Title: Sport 21: Spring 1998

Publication details: Fergus Barrowman, October 1998, Wellington

Part of: Sport

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Sport 21: Spring 1998

A Dream:

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A Dream:

A man and a woman have fallen on hard times. They have to leave their home and live in a public shelter. They are given a curtained enclosure the size of a small room with just a single bed in it. Their cubicle is in the central area of the shelter and all 4 walls are curtains. They are grateful for this, for at least they have some privacy, a place to sleep & to be together. At least they have each other. There are many others around them noisily living their lives, in and out of their cubicles. They sit on the single bed together and after a while they begin to make love. Suddenly one of the curtains is ripped open & they are exposed to all the people around them. Over the following days & weeks they patiently make the most of what they have, but each time they begin to show their love for each other one of the curtains is ripped back. They then begin to see that this is no accident. There is a particular woman, dark, thin, standing on a bed in an adjoining cubicle who is deliberately exposing them. They see, with growing dread, that she is relentless, malicious, & utterly determined to remain vigilant. She is convinced that because their lives have been more privileged than hers they deserve no privileges now. She will never let them have more than she has & her life is dedicated to that purpose.

  • 1. Have our generous values narrowed to this — a thin, obsessive, envy — and why?
  • 2. Have too many NZ journalists taken up with this scrawny woman?