The Immense Tea Cosy
2002; Springer International Publishing; Volume: 28; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0311-4198
Autores Tópico(s)European history and politics
Resumo1. The Husband Rick plasters down his black hair with expensive gel. His hair is always threatening to get out of control. It: is the only thing about himself which he hates. In the mirror, he sees that he is beginning to look -- not young, It is tiring, after all, constantly generating income, But if he stops even for one day, the empire he has built up will collapse around him and Joe Hill will get him. Rick knows he must seize the time. The collapse of communism enabled those with vision to grab the ball and kick it before the disbanded masses even knew where it was. Before they had a chance to regroup, Rick and his mates at Audit Consultants had to run with the ball. The New Regime is fair. What could be more democratic than a society of share holders all working together? Isn't it just a natural replacement for the togetherness of communism? 2. Joe Hill But everyone has a nightmare. And Rick sweats at night about the one possible catch which could halt his glorious Career Path. Rick knows that his success rests on the employee class remaining unorganised, in shock. The unions have been paid off, they don't worry him. Anyway, they are not telegenic. Except for one. Rick's nightmare. For Rick has learnt that the Wobblies are not dead -- they have a website, and everyone knows how things spread on the Net. They have a new slogan which strikes terror into his heart. Conscious Withdrawal of Efficiency. In his dreams at night, a beautiful dead martyr rises from the grave, and hovers over Dick's bed. It is Joe Hill, handsome young Swedish immigrant to America, a Wobbly martyr executed on a trumped up murder charge. His politics are not as important as the fact that he is totally, utterly, tragically beautiful, innocent and telegenic. If the Net site spreads, women will fall in love with him. Men will start to wish that they too were Swedish. Joe will be on TV, and that will be the end. `I never died,' whispers Joe Hill in Rick's ear, as Rick eats his egg in the morning, as Rick sits at his spreadsheets. So damn handsome. How could the friendliest fascist compete with Joe on prime-time TV? Rick shudders at night. In his nightmare, Joe Hill laughs at Rick, and the employees laugh at him as the whole nation consciously withdraws efficiency. Danaa used to help him sleep at night. But now she has gone funny on him. He has so many worries.... His biggest expenses are the four wheel drive (The Throb) and the home office upgrades. The renovations were paid for with his last performance incentive. This amount was barely adequate compensation for the stress of being directly the cause of sacking 50,000 employees in the public health area. Still, it is fulfilling to know that he is the most sought after consultant -- lean and mean. 3. The Wife On his fortieth birthday, two years ago now, he started hitting on Danaa in the office. Afterwards, he tried to analyse why he had picked her, of all the women in Melbourne, and he had to admit that she had just, well, kind of been there whenever he looked up from his screen, with her short tight minis and her black stockings with the occasional glimpse of suspender, of smooth pale flesh. And a cup of tea for him. He managed to fit in a courtship which merged with work, cushioning her from his shortcomings by Bollinger (Danaa's wage as an office manager did not allow her to get so expensively, regularly, pissed), the corporate box at the footy (Danaa liked watching men in shorts), seafood restaurants, nights on a mate's yacht...and making love. Here, they clicked. He had his own way of doing this. He liked to stuff twenty dollar bills in her undies, smoothing them out between her legs so that after a while it felt like a Kotex down there. The rule was, she had to pretend she was being paid for every item of clothing he allowed her to remove. She had to resist (only slightly, and not for long) then cede when the money was placed down there, by his inquiring, searching hand. …
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