallow water. After every second lap the men came out, opened a can each of Victoria Bitter, and sipped the liquid while talking to each other in a different language. Siri realised that it was Pidgin English, as spoken in Papua New Guinea.

After several laps, Siri came out and sat on the pool bench next to the men.

"Hello, brother. How are you? I'm Jack. This is my colleague and friend, Samuel. We come from lovely Port Moresby, the great capital of PNG. So where do ya come from? Wherever you come from, have a great Aussie beer first," Jack offered.

Siri introduced himself and learnt that Jack Bagita was a criminal lawyer. He was here on a holiday with his office administrator as a bonus for his good work throughout the year.

"We come to Brisbane at least once a year. In fact, now the courts are closed and we also take holidays! Each year, I invite one of my staff members and his family to join me here. A free holiday! That's part of my management to motivate workers!" Jack said and opened another can of Victoria Bitter.

"So what are you doing here?"

"I'm passing by. Never been to Brisbane before! I first came to Sydney for a conference and decided to explore the rest of the East Coast. So here I am in Brisbane and drinking beer with Jack Bagita from PNG!"

"Oh, when you visit Brisbane next time, you must come to Port Moresby. It's just a hop step and a jump. We'll look after you! You look like one of our fellow brothers! Look, we look alike!" laughed Jack.

"I don't know much about PNG. Only thing I know about your country is the name of the Capital and the sleeping volcano on which the city is located. I think I picked it up from an article in a geography magazine."

"Oh everyone knows about it. We call it the fountain of gold for foreign consultants! Do you know how many UN consultants we have each month? At least two! When one consultant leaves the airport, another arrives for a follow up on their last trip. The second person will carry out a situation analysis based on the report of the person left! We make a big noise, but the trend continues! It's part of the foreign aid packages to PNG. Your friends in Canberra do the same. So the foreign aid from Australia never reaches the people in PNG! We call it the Boomerang aid! The money goes back to several Australian bank accounts! A good humanitarian assistance, ah," retorted Jack with an angry voice and gulped his Aussie beer.

"These sorts of things happen all over the world, Jack! My country, Sri Lanka is no different! So what can we do?"

"We can do a lot, brother. At least we must try to change the future. We can do a few things! We have a national approach to changing our colonial links. We should not avoid our kids learning all the postcolonial stuff. I just finished a curriculum review of history and literature books for our senior students," Jack said and continued, "We now use text books from African and well-known Black writers and less and less white books including Australian literature! We promote the books of Chinua Achebe and V. S. Naipaul. "Have you read the books by Naipaul and Chinua Achebe?"

"Nope!"

"What books do you read brother?"

Siri mentioned the book he had bought on Australian immigrants.

"Anyway, you must come and visit us. If you come, you must come in September."

"Why in September?"

"That's when we have the Yam Festival."

"What's the Yam Festival?"

"It's one of our national festivals."

"So what do you do?"

"We have fun! That's the festival where young women select partners for a night or longer!" laughed Jack and continued, "You are not married, ah?"

"Not anymore!"

"Then you must come, ah!"

"I'll see."

"We'll take you to a good place to see a few good 'Maries' "

"Maries?"

"'Mari' is the Pidgin word for 'woman', brother, woman! We are going to see a one or two 'Maries' tonight. Why not you join us?" and Jack winked at his friend who gazed at his wife and kids at the other end of the pool.

"No, I can't," refused Siri. "I've to catch a flight to Cairns tomorrow and need to be at the airport very early. Maybe next time, perhaps when I come to PNG for the Yam Festival!" Siri said, got up and gulped the last drop in his second can of beer.

"I must go and start packing. I've more books to carry than I brought over from home. Thanks for the beer. I'll see ya later, maybe during the Yam Festival!"

"Where's your home brother?"

Siri paused for a while and replied: "Perth!" He burped, collected his bathing towel, and walked through the Acacia bush to his room. There was no scent as the tiny yellow flowers had withered away.

"What sort of people will I meet in Cairns?" thought Siri and took a deep breath.

Darkness had invaded the earth. The day was already dead.

For feedback and readers' response: - [email protected]

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.