Apr 8, 2004
I had come to Suva on business. The town had much changed but I found a park for my car and headed down the street. I hadn’t gone far when a very deep voice behind me said,
“Mrs Livingstone!”
I turned around. A tall young man in the uniform of the Fiji Police was addressing me. He wore the navy blue top, red cummerbund and white sulu with the serrated edge. Who was this person who knew my name?
“You don’t know me Mrs Livingston?” He sounded a bit hurt.
“No, I don’t,” I answered. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m Archie Campbell, Mrs Livingston.”
I stood still and had a good look at him. Yes! Indeed it was. How tall he’d grown. I was pleased he’d stopped me, his old schoolteacher.
“I’m sorry I didn’t recognise you at first Archie. But I haven’t seen you for about fifteen years. My, how you’ve grown and changed!”
I asked him how long he’d been in the Police Force and he told me. I could feel the great motivator rising in me, and I said, “And are you good at it?”
“Yes, I think so. I’m getting promoted.”
“Very good!” I replied.
We chatted for a while. He asked me about my two children who were at school when he was, then we parted.
I continued down Victoria Parade. Soon I saw a young woman who seemed familiar but I couldn’t place her. When she got closer the penny dropped. Of course! She was Jenny Brown, another ex-pupil of mine. We greeted one another and she too asked about my children. I asked her if she was married, but she said “No.”
“And what do you do, Jenny?”
“Oh! I’m a prostitute, Mrs Livingston.”
I was instantly the great motivator again. “And are you good at it?” I asked unthinkingly.
“Well they do come back, Mrs Livingston.”
The moving finger writes….