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YnezT
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BookMIA-in-sentences

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99
spare.txt
676
(It was<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">bread and butter, Mummy’s favorite.)
99
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677
The kitchen crew saw me, but I put a<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">finger to my lips.
99
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678
They chuckled.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">Scurrying back into the meal tent, I gave Tiggy a wink.
99
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679
I’d already taken<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">her into my confidence and she thought the whole caper brilliant.
99
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680
I don’t<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">remember if I told Willy what I was up to.
99
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681
Probably not.
99
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682
I knew he wouldn’t<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">have approved.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">I squirmed, counting the minutes until dessert was served, fighting back<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">giggles.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">Suddenly someone cried out: Whoa!<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">Someone else cried: What the—!<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">In unison we all turned.
99
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683
Just outside the open tent was a tawny tail<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">swishing through the air.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">Leopard!<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">Everyone froze.
99
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684
Except me.
99
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685
I took a step towards it.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">Marko gripped my shoulder.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">The leopard walked away, like a prima ballerina, across the footpath<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">where I’d just been.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">I turned back in time to see the adults all look at one another, mouths<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">open.
99
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686
Holy fuck.
99
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687
Then their eyes turned towards me.
99
spare.txt
688
Holy fuuuuck.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">They were all thinking the same thing, picturing the same banner headline<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">back home.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">Prince Harry Mauled by Leopard.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">The world would reel.
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689
Heads would roll.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">I wasn’t thinking about any of that.
99
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690
I was thinking about Mummy.
99
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691
That<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">leopard was clearly a sign from her, a messenger she’d sent to say:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">Allis well.
99
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692
And all will be well.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">59<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">https://m.facebook.com/groups/182281287 1297698 https://t.me/Afghansalarlibrary<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">At the same time I also thought: The horror!<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">What if Mummy were to come out of hiding <p class="p2"><span class="s1">That dinner with Doria was wonderful, but I look back on it now as the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">end of the beginning.
99
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693
The next day, the pap photos appeared, and there<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">was a new flood of stories, a new surge along the many channels of social<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">media.
99
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694
Racism, misogyny, criminal stupidity—it all increased.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">Not knowing where else to turn, I phoned Pa.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">Don t read it, darling boy.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">328<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">https://m.facebook.com/groups/182281287 1297698 https://t.
99
spare.txt
695
:me/Afghansalarlibrary<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">It’s not that simple, I said angrily.
99
spare.txt
696
I might lose this woman.
99
spare.txt
697
She might<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">either decide I’m not worth the bother, or the press might so poison the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">public that some idiot might do something bad, harm her in some way.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">It was already happening in slow motion.
99
spare.txt
698
Death threats.
99
spare.txt
699
Her workplace<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">on lockdown because someone, reacting to what they’d read, had made a<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">credible threat.
99
spare.txt
700
She’s isolated, I said, and afraid, she hasn’t raised the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">blinds in her house for months—and you’ re telling me not to read it?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">He said I was overreacting.
99
spare.txt
701
This is sadly just the way it is.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">I appealed to his self-interest.
99
spare.txt
702
Doing nothing was a terrible look for the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">monarchy.
99
spare.txt
703
People out there have strong feelings about what’s happening<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">to her, Pa.
99
spare.txt
704
They take it personally, you need to understand that.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">He was unmoved.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">25.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">TT HE ADDRESS WAS HALF an hour from Nott Cott.
99
spare.txt
705
Just a quick drive across<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">the Thames, past the park...but it felt like one of my polar journeys.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">Heart pounding, I took a deep breath, knocked at the door.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">The woman opened it, welcomed me.
99
spare.txt
706
She led me down a short corridor<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">to her office.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">First door on the left.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">Small room.
99
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707
Windows with venetian blinds.
99
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708
Right on the busy street.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">You could hear cars, shoes clicking on the pavement.
99
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709
People talking,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">laughing.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">She was fifteen years older than me, but youthful.
99
spare.txt
710
She reminded me of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">Tiggy.
99
spare.txt
711
It was shocking, really.
99
spare.txt
712
Such a similar vibe.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">I explained what I meant by normal.
99
spare.txt
713
I didn’t lead a normal life, because I<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">couldn’t lead one.
99
spare.txt
714
Even my father reminds me that unfortunately Willy and I<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">cant be normal.
99
spare.txt
715
I told the reporter that no one but Willy understood what it<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">was like to live in this surreal fishbowl, in which normal events were treated<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">as abnormal, and the abnormal was routinely normalized.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">That was what I was trying to say, starting to say, but then I took another<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">look down the hillside.
99
spare.txt
716
Poverty, disease, orphans—death.
99
spare.txt
717
It rendered<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">everything else rubbish.
99
spare.txt
718
In Lesotho, no matter what you were going through,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">you were well-off compared to others.
99
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719
I suddenly felt ashamed, and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">wondered if the journalist had sense enough to be ashamed too.
99
spare.txt
720
Sitting here<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">above all this misery and talking about page-three girls?
99
spare.txt
721
Come on.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">After the interview I went and found George and we drank beer.
99
spare.txt
722
A lot of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">beer.
99
spare.txt
723
Gallons of beer.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">I believe that was also the night I smoked an entire shopping bag of weed.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">I don’t recommend it.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">Then again, it might have been another night.
99
spare.txt
724
Hard to be precise when it<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">comes to a shopping bag full of weed.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">45.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">( : EORGE AND I FLEW from Lesotho to Cape Town, to meet up with some<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">mates, and Marko.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">101<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">https://m.facebook.com/groups/182281287 1297698 https://t.
99
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725
:me/Afghansalarlibrary<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">March 2004.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">We were staying at the home of the consulate general, and one night we<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">talked about having some people over.
99
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726
For dinner.
99
spare.txt
727
Just one small problem.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">We didn’t know anyone in Cape Town.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">But wait—that wasn’t completely true.
99
spare.txt
728
’'d met someone years earlier, a<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">girl from South Africa.
99
spare.txt
729
At the Berkshire Polo Club.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">Chelsy.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">I remembered her being...<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">Different.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">I went through my phone, found her number.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">Give her a call, Marko said.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">Really?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">Why not?<span kinds of fame<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">provide extra freedom, maybe, I suppose, but royal fame was fancy<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">captivity.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">The Tweedles couldn’t fathom this.
99
spare.txt
730
They were children, incapable of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">understanding anything nuanced.
99
spare.txt
731
In their simplified cosmology: You’re<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">royal.
99
spare.txt
732
So.
99
spare.txt
733
This is the price you pay for living in a castle.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">Sometimes I wondered how it might go if I could just talk to them,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">calmly, explain that I didn’t live in a castle, my grandmother lived in a<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">castle, that in fact Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber both had far grander<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">lifestyles than mine.
99
spare.txt
734
Billy had done a deep dive on their finances, so I knew.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">Each Tweedle owned multiple houses, and several luxury cars, purchased<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">with proceeds from their photos of me and my family.
99
spare.txt
735
(Offshore bank<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">accounts too, like their sponsors, the media barons who funded them, chiefly<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">Murdoch and the impossibly Dickensian-sounding Jonathan Harmsworth,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">4th Viscount Rothermere.
99
spare.txt
736
)<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">It was around this time that I began to think Murdoch was evil.
99
spare.txt
737
No, strike<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">that.
99
spare.txt
738
I began to know that he was.
99
spare.txt
739
Firsthand.
99
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740
Once you’ve been chased by<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">someone’s henchmen through the streets of a busy modern city you lose all<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">doubt about where they stand on the Great Moral Continuum.
99
spare.txt
741
All my life ’'d<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">213<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">https://m.facebook.com/groups/182281287 1297698 https://t.
99
spare.txt
742
me/Afghansalarlibrary<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">heard jokes about the links between royal misbehavior and centuries of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">inbreeding, but it was then that I realized: Lack of genetic diversity was<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">nothing compared to press gaslighting.
99
spare.txt
743
Marrying your cousin is far less<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">dicey than becoming a profit center for Murdoch Inc.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">Of course I didn’t care for Murdoch’s politics, which were just to the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">right of the Taliban’s.
99
spare.txt
744
And I didn’t like the harm he did each and every day<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">to Truth, his wanton desecration of objective facts.
99
spare.txt
745
Indeed, I couldn’t think<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">of a single human being in the 300,000-year history of the species who’d<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">done more damage to our collective sense of reality.
99
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But what really<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">sickened and frightened me in 2012 was Murdoch’s ever-expanding circle of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">flunkies: young, broken, desperate men willing to do whatever was<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">necessary to earn one of his Grinchy smiles.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">And hangars.
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I started to<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">run for my Apache but my bodyguards stopped me.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">Way too dangerous.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">We heard shouting outside.
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Make ready!
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MAKE READY!<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">We all got into body armor and stood in the doorway to await the next<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">instructions.
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As I double-checked my vest and helmet one bodyguard kept<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">up a constant patter: J knew this was going to happen, I just knew it, I told<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">everyone, but no one would listen.
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Shut up, they said, but I told them, I told<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">them, Harry 8s going to get hurt!
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Fuck off, they said, and now here we are.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">He was a Scot, with a thick burr, and often sounded like Sean Connery,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">which was charming under normal circumstances, but now he just sounded<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">22)<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">https://m.facebook.com/groups/182281287 1297698 https://t.
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: me/Afghansalarlibrary<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">like Sean Connery having a panic attack.
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I cut off his long story about being<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">an unappreciated Cassandra and told him to put a sock in it.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">I felt naked.
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I had my 9-mm, but my SA80A was locked up.
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I had my<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">bodyguards, but I needed my Apache.
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That was the only place I'd feel safe<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">—and useful.
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I needed to rain fire down on our attackers, whoever they<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">were.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">More explosions, louder explosions.
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The windows flickered.
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Now we<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">saw flames.
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American Cobras came thumping overhead and the whole<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">building shuddered.
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The Cobras fired.
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The Apaches fired.
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An awesome roar<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">filled the room.
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We all felt dread, and adrenaline.
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But we Apache pilots<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">were especially agitated, itching to get into our cockpits.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">Someone reminded me that Bastion was about the size of Reading.
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How<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">could we ever navigate our way from here to the helicopters without a map,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">while taking fire?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">That was when we heard the all-clear.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">The sirens stopped.
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The thump of rotors faded.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">Bastion was secure again.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">But at a terrible price, we learned.
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Two American soldiers were killed.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">Seventeen British and American soldiers were injured.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">Throughout that day and the next we pieced together what happened.<span Prince<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">Albert, forced to remain ramrod straight before china plates and crystal<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">goblets placed with mathematical precision by staff (who used tape<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">measures), forced to peck at quails’ eggs and turbot, forced to make idle<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">chitchat while stuffed into their fanciest kit.
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Black tie, hard black shoes,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">trews.
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Maybe even kilts.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">I thought: What hell, being an adult!<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"></span><br></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">Pa stopped by on his way to dinner.
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He was running late, but he made a<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">show of lifting a silver dome—Yum, wish I was having that!—and taking a<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">long sniff.
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He was always sniffing things.
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Food, roses, our hair.
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He must’ve<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">been a bloodhound in another life.