TE23 Double Feature

Loranne Vella

Rocket

those who were now throwing things at them, would eventually change their mind and end up leaving this cursed country. Every day there was some kind of protest or demonstration going on. However, these were isolated events on a small scale; after all, no form of communication was any longer possible between different sectors. In the houses that were still inhabited, there was no type of apparatus left that could possibly inform them about what was happening around them, neither in their own country nor in the rest of the world. Computers and all other means of communication had been confiscated. The only form of communication that sometimes reached them was in the format of some official letter, sealed with the embossed symbol of the Alliance, consigned by the Marshal in person or by his assistant, that would inform them about their situation – whether they had the permit to stay or leave. Or else, it would be a letter to inform them about some member 56

of their family, when identified –the bodies of victims of the floods or other accidents at sea, were being found on a daily basis – or when arrested as a rebel or traitor. The only way they could obtain information about what was happening in their own country was by word of mouth, and people, as usual, distort the truth, exaggerate or lie. At the same time, whole villages had already drawn their last breath and emptied out entirely. Listen to the silence of the empty streets of Żurrieq, Ħal Safi, Qrendi and Ħal Kirkop. The sun is blazing on the black glossy tarmac. The few cars still left have been abandoned, their tyres are flat and the glass of their windows and windscreen is shattered. Many of the houses have been locked up; others were abandoned without the least idea of what is coming after. This door is open, and if we look inside, we can see an armchair placed in such a way that it is facing us. It is facing 57