What is really gruesome about Ebola is that for the
four+ decades we’ve known of its existence, the West has been kind of ok with
it – because it was just killing
Africans. And let’s face it we are used to watching desperate foreigners die of
poverty or disease or preventable illnesses or the results of the exploitation
of the developed world – and getting on with our tea.
Suddenly we are interested because it looks like the
virus might have the bare faced cheek to come over here. (For previous comments
on this issue check out blogs 12. Armageddon
will not be televised and 95 Trump is
a chump – again).
In lieu of anything new to be said about this
disaster and certainly anything humorous, I will instead insert here an excerpt
from my short story The Remainder published last year in ROOT.
(entry -
223)
I hoped the
false lavender would trigger a sensory memory of the real thing but it’s too
long ago.... The material disintegrated even though I tried not to handle it.
During the great plagues of 2103 when a cloying, fetid stench fouled the air
for months, I forced my precious lavender pouch to my nose even though there
was only the faintest trace of its aroma. I tried breathing through it,
ignoring the muggy brown air which was like my own fear. In those days the air
was always adulterated with some chemical or other. Every year the food
developers created new seeds to keep ahead of the mutated crop diseases. I
vaguely remember a seven-year cycle. But eventually the developers found they
were only two seasons away from earth zero. That was when the super-plagues
arrived. Also the nightmares that I still have. Millions were already weakened
from unwholesome synthetic nutrition. It was in 2103 that we took our biggest
hit. Food supplements could not prevent starvation, even in the Priority
Nations. The Sub Nations ceased. I can hardly visualise a Sub Nation now. They
are a shameful footnote; areas bombed for their oils and natural resources by
coalitions controlling the peace weapons. Even in grandmother’s time it was
accepted that there was little practical purpose in shoring up the fragile
populations of countries that, in the pre-plague years, failed to hand over
resources to the Democratic Council of Nations. We were taught at school that
areas of the globe historically suffered from famine and various economic and
geographical crises. There was an unspoken understanding that it was the
natural order of things that these branches of the human tree be allowed to whither
for the benefit of The Remainder. Lots of things are unspoken now. These are
the things that hurt my head. The ‘natural order of things’ isn’t much used as
an argument the rest of the time.
***
If you haven’t already downloaded Casey & the Surfmen for the kids DO
-
Part 1. Down
by the Sea
Part 2. Ripping
the Earth
can both be found at