THE PLACES FLED III
Port Kembla steel works courtesy www.beca.com
The haunting was over and yet his mind was still ill at ease. He knew the story was over and yet trails of it still ran through his mind, unhappily, for he did not want to be where he found himself; and the nation turned off the election in droves. Having flown too close to the sun; wings were in tatters. Kevin Rudd, who must be loved and admired at all times, was no longer the subject of infatuation, veneration, or anything much at all. The mob had rounded on a "loser"; and there would be no satisfying their lust for blood, their stinging contempt. Their "fed upness", their boredom, with the techno-jargon about creating the jobs for the future. When the budget had blown out and there would be no resolve. When their own lives had not improved despite all the grand sweeping tours; statements; past beliefs.
Nobody mentioned reconciliation anymore.
The "good folk of Australia", as Kevin Rudd was want to say, were no longer so easily fooled. Gone were the days when Rudd could paint himself as a progressive saviour of the planet; signing the Kyoto Protocol and leading a delegation of 114, or whatever it was, to the Copenhagen Climate Summit. A summit which, ultimately, made not one jot of difference to anything, except that it stoked the lingering or not so lingering contempt; a jot in the catalogue of past enthusiasms. Along with reconciliation; where the lives of not a single indigenous person had improved. Or now, gay marriage. As if anyone could really care. Why anyone would want to imitate a heterosexual institution, or why a piece of paper should mean anything, Michael had no idea.
But the past had gone, just as it had in the fetid heat of Bangkok's sois, and days followed days and there would be no others; and he was cheered by nothing.
The nights were cold; as were the beach walks. Assemblies of the lost, the frustrated. He could not fathom what had happened; but it had. There was no recourse; no way of saying sorry; of reaching back for forgiveness or reconciliation. There was nothing but a hard wall of laughter; the successful thieves. The bitter glint. He took time, as if for action, but this was a different action, a different intent. He had every intention of taking his time; of not running to some mad dream or someone else's time table. Of proving nothing. Of walking away quietly.
Because they weren't the audience; never were. And if he had briefly tried to prove something; it wasn't to them. "If I've been untrue, it wasn't to you." I hope you know. But there was no one there. No one waiting. No one watching. And all the silent dreams, the chirruping voices. "Perhaps he's telepathic." He can hear things he shouldn't be able to hear. Well say it, sandwich it, swallow it and die. There were brief moments when the story was more than the story should be; and then it was over, just like that. We made to discuss. We made to channel. We made to reach out. We were proved unworthy. And we died. That was all there was to it. Suicide by cop. The nights grew darker. The wind colder. The voices more distant. The drama less and less intriguing.
And then he walked away, free at last.
"He insulted me, he hurt me, he defeated me, he robbed me."
Those who think such things will not be free from hate.
~~~Buddha....
THE BIGGER STORY:
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/two-teens-charged-with-murdering-melbourne-baseball-player-chris-lane/story-fni0fiyv-1226700172461
Sarah Harper, 23, also told the Herald Sun that she didn't know what punishment would be appropriate of the three teenagers, aged 15, 16 and 17 years, accused of Lane's murder.
It comes as Duncan Police Chief Danny Ford said he had secured the confession of the 17-year-old who summoned investigators to his jail cell and claimed he and the younger boys were bored "so they decided to kill somebody".
"He said he was the driver of the car," Chief Ford said.
"They saw Christopher jog by the house they were at, they chose him to be the target, they got in the car, drove up behind him and shot him in the back.
"He said the 16-year-old fired the shot."
The three teenagers are being held in the Stephens County Jail in Duncan.
The trio were due to appear in a local court over the shooting at 1.30pm Monday (4.30am Tuesday AEST), but it has been pushed back a day.
A spokesperson for District Attorney Jason Hicks said the charges were still being reviewed.
The mother of the 16-year-old accused of firing the single bullet from a handgun into Lane's back said she didn't believe her son was involved.
The father of the 15-year-old admitted his son had been in trouble with the law, but described him as a good boy.
Lane, who grew up in Oak Park in Melbourne's north, had only been back in the US for three days after an eight-week break in Australia with Ms Harper.
"I don't want them to have any future that Chris wasn't able to have as well," Ms Harper said of the accused teenagers today.
"It's been pretty rough. It's been hard knowing he was taken so close to home, let alone taken in the way he was. To be pointed out like that …"
Ms Harper said she and Lane had joked about America's soft gun laws before he was shot.
"He wasn't a fan of guns," she said.
She fondly described Lane as a smart, kind and curious guy who would "do anything for anybody".
Ms Harper, also a talented sportswoman, said she and Lane just "meshed together" within weeks of meeting at college in Oklahoma in August 2009.
"It was more of a personality (we had in common), not so much interests. He was intellectual, into world news, and I found that quite boring," she said.
"He really wanted to travel more. He loved the idea of seeing the world."
KEVIN Rudd does not look himself.
The grand visions of hospital reform, talk of the moral challenges of our time about climate change and the positive campaigner are gone.
In their place is an increasingly negative and bitter campaign from Labor and Mr Rudd himself.
With no money for big policies and polls heading south, Kevin Rudd has hit the negative button.
His message: don't elect Tony Abbott, look what his LNP counterparts have done.
A government should be able to sell its own record.
Labor cannot.
Mr Rudd this week began warning of what Tory Prime Minister David Cameron has done in Britain.
Comparisons with Jeff Kennett and Campbell Newman may have bearing on voters but the UK Tories?
It sounded desperate.
This morning Mr Rudd suggested he would find his way back through people power.