watercolour and ink on paper
102 :: Life outside London
Hank was right. Outside London they did not care about au pairs. Outside London was a different place with different rules. Outside London was a destination place for migrants of many kinds. There were jobs outside London. Pubs, clubs, restaurants and supermarkets all needed staff. There was a thriving logistics industry supporting the services industries of London. Outside London was not London but it was good. And there was always the hope of one day making it to London. Naomi could have a good life outside London. She could keep her head down. Work cash-in-hand jobs. They would probably never get round to looking for her.
Mariam hated Hank being right. She did not rant in pubs but it was easy to find what she thought. She thought Hank was wrong. Hank was shy everything was wrong in this country. In the world. Every Hank out there fucked up the world and there were so very many Hanks. Hanks dreamed of power. They held a fantasy of continuous sexual euphoria. Every other vice had been discarded as unhealthy. Or carcinogenic. Or psychosis inducing. All that was left was the aspiration of great sex. How stupid of Hank to believe the mindlessly peddled nonsense. How stupid of every Hank. Mariam knew the truth. All that was needed for great sex was love. A desire to touch and a desire to be touched. Sex is an act of worship for a man of a woman. Or a woman of a man. Or a man of a man. Or a woman of a woman. But capitalism had commercialised sex through films and ads. The capitalists sold the au pair as the cure of all sexual troubles. But the au pair only solved troubles with the mechanics of sex. Sex was not mechanical. Sex was inspirational. Sex needed love.
Mariam hated the name au pair. She thought it stupid. She thought they should be called by their true name. Sex slave. Or perhaps sex worker. Hank could not afford a sex worker which was why he was seeking a sex slave.
103 :: Women in limbo
Mariam opened a camera of the common room. The one Hank had said. The escape...
