Aurora Execution

Part 9

Consequently, the young boy ended up taking his advice to keep it.

The song Camus had previously played for Glacier echoed in his head when he held the guitar up again in another lonely early morning.He recalled waking up from a nightmare when he was younger. Unexpectedly, Camus came to his bed with the guitar and said:

"Isaac told me that you want me to sing you a song?"

"Di...did Issac tell you that?"

"Well. You don't have to keep this from me; you may tell me directly that this isn't a complicated or unreasonable request,I won't bite."

"O....okay...."

"What do you want to hear anyway? Just go ahead and ask."

"Anything!"

The little Glacier almost jumped out of bed with excitement.

But all of a sudden, he realized that there was a childhood photo of him and his mother together with another picture of her in a white swan ballet stagewear outfit that had been left on the bedside table, and Camus had just happened to glance at them.

Glacier bowed his head in shame because it was another indication that he had completely disregarded the teaching of letting go of useless emotional ties,he wasn't sure whether his Master would blame him for this or not.

Nevertheless, Camus didn't say anything after viewing them; instead, he just swiftly looked away from the photos and started to sing and strum the strings: 

"I took my love, I took it down

I climbed a mountain and I turned around

And I saw my reflection in the snow-covered hills

'Til the landslide brought me down

Oh, mirror in the sky

What is love?

Can the child within my heart rise above?

Can I sail through the changin' ocean tides?

Can I handle the seasons of my life?

Well, I've been afraid of changin'

'Cause I've built my life around you

But time makes you bolder

Even children get older

And I'm getting older too

Well I'm getting older too."

The song was "Landslide" by Fleetwood Mac, after finishing playing the tune he sang from memory, Glacier set down his guitar and realized there must have been a stack of mail addressed to Camus for a while, so he then began to get ready before heading to Jacob's to check what was in there, he switched on the TV during this time, but nothing interested him anymore, even though he could watch it whenever he wanted, and no one stopped him. Moreover, almost every channel aired "Swan Lake" today; he could even imagine that every household with the TV on was enough to make the famous Ballet Suite reverberate throughout the Soviet sky.  

Turning off the TV, Glacier switched on the radio, which Camus had modified to pick up frequencies from far more distant places; he heard a lot of noise as it flipped to an FM that arrived out of nowhere and seemed to be protesting with the crowds in the background, he also heard a regional reporter presenting local news with an accent introducing the following:

".... Protesters are still calling for justice for the people living in Bhopal. In 1989, the Indian government received US$470 million in compensation from the UCIL, but it initially sought US$15 billion. The Supreme Court dismissed all complaints and maintained the $470 million compensation award in October. To protect those who develop symptoms in the future, the court directed the Indian government to 'use the settlement money to purchase group insurance for 100,000 people' and utilize the insurance to cover any deficit in the compensation amount......" 

"So, each person's life is only worth a few hundred dollars at most, out of 470 million U.S. dollars? Compared to Chornobyl, this major chemical leak disaster received less media attention. I wonder if it is due to the fault inflicted by the Soviet Union must be punished with higher penalties, or is it because they cannot afford to insult the shareholders of the major firms involved behind their backs while the human lives of the third world are not worth anything, Or it could be a result of both factors combined?"

With a snarl, Glacier put on his winter coat and hat and walked out of the home.