Consulate General of Genovia
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Got a message that the crowd outside the consulate had dissipated enough for me to be smuggled in through the back service entrance, so I’m home (well, my temporary home). So happy to see Fat Louie.
He did not even appear to notice I’d been gone, having apparently slept the entire time, judging by the fur matted on the left-hand corner of my bedspread.
But he purred quite happily when I petted him, and even let me pick him up and carry him around like a big fat baby (for about one minute. Then he got cranky and growled and I had to put him down and give him a chunk of ham from my sandwich. But it was a lovely minute, until he bit me).
Weirdly, Madame Alain greeted me even more warmly than Fat Louie. At first I didn’t understand why, since I’ve never been her favorite person, or even seen her smile.
Then I saw that she was packing all the things in her office into boxes. She’s being transferred back to Genovia.
I completely forgot that I suggested she might be happier elsewhere. Apparently someone agreed with me.
Fortunately she couldn’t be more pleased. She’s always hated her job here (and me) and now she’ll never have to see the consulate (or me) again.
I wonder where she’ll be working. But actually I don’t care so long as it’s well away from me.
CHAPTER 38
2:55 p.m., Tuesday, May 5
Third-Floor Apartment
Consulate General of Genovia
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Since we didn’t bring our laptops to the Exumas, I haven’t checked my e-mail in ages.
Well, I just did, and guess what?
J.P. sent me his dystopian YA novel, Love in the Time of Shadows.
I have sent it straight to Tina.
I read the synopsis, and I’ve decided I’m not in a place right now where I want to know more about J.P.’s vision of the future, especially since in it:
1. One percent of the population owns all the wealth and property while being catered to by the impoverished 99 percent who have no chance of attaining any of that wealth and property (except through armed rebellion or a randomized lottery system).
2. The police are militarized.
3. Everyone has skin cancer/radiation poisoning because the ozone layer is being destroyed by humankind’s disrespect of the environment.
4. The media is highly biased and censored.
5. All anyone does is watch reality television to escape their problems.
6. Everyone is overweight (except of course the lithe heroine and her two love interests) because healthy food options are so expensive/unavailable.
J.P.’s vision of the future seems eerily similar to the world we live in NOW!
Why would I want to read this book in what little free time I actually have, considering the fact that it doesn’t seem to offer any realistic solutions to the problems it presents its characters, is very depressing, and is also written by my ex-boyfriend?
That’s why I’ve sent it to Tina. Maybe she will find something to like about it. Or at least find it a nice distraction from her ex-boyfriend.
CHAPTER 39