Read Online Dessi's Romance by Goldie Alexander - Free Book Online Page B

time after Robert moved to
Queensland. Julie’s had a few guys since then, but they never hung around for
more than a few months. ‘That’s because she always picks hopeless men,’ says
Emma. But then… what about Sam? What about Danny? Weren’t they equally
hopeless? Isn’t Emma following in her mother’s footsteps? Sometimes she makes
it so hard for me to keep on loving her when I’m sure that whatever she’s up to
isn’t doing her any good.
    I glance at
Abdul. Is he going to be as hopeless as Danny or Sam? Even if he isn’t, what
am I doing here with him? What if he’s using me to get to Emma? Suddenly I
break into an ice-cold sweat.
    I shiver.
    He notices.
‘You cold?’
    I manage a
half smile. ‘Someone just ran over my grave.’
    Traffic
lights turn amber then red. He says, ‘What do you do in your spare time?’
    ‘What spare
time?’ I yelp. ‘I’ve just finished Year 12.’
    He laughs.
I join in. ‘Read lots,’ I say. ‘Listen to music. Check out clubs. Then I
casually add, ‘ Emma drags
me to lots of galleries.’
    He ignores
this. ‘What makes you mad?’
    I mentally
shrug and go along with what he’s prepared to talk about. ‘Oh, the usual stuff
- racism, sexism, homophobia, climate change, wrecking the environment.’ These
are such clichés, we burst into laughter. When we reach the next shopping centre
he parks in the shade and returns with two more Cokes. I say, ‘Tell me about
Uni.’
    ‘What do
you want to know?’
    ‘Just about
everything. What was it like when you first got there?’
    ‘Pretty
confusing. It’s up to you to get your work in on time.’
    ‘How about
lectures?’
    ‘Sometimes
there can be three hundred people in one hall. Half the time you can’t hear
what the lecturer’s saying.’
    I start to
panic. ‘How do you know what to do?’
    ‘You muddle
along. They give out handouts and sometime put a lecture up on the internet.
But it’s not easy. No spoon-feeding. How about you?’
    I frown
slightly. ‘What do you mean?’
    He cocks an
eyebrow. ‘How come you weren’t at a private school?’
    ‘Oh that.’
I grin. ‘Mum booked me into Wesley. Only Julie couldn’t afford the fees. Emma and me, we’re so close we refused to
be separated. So they sent us to the local high.’
    Still not picking this up,
he says, ‘Do you think you might’ve done better elsewhere?’
    ‘Dunno.
This way, we got to meet a range of people.’
    ‘You mean,
Lebos…’ a sharp edge to his voice, ‘Bomb-chuckers, terrorists like me?’
    ‘Exactly.
What’s it like to grow up here, yet look totally Middle-Eastern, to have one
foot in each camp?’ I recall a recent newspaper article that talked of never
quite feeling at home in either.
    He guesses
my thoughts. ‘You mean, what’s it like being Lebo since 9/11, Iraq,
Afghanistan, Children Overboard, and unwanted refugees?’
    I redden
slightly. ‘Suppose so.’
    ‘Trouble
is, you Aussies think all Muslims are jihadists, suicide bombers wanting total
Sharia law so we can take over the world.’
    Though I’m
not sure some of
this isn’t right, I say quickly, ‘But that’s not true, is it.’
    ‘If you mean,
do I want to go out and blow up people because my religion says I should, I
don’t think so. Basically, all we want is to be accepted as Aussies, only
keeping our Lebanese culture and religion.’
    I bite my
lip. ‘Do you think that’s possible?’
    He shakes his
head. ‘Not if the media keep up their anti-Muslim attitudes. If an Aussie rapes
a girl, there’s no headline saying ‘ Aussie youth rapes girl. But if it’s someone from a Middle
Eastern background, it reads ‘Lebanese youth rapes girl...’
    His anger
is so profound, I can only blink. ‘Do you think we’re racist?’
    ‘Some of
you surely are.’
    ‘How can we
stop this?’
    He shrugs.
‘Just have to learn to accept us as we are. I mean, none of us are indigenous.
Everyone was once new. Every group had a rough time when they turned up.