"Simon Ings - The Wedding Party" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ings Simon)

The Wedding Party
Simon Ings

THE RISK IS in standing still.

It can come at you quickly. A gas lamp sets a tent alight and six
Somalian refugees die in the flamesтАФTa-da!

Or it can be subtle. Last year, a great many Somalian refugees gave
up their flight altogether, boarded boats in Aden, and headed homeтАФand
why? Maybe because the Yemeni authorities let on how many Palestinian
refugees had already died in the camp they were bound forтАФthe camp at
Al Ghanaian.

The point, either way, is thisтАФthe risk is in standing still.

IтАЩve said to my wife: тАЬAidenтАЩs dead. MochaтАЩs closed out.тАЭ

I said to her: тАЬLebanon to Syria to Cyprus. Come on.тАЭ

I said, тАЬHe hasnтАЩt any choice.тАЭ

This is her brother we are talking about. My loverтАФwhich is a joke.
Rather, he is the other side of that coin I once covetedтАФRedson and
Hope, that long-wished-for alchemical wedding.

Slip through Europe, thatтАЩs the ticket. If you can call it slipping. Slump
through Europe. Slouch through Europe. Squat, squeeze, shimmy through
Europe, to the Red Cross camp at Sangatte, just a short walk away from
the Channel Tunnel.

Kurdish gangs patrol the camp, which isnтАЩt even a real campтАФjust a
converted railway warehouse. The Kurds organize the escapees; they
arrange transit attempts through the Tunnel; they know whatтАЩs what.
Whether youтАЩre a single man from Iraq or Iran, or a family from Afghanistan,
Koso-vo, or AlbaniaтАФitтАЩs all the same to them. You donтАЩt get through
without you paying the fee.

And you pay the fee. Of course you do. The risk is in standing still.
The risk is in standing upтАФ standing up, I mean, to them. There are riots in
Sangatte, as you would expect from eight hundred and fifty refugees
crammed into quarters meant for two hundred. All of them trying somehow,
any-how, to scrape together that fee.

IтАЩve said to HopeтАФthatтАЩs my wifeтАЩs name, HopeтАФтАЭGet Redson to
Cyprus and IтАЩll do the rest.тАЭ And IтАЩm already promising more than I should.
The Snakeheads have much of this route IтАЩm suggesting sewn upтАФfrom
the Balkans to San-gatte, some say.

She says nothing. She looks out the window at the poisoned