conversations, violence, the happiness of a retired woman, some deaths, and an experiment… in five parts

1 When do rituals make people safe? What rituals make people safe ? Do they ? This particular event has reliable speech. The events however are unreliable in meaning, the words spoken, the etymology of words spoken and written is irrelevant. They like us live in a surveillance society, unlike the surveillance you live under which is fundamentally about your consumptive habits, the surveillance they live under is situational, individuated, detailed, maintained and always political, synthesized into reports that end up on desks in multiple countries. In this only the quoted speech is reliable only the event is important. The crimes, deaths and corruption touched on here are uninteresting, after all you live in a world built on corruption […] The war machine’s year long experiment had been over long ago, and when they thought about it at all they just assumed that they would just continue to live with one another. They had never talked about ending their experiment. Months and a few years pass and then this event, the event of having a child redefined them completely, perhaps it was more than a few months, anyway after this event they began to speak about how they avoided talking about the end of the experiment just in case the other spoke of leaving. The question which haunts them is how much they can resist being drawn back into the territory she had been exiled from. They had become so used to being under surveillance that they mistakenly believed that they scarcely noticed it […] Let’s begin with him, for him a year long investigative case ended here, many things unraveled, lives ended, lives recommenced, some peoples existences stopped. New things learnt, some unlearnt. Whilst it introduced them both to new laws that they learned to break, for him the long slow trajectory of becoming ethical continued. He took a few more steps away from the state morality he was surrounded by. Some of the dead died nameless, some were identified, the rescued were placed in a safe house from where they vanished into new identities before they could be deported, a man and his wife were murdered in a mansion in Golders Green. The police did not find who killed them. Vast sums of capital and money changed hands and were eventually and invisibly redirected into a Swiss bank which in turn converted them into shares of the bank. The war machine became three, then later four.
This particular morning he dressed in a+ loose fitting kenzo suit that had arrived the day before. He spent the morning in briefing meetings about the warrant he was going to serve to open the container. His Sergeant had picked him up early at 8 am. Park told him that she had some appointments today, doctors, a board meeting and I have to go to the bank afterwards to sign some money back to Japan. Do you want to meet up for dinner on the way back ? He said yes, The Sergeant looked at the elegant black Yamamoto suit she was dressed in and wondered how much it cost… An hour or so later in the office, he read the warrant and looked up as he folded it into four uneven rectangles and put it into his pocket. Who are the forensic team today ? Who takes over when we find something and have to stay on site? They left the office later than planned and traveled in a three vehicle convoy, arriving at the storage facility at midday, the Sergeant was driving, there was a DC on the back seat. He was eating his way through a bento box. As they arrived he said to his sergeant that he didn’t like the purple kimchi. The shipping containers were stacked two high in rows twelve containers wide. They opened the container after some resistance from the staff. They didn’t have keys so he got one of the constables to break the lock. There were a dozen dead humans in the container. He looked at them without touching the bodies. The Sergeant called forensic team, and then she called the DCS. A constable was assigned to tape off the container and guard the bodies. Sam told the uniforms to start opening the other containers. The uniformed inspector looked like he wanted to protest and thought better of it. They started breaking into the other containers. Creating a list of containers and a summary of contents < Ikea furniture, household furniture, BMW motorbikes, Boxes of books, Paper, Machine parts, kitchen furniture, junkware, always junkware> …

2 [Lets consider her; She was feeling pale and lightheaded, she didn’t go into her office, instead she came into the office before midday and sat down on the police spy’s sofa. Taking the photograph from the brown envelope she handed it to her — “Nancy, I am in so much trouble.” Gesturing at the photograph, Nancy looked at the sonogram of the baby. Her language had a southern english accent, sounding almost normal except she had a tendency to drop philosophical phrases into her speech.”öh, should i congratulate you?””Yes I think so.” she said, leaning back into the sofa. “I am still in so much trouble. “”Why? haven’t you told him?” Nancy listened to what she was saying and wanted to laugh. One of her assistants mimed “tea?” They both said yes.”Not yet, I didn’t know until today. The thing is I have overturned every single aspect of his life since Tokyo. Everything.” she looked like she wanted to run, Nancy smiled at her. “And now this ? I don’t know how to tell him about this. What do I do if he can’t handle it? “”Boss why do you say these things to me? We all know neither of you are going anywhere…” The ‘We’ containing an implicit/implied reference to the office they are sitting in and Nancy’s surveillance reporting back to the DCS. “I suppose so. We avoided talking about the experiment at the end of the year, we were too nervous in case the other wanted it to end it and now this.” She really is pregnant Nancy thought listening to her confess her fears. I didn’t think she was frightened of anything. So typical that any fear revolves around him.”I won’t tell Jean about this until tomorrow.” Nancy explained to her. “It’s better if he knows first…””Thankyou. And now I’m going to tell him I’m pregnant. Do you think he’ll be allright ?””Yes, tell him its an experimental activity, he’ll like that… also you could tell him you want to get married.””What, why?” She looked up at her from the sofa. Reaching for the white leaf tea.” It will distract him, and also make him feel secure. You say that you’ve disrupted every aspect of his life. But the truth is that he has disrupted every aspect of your life as well…””Really? You.. “ she looked around at Nancy’s staff. “will have to come to the wedding.” Nancy was unusually amused at her today… She went to the board meeting…]

3 They’d opened twenty containers before a Detective Constable told him they had found some women alive in another container. At some moment earlier than this, during the searching process one of the black suited watchers came over and asked him if they could help. He smiled at the man whose name was Franz, and thanked him for the offer. If one of you could help the constable at the office and the rest help open some containers. Franz produced some pairs of bolt cutters from the boot of the SUV […]
Park arrived as they were opening more containers — she was unmoved as she looked at the women. Your earlier than I expected, he said. Looking pleased to see her. I didn’t go the bank, rearranged it for tomorrow. He handed her a pair of bolt cutters. Thank you. she said and began opening containers rather than speak to him, <furniture, broken computers, motorcycles, ferraris, lampshades, lightbulbs, soil, smartphones, sealed boxes of backyp tapes, boxes of unknown parts> she was laughing at herself as she broke open another container, recognizing that she was delaying disrupting his life again, even if only for a few minutes. She spoke briefly to one of the black suited men and made a phone call to her bank. The women from the container were being given glasses of water. (They would be taken to a safe house, be interviewed and vanish into new identities before they could be deported.) Park could be heard laughing with delight from inside the container she had opened. (He heard her and left the container he was looking into.) Her jacket lying on her cars bonnet. “Guns” she said. < Guns, medical machinery, drugs, 3D printing machines, more Ikea flat packs, computers and printers, junkware> (The detritus of mass consumption standing in containers on the edges of the city.) She emerged from the container carrying a handgun. (Look what I’ve found.) She looked at the Sergeant, who was standing to one side talking with Franz, they looked like they were having a nice day. The sergeant told her it had been pretty weird, too many bodies, refugees and now guns. I think he, my husband, attracts weird. Watching him as he walked down the row of containers towards her. The Sergeant looked between Park, the DCI and the gun. Park was inspecting the glock and with practiced hands she reassembled it. She thought of the new guns, how they needed cleaning and wondered if she could keep one ? She was smiling at him, knowing why she was so pleased to see him and understanding why he was looking slightly mystified. Who’d have imagined I’d feel like this. “Husband ?” He said amongst other things, questioned waiting… “Yes, I think we’re getting married, next month. Do you want to come Sergeant ?” “I didn’t know that. Why?” The Sergeant was amused at the way he accepted what she said. “Yes well your going to be a father so i thought you might like the idea.” She smiled, amused to find that she was quite happy about the idea. “I’m what?” He said. She replied quietly, next to him so that nobody could hear. “A woman in permanent exile who has a baby, she should get married and avoid ice picks. That’s what Nancy said when I told her this morning after finding out.” They stood around in a small group, a woman with a gun in her hand, Sam, his Sergeant and a gangster called Franz. They think they are barbarians but in reality they merely live amongst and work for barbarians. “What?” he said again. Park waved the gun, “…It’s a sort of handgun wedding. “ Patting and pointing at her stomach. Grabbing his arm as he looked a little pale. “Focus, look at me.” “Sorry, suddenly felt a bit shocked.” She took hold of his arm. “I’m pregnant, about twelve weeks, your going to be a father and I am scared enough for both of us so you have to recover.” “Oh. I’m fine.” and puts his arms around her. “If you’re OK with this, I am happy. We can get married. I’ll sign anything for you.” He thought of the baby, looked at the women and children being looked after by a police constable and a man in a black suit. And thought they would have to do something about the women. This is as real as it can get. Trivial sentences that inform us about love and fraternity, cut from paragraphs that in the extended form tell us nothing. Tells us nothing, the next paragraph contains nothing of interest though it explains why two people died.

4 A Japanese or possibly Korean woman standing amongst the rescued women, holding a small child in her arms is looking at them or perhaps its just her tattoos. The Sergeant accompanies them to the safe house and arranges doctors. Some days later whilst searching the empty office block, they found a picture of Park walking across the tarmac holding the gun and talking on her phone, he is standing next to her(with a biro circle drawn around his head). A week later when they went to arrest the man and his wife in Golders Green they found them dead, the money and details of the financiers vanished. The next day or a few days later a woman, accompanied by her bodyguards goes to a meeting to issue threats and arrange the laundering of assets. In another bank a director suggests swapping the assets into class A shares in the bank, the shares become a wedding present. Rituals…

5 [They ate at home, arriving back around eight in the evening. “ Ï never thought that we would be like this” he says to her in the middle of the night when they are in bed. The humidifier is silently issuing water vapor into the room. Her bedside light with a white porcelain base with a dark blue leopard walking looking out into the room, is filling her side of the bed with a reflected golden light. She is reading minima philologica and moves over to put her head on his shoulder. “ It has been a very successful experiment….” and then I think its entered a new phase… I am scared “ she says for the third or fourth time that day.This time he responds differently putting his arm around her.” We don’t have to be scared, we just need to keep it safe and happy…. I never expected this to happen, I sort of expected us to continue to live like this, like most men I have been caught by surprise. But unlike most men I cannot luxuriate in this surprise because, well you know why… “” I still feel scared, as if I have given them another hostage…” She said. He felt her shudder and smiled at the thought that he was probably the the only person who knew she was capable of such a reaction.” That’s fine, you can feel scared, I’ll act like a future parent and try and get used to the idea of becoming parent…”She hit him gently with her elbow, “ Becoming parent…” and felt herself relaxing. “ I’ll remind them of the facts of our lives starting tomorrow…”” Gently or aggressively ? “ she asked.” More in the sense of the master/slave dialectic, reminding them of the increased dread consequences of wrong decisions… They have six months to get used to the idea.””Our relations with them all will change…”( I may never quite get used to the idea, of becoming a parent. she thought wanting to smile, in the pause of language, the event freeing of language from language. Free, she thought from the world and everything that had been said and what could be said of the world that made her… )” Becoming parent could be nice “ She admitted.” I hope she is a good mixture of you and I … by the way the women sent to the safe house. They are going to need new identities with documentation. And to disappear from the eyes of the police.””Why? “” The police will only deport them…”She laughed and reached for her book. “ I like my bag carrier…”He falls asleep whilst she is still reading the Hamacher book and occasionally talking. Happiness, she thinks, is a retired assassin, reading a book whilst lying in bed with a person she trusts.] She kept the gun.

Originally published at https://www.driftwork.work on December 1, 2020.