Love Songs from a Shallow Grave

be.
    “And, let’s assume,” Siri continued, “that you’re here watching over me because you’re grateful that I saved your life. By the way, I’m glad I did save your life because I think it’s a life worth saving. We’d all be sorry not to have you around. But you’re right. You owe me. A life is a big debt to owe so I’m asking you to repay that debt. I want you to talk to – ”
    Rajid sprang from his seat as suddenly as a cricket, but Siri had been expecting it and his reflexes were still sharp. He caught hold of the Indian’s wrist and held it tightly. Rajid squirmed and growled like a trapped animal but Siri wasn’t about to let him go until he was finished with his speech. He anchored his free arm around the umbrella stem and focused on his breathing until the wild man calmed down. It took some while.
    At last, Siri continued, “I want you to talk to your father. I know you can speak. I’ve heard you. Your father didn’t kill your family, Rajid.”
    The man shook violently but couldn’t break the doctor’s grip.
    “The ocean killed them,” said Siri. “The unsafe, unregistered boat killed them. Fate killed them. Hate all of those if you like, but not your father. He suffered even more than you when it happened. But every day he sees you like this he has to relive your family tragedy. I know you see it too. I know you have that same nightmare. I know what you saw disconnected some mechanism in your head and I’d bet you’re as confused as anyone can be. But your father loves you and you’re breaking his heart by punish – ”
    Rajid wrenched his arm from Siri’s grasp and twisted his lithe body. He crashed into the umbrella and sent it tumbling into the damp undergrowth. His body fell sprawling onto the mud but he recovered before the doctor could get his bearings and scurried down the river bank and vanished in the darkness. Siri sighed, righted the umbrella and collected the plate of half-eaten dinner. He trudged back towards the shop and looked up to see Daeng enjoying the show from the upstairs window.
    “Nicely done,” she called.

4
BILLBOARD TOP TEN
    T he rain had let up briefly sometime on the Monday morning and the toads and frogs were yelling their delight like an orchestra of bedsprings and didgeridoos. All along the river bank young children in their school shirts were scooping the happy beasts into cardboard boxes and cement sacks and escorting them home to the larder. With so little to be had at the fresh market, families grew whatever they could around their homes, raised chickens and improvised. A lot of the stomach-turning but nutritious fare once considered the mainstay of the ignorant country folks had made a comeback on the kitchen tables of the city.
    Toads, if one remembered to remove the poisonous skin and eggs, tasted vaguely of duck. Pa dtaek , fermented fish sauce, was so pungent it had to be stored in earthenware jars as far from the house as possible. Snakes made an interesting stew. Then there were the little creepy critters; fat white grubs that smelt bad but tasted fabulous, scorpion claws, fried termites, beetles, grasshoppers, and the absolutely delicious – Michelin five star – red-ants eggs: squishy heaven in every bite.
    As Siri walked along that oh-so-noisy river bank on his way to work, he saw a pelican gliding above the surface of the water. It was a marvellous bird, proud and resourceful, and he imagined how it would taste with a little chilli paste and fresh yams. Hungry people made poor environmentalists.
    Before reaching the hospital he passed two of the new billboards. If 1977 had been the year of the drought, 1978 had to be the year of the government billboard. They’d sprung up everywhere urging the population to work harder, be honest, love the nation, and grow bananas. A kind critic might have called the artwork naive. Siri had three or four adjectives of his own to describe it. He believed if some archaeologist four hundred years from now were to uncover only billboards as evidence of an ancient civilisation, they would be forced to assume the Lao had been a wooden, asymmetrical, poorly proportioned race with no necks. Their schoolchildren, even at seven or eight years of age, had the traumatised expressions of forty-year-old addicts. And there was no way to distinguish between male and female adults apart from hairstyles or hats. Short-haired, hatless beings were asexual.
    If there had been a department of billboards