Fireworks

In cosy circumstance, with temperatures unbound, in tiny backyards with the city stretching all around, from darkness and light and moments of truth, we called for comfort in the inner-circle and found ourselves with explosions on our hands. The more you rescue her the worse she gets, I warned, and they paid no attention, buying her a $30,000 car, giving her $10,000 in cash, always protecting, the lads partying on while we gazed in awe, laughter bound. I didn't know where the truth lay anymore. One moment a good idea seemed the only path, the next, suffering from contradictory advice, I didn't know the way forward. I certainly didn't like getting older by the day. If only the process would reverse, and we could grow younger by the day, and all the indulgent mistakes that had been made over so many years, they came back to comfort as much as to haunt.

It was strange being away, outside my own life, but after awhile I settled into a happiness I hadn't known for a long time, felt in the right place at the right time, which I never felt, was happy to have ceased transmission, to be a nobody amongst strangers, not pretending to be tough arsed burnt out hack, just a merry, quiet soul, friendly but not fauning, was happy to sit talking with people from all over the world, late into the night. They drank, and I couldn't drink, and for some reason it didn't matter. Complete strangers would tell me their whole life story in the first five minutes of our meeting, and I wondered why they did this, did I have a receptive face? Did I look like someone who would care? But they would tell me anyway.

I've been here for two years; I'm struggling to build a house; the girlfriend left; I was working as a postman in Holland and the wife left and I thought my life was over; I was working in an icecream factory in Ohio and the wife left; I thought my life was over. I cashed up and went travelling. Through South America. Through Africa. And ended up here. And haven't stopped laughing since. Because sitting here, back in Sydney, at a computer, another day at work finished, stories bashed out at frantic pace, performing the impossible in a thousand key strokes; the dogs not here and Sam over at Suzy's for the night because she's sick, of course; nobody inquires too closely, it's a wonder she's still standing; and he's taken hostage, emotionally blackmailed; and there's nothing I can do to stop it. Is there? Henrietta's here and doesn't want to go back. Time passes and the cruelty of that time is easily condensed. I never wanted to be here. I never thought the good times would end. And out of all the chaos; he found stability in the end zone which was a comfort in itself. Even if there was no rhyme, and certainly no reason.

THE BIGGEST STORY:

EURONEWS: Britain to start pulling its troops out of Iraq
Britain is set to announce a progressive pull-out of its troops from Iraq, starting in just a few weeks time. Prime Minister Tony Blair is expected to make the announcement in Parliament. The White House, presently engaged in controversially sending thousands more troops to Baghdad, has already been informed. The pull-out is being presented as a sign of British success in that the southern regions of Iraq, for which it was responsible, can soon be handed over to Iraqi security forces. 1500 British soldiers, out of the 7000 or so presently deployed in Iraq, could be home by this summer, with the rest following by the end of 2008. The announcement is set to come just a day after ruling Labour was seen to be trailing the opposition Conservatives by 13 percentage points in a crucial poll.