It’s lazy Sunday morning. The smoking hot coffee was sitting in the cup in front of him, and Crni Nedelko was seating on the balcony and enjoying the non-working morning. Although from the balcony of the apartment could not be seen, the smell of the ocean could still be felt in the air.
On his way back from work last night, he collected the mail from the mailbox as he was entering the building. Bills, a flyer offering work in the northern territories (in the middle of nowhere), and a letter from a law firm from home, South Goawayland. He saw the snake preparing to bite his heart.
He decided not to open the envelope and let his brain to flow away. It’s been a year since they came to Australia. The friend who called him in Australia kept his word. He welcomed them and took them in his home for the beginning of their stay in Australia. He listened to Crni Nedelko many long nights about his sufferings and frustrations. He also found a job for him and introduced him to the basics of the system (the state). Crni Nedelko also came partially prepared. Before coming here he read extensively about Australia. He was sending his resume, and looked for job even before he arrived here.
The problem Crni Nedelko was facing was that it was the time of the so called “K Industrial Revolution”. It was time just after the big world pandemic of the virus K. During the pandemic, a large number of workers worked from home and the business realized (or was just an excuse) that many jobs were unnecessary. Тhat is, that the same work could be done outside the offices and thus save electricity, water, soaps and things like that. Although millions of jobs have been terminated on one hand, on the other were opened a number of small and micro companies which opened lot of working places. There were even banks in Western Europe that started working with loan and insurance policy agents (dealers). They started with retail loans, but corporate banking was also being considered for to be managed by outsourced agents. The cost of processing credit files and customer care were minimized. Agents who worked for provision and bonuses did not complain about working hours. Companies disbursed a lot of employees who complained about salaries, vacations and sick leave.
In these conditions, Crni Nedelko could only start physical demanding work. With the little money he brought with him, he and his family moved from the friend’s house into a small apartment in a suspicious neighborhood in the city. But that was only temporary (at least they thought so). Luckily, when the children left Goawayland, they were on summer vacation, and the school year had not started in Australia yet. The children were supposed to have a setback in the education for a year back, but it was a risk Crni Nedelko and his spouse were willing to take.
He drank from his cup for a week and laughed at how happy they were with his wife at the time. They were looking forward for the new beginning, new chance. The children were a different story. Sad to say goodbye to their friends, they became very depressed and at times aggressive. Crni Nedelko was trying not to pay too much attention to this and left his wife to deal with it. He even worked overtime. He also took some courses to get certificates and skills that would give him a better job, and he hoped one day for a chance to open a private business.
In order to kill the nostalgia, they hung out with other immigrants from home. And as interesting as they were at the beginning, in time Crni Nedelko began to believe that all the stories he had heard about our diaspora are true. In the beginning it was, where are you from, who are you? Why did you come? They sold the state. Thieves. On the other hand, some of those people, even after 15 years in Australia, went twice a year back to Goawayland where they planted their fields (or rented them out) and went for the harvest to sell goods make money. It was the peak when they agreed to have a barbeque at his friend’s backyard. Also there were some friends and relatives of his friend. Crni Nedelko took a pound of meat, salads and drinks all packed in two bags. Other guests? They all took five bags of meat and drinks. “Let the neighbors see how much we have, and how wealthy we are. What we don’t eat will go into the frieze, so we’ll warm it up same other time.” Crni Nedelko had a feeling that “our people” in Australia are frozen in their development, that is, that they are mentally in the year in which they left Goawayland. Theater, concerts, museum were unknown thoughts and things for many of them.
After a month and a half, things started to get worse for Crni Nedelko. His wife also started suffering from depression. She cried a lot. Most of the time she was accusing Crni Nedelko for leaving a nice job (technically she was on an unpaid vacation for another month) and that he was never home. Because she was taking a walk with the kids through a suspicious neighborhood and was going shopping alone there. He was not surprised when she told him that she was going back and that when he provides better conditions for all of them, she and the children would return to Australia. Crni Nedelko turned to stone. He knew she was partially right, but he was hurt that she could not see the bigger picture and the light at the end of the tunnel with him.
He cried a lot at the airport when he sent them back. Nedelko returned to the apartment, drank half a liter of whiskey in 15 minutes, and then he was ill from soul pain and alcohol for two days.
He was less than three months in Australia, and he was stigmatized as an incompetent man whose wife had escaped. But that did not disappoint him. He worked hard during the day and studied at night. He talked with his family online. At the beginning they were talking every day, then once in few days and now once every other week. The children and his wife continued their life without him, at the old job and old school, and the pain in his heart grew.
Crni Nedelko was person who wants to change things for better. Among the Zaminisimuja community in Australia he started an idea of forming a trust fund, supported by the home country. In this found their members (people from Zaminisimuja) will be able to be informed about the investment opportunities at home. The investment would be in the form of the purchasing of state bonds for a certain interest. With these bounds people could also buy shares in private and state companies, roads, state land, and other infrastructure facilities. The state in the case would be a guarantor that the bonds are valid and that there is no fraud in progress. He spoke in Zaminisimuja diaspora clubs, wrote letters to the embassy, ministries at home. He also looked for help to be heard from representatives of the Church of the South Zaminisimuja in Australia. He also wrote an open letter in an electronic medium from home explaining the idea.
There is a joke about the people of South Zaminisimuja: “If someone is doing well, stop him or pull him down. Let his mind come to his senses. ”
Not only did this idea fail, but it was ridiculed and belittled in the community. He was totally ignored by the state authorities and institutions of the South Zaminisimuja. He was even summoned for an informative interview (reported by a conscientious citizen of the new state) to the Australian police where he was questioned by the police and the tax administration about his idea. It was as if he hadn’t left Zaminisimuja.
In the last month, he isolated himself from everyone, just going to work and preparing for the final exam of the course he was attending. He should have become a qualified locksmith, and that would give him a better salary and better job opportunities.
When he wanted to drink more coffee, he realized that there was none left in the cup. The sun was starting to burn his skin on the balcony and he wanted to go inside. Then he saw the letter from the Law Firm from home. He opened it and read the large darkened letters. Title: Claim for divorce.
The snake finally bit his heart. He left the envelope on the table and sighed heavily. Although he was looking for the ocean, he still couldn’t see it. He took the flyer for work in the northern territories, offering a well-paid job and the opportunity for a fresh start. He laughed at himself and said loudly, “Blacky Sunday (his name in English) is not such a bad name for a fresh start.”
M-r Rade Colovic
