Read The Art of Becoming Homeless for Free Online

the centre; it is so far from the windows I see no daylight. The people near the windows, they draw the blinds so they do not have to look out on the car park or the backs of other buildings. There is fluorescent lighting on all day long in the office. I have never seen it switched off.’
    Fanis and Adonis await his next sentence. No one moves.
    ‘So there we are, all working together, hundreds of us. But you know what they do to make this worse? They have built stalls around us like we are animals, each one of us in a different pen so when we sit at our computers, we can see no one, talk to no one, caged.’
    ‘ No, this is not true. In China, maybe, but not in England,’ Fanis exclaims. ‘In England they have wood-lined offices, big wooden desks with green reading lamps, tall windows with heavy curtains, and pretty secretaries. Or shiny chrome offices with floor to ceiling glass walls.’
    Adonis nudges Dino in the ribs. ‘You have a pretty secretary, my friend?’ he leers.
    ‘ I wish.’ Dino leans against one of the metal poles which support the canvas awnings that shade all the harbour-side cafés.
    ‘ So come back and open an office or a shop here,’ Fanis says, raising his hand to shield his eyes from the sun.
    ‘ Did you never meet his Baba, Fanis?’ Adonis asks.
    ‘ But you are a man now, Dino. You must do as you please.’
    ‘ I wish it was so easy. My Baba, he tells me of the mountains of oranges he has sold to send me to English university, the frugal life he has lived so I can have this opportunity. How I will be grateful for the security that a job in England will offer me when I am married with my own children. He will go on and on and ….’
    ‘ Bully you, like he did when you were a kid!’ Adonis says. ‘Ha! Do you remember that time he went crazy at us? He told you to get his spanner from the work shed. Remember, he was fixing the water pump? So we both went and we looked and looked but couldn’t find a spanner and all the time he was shouting for us to hurry. I remember you shaking and I thought you were being silly, acting. But when we told your father we couldn’t find his spanner, it was like a volcano erupting. We were only small then, eh? I was scared, I hid behind an olive tree, but you stood there and he bellowed at you and you didn’t move. I thought you were so brave.’
    ‘ Yeah, brave, huh. I didn’t know where you had gone but then I saw you creep from round the tree behind him and reach out to him. My heart was in my mouth. I had no idea what you were doing. The look on his face. He turned on you like someone possessed, and there you were with his spanner in your hand, which was in his back pocket all the time. I had to run before I exploded with laughter.’
    ‘ I didn’t catch up to you until you stopped at the church,’ Adonis answers. They are both laughing.
    Fanis smiles. ‘Yes, but now he is not such a big man. Age has shrunk him, as it does all men, and we are twenty-four. You must make your own life.’
    ‘ Sure. It sounds easy, but he has this way of bending logic, altering the way I think,’ Dino says.
    ‘ He could argue black was white and make you think it was true. The government should employ him to promote their propaganda.’ Adonis’ arms are folded over his chest. He leans to one side slightly and raises his hand to his mouth as he laughs at his own joke.
    ‘ Hey Dino! Is that you? You are here! Welcome home, my friend.’
    ‘ Ilias! How is the water-taxi work?’ Dino greets him.
    ‘ Good, good. My Baba’s out there now.’ He holds up two paper parcels from the bakery. ‘Just getting some breakfast, been on the early one. You staying or are you going over the hill?’ He nods across to the mainland.
    ‘ He wants to stay,’ Fanis says.
    ‘ Who doesn’t? Every tourist who arrives wants to stay. You are a tourist now, my friend,’ Ilias teases.
    Dino swears at him, calls him a “ malaka ”. Ilias returns the insult. Dino throws a soft