"My husband and I were married just before the civil war started. He went off with his mates to fight for the rebels. Over the last six years I have only seen him on one or two days most months. Some months I never see him. I am worried he will no longer love me when this war stops. What if he falls out of love with me? I still love him so much it hurts to be parted from him."
A sad silence followed this young woman's words of sorrow. Many wives knew this pain of separation from their husbands. One such woman had the courage to offer this advice
"I try to imagine my husband is by my side in the difficult moments. I keep him alive in my children's minds by pretending that he will walk into our home at any time. I play a game with my kids by saying things like, 'Just wait till your father gets home young man. He wont like to hear that you used that word. Now would he?" They miss him so they play along. But its the nights that are the worse for me."
Large sounds of agreement followed this last statement. Then the discussion started to get into full swing as women shared their pains and their coping strategies. The meeting went well over time, but eventually kids bath times, meal times and the refugee curfew brought this meeting to a halt. Everyone applauded as the convener reluctantly called the meeting to an end. As the women filed out of the hall the first woman to raise a question sought out Nahid Fitzgerald. Sheepishly she offered Nahid her hand in friendship. Nahid readily accepted this offer and smiled warmly as the woman said,
"I wanted to apologize face to face. Some of the older women have put me straight. You are one of the early heroes of the women's rebel cause. I am the security officer for refugee women in this district. Some of the older women said you held down a similar post at the Eastern Australian refugee camp. Can I pick your brains about some women's safety issues?"
Nahid said in a friendly tone of voice,
"Of course you can but we can't break curfew. Why don't you come to lunch at my place at midday tomorrow. That will give us the whole afternoon to chat together. "
The woman smiled back before saying in a relieved tone of voice,
"My name is Florence Schutz. My parents were Greek. Yes I would love to have lunch at your house. Can I bring some Greek coffee and sweets?'
Nahid replied in a happy tone of voice,
"That is great that you can come on such short notice. Yes please about the coffee and sweets. I cannot get good coffee where I live. Greek coffee is the best!"
The two women walked out of the hall together smiling all the way.
Tyrany
President Phillip James Dent was relishing the prospect of being a big celebrity on the world media stage. He had bribed many people to get the vote to go in favor of Australia at the meeting of sporting nation delegates. Now he was the head of state of the next great world sporting event. It had cost billions to build new stadiums up to world's best practice level. These state of the art stadiums, velodromes and water sports facilities had been built in record time but at excessive cost to the Treasury. President Dent had to sack one Federal Treasurer because she objected to the blow out in Australia's National Debt. But the Australian president rammed through all the necessary approvals. Of course the construction contracts were awarded to his cronies who paid him secretly for the privilege of ripping off Australian taxpayers. But by making sure that all the rich and powerful , well those that supported him politically anyway, were included President Dent got what he wanted. Australia had a harbor city brimming with new sporting facilities that were the envy of the world.
Calling in Nova Kaufman to check up on last minute minor hitches, President Dent was in no mood for anything less than perfection. He said in a firm strong tone of voice,
"Have we settled that demarcation dispute about the unloading of cargo for the big event?'
Knowing that her boss hated any opposition to his will Kaufman replied in a nervous tone of voice,
"The large unions at loggerheads are still holding out for their members to get the overtime up for grabs."
As Kaufman expected he would, President Dent exploded using a very angry tone of voice as he commanded,
"Get those union leaders here today. I will not put up with their games of wounded pride. They will make a settlement of that dispute today or they will all feel the inside of a federal prison. They will learn the hard way who is running this country. If I have to I will deregister both their unions. Lets see how they cope without all those members fees flowing in regularly. How are we with the special guest list?"
Swallowing hard to hide her surprise at this display of raw power, Kaufman replied to the last question in a more positive tone of voice,
"All confirmed except the French President. His aides are still holding out for preference in ranking ahead of the British Prime Minister. They also want all announcements to be in English and French."
The reaction this time was less violent but no less angry. President Dent did not like being dictated to and he certainly resented the use of political blackmail by the French. Still his tone of voice was only mildly irritable when he said,
"Damn them. I suppose we will have to bump the British Prime Minister. Serves her right for what she said about me in that Security Council meeting. 'Tin pot dictator' am I? Well she is now seated at the end seat on the podium. As for the language thing we will just have to concede with good grace. After all it is the custom in that other great sporting event. So lets agree to their terms but get our own back by giving them some traditional Aussie food for their first lunch. That will be damper, iced cold cheese, a pie floater and some Australian sparkling wine. Can't wait to see their diplomatic faces when they have to sit through that lunch. Ha! Ha! Old baguette face will be seething but have to politely eat it all up. Make sure she gets a double helping of everything and have the wine waiter top up her glass all the time. No one gets the better of me without paying a high price."
Not for the first time Nova Kaufman was impressed with her boss's ability to turn any diplomatic defeat into a secret victory. Australia may be a small country way out in the powerless Pacific region but it was punching above its weight thanks largely to Dent's political cunning.
Trying to take personal advantage of the President's current good mood Nova Kaufman now played her card against a political opponent. She said in a worried tone of voice,
"The Finance Minister is objecting to the high level of the security budget requested by the National Security Director. In particular she objects to the high number of commando snipers being deployed on unlimited overtime. It seems a valid objection. Particularly as Leopold absolutely refuses to compromise by reducing the size of her security team."
President Dent was aware of the animosity that existed between his aide and his National Security Director. Usually he manipulated this to his own advantage. But this time he was not going to let their personal squabbles upset his big day. Still he did not want to antagonize either woman. Both were central to his plans to completely reorganize the military senior ranks. As a former Major-General and armed forces chief ,Dent was a perfectionist where military performances were involved. Too many of the senior officers in his armed forces were not pulling their weight . Some thought the civil war was over. Dent knew otherwise. He had selected the senior officers that were to be forced into retirement. But some had powerful friends and loyal