The Lizard Cage

The Lizard Cage by Karen Connelly Page B

Book: The Lizard Cage by Karen Connelly Read Free Book Online
Authors: Karen Connelly
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the SLORC have released her? So the generals can have her killed and pretend they had nothing to do with it, right? Then they’ll announce that the house arrest was for her own good and it’s a shame they ever freed her. Our heroes!” Sein Yun claps his hands, then lowers his voice dramatically. “You know, there are still rumors that Ne Win was behind her father’s assassination. And if he could have the great Bogyoke Aung San and his whole cabinet shot to death right in their offices, his lovely daughter doesn’t present much of a challenge.”
    “Ko Sein Yun! Don’t say that. I don’t want to hear it.”
    “I thought you wanted to know what was going on. That’s what the men are saying.”
    “The generals wouldn’t dare touch her. She’s too well known. The entire world would despise them.”
    Sein Yun cocks his head to the side. “Has that ever stopped them before? It will be very interesting to see what happens next.”
    Teza frowns. “Ko Sein Yun, who’s taking the bets?”
    “Hmm?” The palm-reader is backing up, turning to the door.
    “Somebody must be making money.”
    The slashed grin comes again, a silent part of Sein Yun’s vocabulary. “Little Brother, a very good question. I have no idea. And I don’t mean to offend you, but I’m sick of standing here with your shit in my hands. I’m going to empty this bucket.” The cell door heaves shut.
    Teza stands in front of it, shaking his head. When the leader of the National League for Democracy is released from six years of house arrest, the palm-reader responds by organizing a betting racket on the date of her possible assassination. He really is sick. And the only human being Teza speaks to on a daily basis.
    Less than five minutes later the palm-reader reappears at the coffin door and hands him the emptied pail. It’s surprisingly clean inside.
    “What, you washed it?”
    “No, I got the rats to lick it out.” Sein Yun flashes his teeth. “Sometimes the tap at the latrine hole actually works. I sprayed the thing clean.”
    Teza stares at the pail. None of his servers has ever done this before. The unexpected kindness and weird intimacy of the act catches him off guard. He had no idea there was a tap at the latrine.
    “Don’t look so amazed, you’ll dirty it soon enough. Take it as a token of my friendship.” For once the palm-reader meets Teza’s eye without making a snide comment.
    Teza feels genuinely touched. “Thank you.”
    “Not at all. It’s your shit that’s getting me out of here. I’m cutting down my sentence with every pail. That’s how we buy freedom in Burma.” He emphasizes his statement by letting go a sonorous fart.
    The singer laughs. “I am glad to be contributing in some small way to your impending freedom, Ko Sein Yun.”
    “Little Brother, I only wish my shit could do the same for you.” He steps over the threshold of the teak coffin but turns to wink at Teza before he closes the heavy door.
    “Ko Sein Yun?”
    “Yes?”
    “If the next food parcel is empty, I will stop eating. Let them know, would you?”
    Sein Yun snaps disapprovingly, “They? They? Who is they?”
    “Whoever steals the food.”
    “Oh, fucking politicals! If you’re hungry, you stage a hunger strike. Is that intelligent behavior? Eat your fucking breakfast.”
    “There was only one fish in the last parcel.”
    “I know, I know, one fish and now you’re dying. Try to remember, Songbird, you are too important for them to starve you to death. All right? The parcel is coming. In the meantime, one of these nights you should sing. You know, to celebrate Daw Suu’s release. The cage would go wild. We could have a riot!”
    “I could lose more teeth.”
    “If you ever need to pull one, let me know, I have a foolproof technique. And I can get you all the paracetamol you want for the pain. Ko Sein Yun, palm-reader extraordinaire, at your service. See you later.”
    He pushes the teak door closed. The bolt cracks back into place;

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