convey the idealism with which people were fighting and dying. And today, CNN not only brings you the conflicts of the globe, but shows you the faces of those fighting and suffering ...” I miss the rest while trying to read the labels on his sports jacket. Then there is a scene of an old woman lying in a bed in a decrepit old people's home in Sarajevo. Snipers have shot the windows out, and the snow comes in, settling on her bones. She waves a gnarled hand at the camera and mumbles words I don't understand. I also don't understand, despite the amount of television I watch, why so many people are fighting and dying there. I turn the channel again. More highlights of the year. This time it is the royal family, bemoaning their annus horribilis. Still the Somalian child doesn't show any interest. I wonder what TV is like in Somalia. I also wonder if I should feed him anything, or just leave the television on so that he will go back where he came from. That seems the easiest and kindest thing to do, so I decide to go up to the shops for 15 minutes, giving him the opportunity to disappear quietly. When I return I hear talking from the lounge room. It has a different quality to the sound of the television. The old woman from Sarajevo is now stretched out on the couch, pulling her blanket up with her gnarled hands and mumbling words I still can't understand. She smells of vomit. I check and see the Somalian boy is still there as well. The television is still on, showing scenes from Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge have been massacring civilians, and some peasants stare at the screen, weeping. Tears are running down their faces like tropical rain. Their eyes are red and burning and loom right up against the screen. It's very disturbing, but the old lady doesn't seem to notice. I turn the television off and wonder what to do. Something decisive! I go to the front room to call my sister. She always complains that I never ring her since she got rem...
