Friday, October 08, 2004
The last half of darkness
Dust and smoke failed to contrast against the waning power of the sun. I stook there, taken aback at the sheer violence enacted against my dreams.
The night had done enough damage already. Belfast in the winter is not a bright and happy place. The day begins late in the morning and fades away by mid afternoon. Despite this, compounded with cold and cruel weather, we went about our daily lives. I had been pulled out of school for this last month of the year to be there, yet there was little work for a 4th grader to take with him overseas, so I was left to my own entertainment.
Every day a helicopter hovered over our apartment building. Common sense suggests that it would have to come down to refuel every now and then, but as far as we could tell, it was always there. A shattered glass pane of a covered bus stop outside our apartment reminded us of the violence that was still going on.
It was impossible for the situation to escape my grasp. Soldiers were more common on street corners than street signs.... British soldiers packing M16s. Armored personal carriers would roll by just to scare the shit out of everyone. Every now and then a car bomb would go off downtown, and the helicopter's buzz would grow a little distant for a few hours.
When we met with some locals, I was scared to let them know that I had actually been born in England, until my dad comforted me and let me know that no one would hold it against me. I didn't understand the boys my age.. their dialect were very strong, and their attitude reflected their bleak atmosphere
Yet I had been ready for all of this... despite my age I realized that Belfast was not the most wonderful place to be at the time, and I comforted myself with the knowledge that I would at least get to visit a giant multi-story toy store in a nearby town.
Unfortunately, the Irish Republic Army blew it up a week before I got there, so all my dad could do was show me where it used to be. It was still smoking, a week after the bomb. The sun was already setting, and as we left the site of the bombing, I looked over my shoulder and wondered why it had to be a toy store.
