Part III - The Stables . . . Notes, References, and Shoutouts (Chapters 9 - 13)
(TWISW Supplement #3)
Chapter 9. The Water Is So Wide
Both this chapter and the novel’s title draw inspiration from a Mark Knopfler song off his Golden Heart album, “Je Suis Désolé”. I chose ‘the water is so wide’ lyric line for its image of the émigré standing on deck as his ship leaves on its journey. The narrator in my story is a similar seeker and believer in the power of a new start. “So many pirates, pilgrims had left these local ports seeking profit or redemption. There were always ships at sea, some vessel to be spied on the horizon. I felt unable to move on dry land. I was eager to set sail.” But, of course, the journey is hard and long; the expanse to travel is wide.
Je Suis Désolé
Words and Music by Mark Knopfler
Copyright © 1996 Straitjacket Songs Ltd.
International Copyright Secured All Rights Reserved
Reprinted by Permission of Hal Leonard LLC
Chapter 10. Your Dams Won’t Hold
The ‘sail out in a boat,’ quote is from one of my favorite books, Amitav Ghosh’s Dancing in Cambodia, At Large in Burma. New Delhi: Ravi Dayal Publisher, 1998. (quote p. 52)
The Sugarfoot cowboy:
While physically resembling the charming “Sugarfoot” Brewster, the Barton Wallace character is, in fact, named after an old mentor of mine, Barton Whaley, who was an expert in deception and counterdeception (obituary). My first meeting with him in my early government researcher days was at the San Francisco airport; my clue for spotting him: look for a gentleman wearing a red sweater slung over his shoulders and holding a Time Magazine upside down. He took me to the No Name Bar in Sausalito, and later put me on a ferry back to Berkeley where I was staying. I promptly got lost in the BART transit system on my way back, and spent an anxious hour or two wandering the streets before I made my way back to my hotel. (This was in the 80s before cell phones and Ubers.)
Following the British troops:
“In October 1992, 2,400 British troops deployed to Bosnia and Croatia under Operation Grapple and became operational in November. They were tasked with providing armed escort to United Nations humanitarian aid convoys as part of UNPROFOR. The British forces maintained a headquarters and logistics base at Split but operated mainly in the dangerous area around Vitez, where the UN central depots were based.”
Click here to see the Imperial War Museums’ article: 25 Photos from the Bosnian War of 1992-1995.
In the absence of any visible political decision or action taken in Bosnia and Herzegovina, international relief was the only moving object going forward, and we rode on that.
The concept of humanitarian aid in lieu of political decision-making was drawn from and supported by Kirsten Young’s 2001 article, “UNHCR and ICRC in the former Yugoslavia: Bosnia-Herzegovina.” International Review of the Red Cross. September 2001 Vol. 83 No. 843.
“The international community needed to appear to be doing something. Unable to forge a common foreign political/military policy, States chose to respond to the violence not by stopping it, but by trying to provide relief to the suffering.” p. 788.
Nothing but a young girl’s fancy . . . pie in the sky.
Chapter 12. And I Have Touched the Sky
The title of this chapter comes from the title of an episode of Star Trek TOS (the original series), For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky. The old servant climbed to the forbidden mountain top and touched the sky with his hand, thereby realizing he was living, not in an open world, but inside a hollow asteroid. Our young stargazer wanted to fly up to the sky and touch the stars, but again, it was an illusion: she was trapped in a sphere of violence she couldn’t escape.
A small understanding of the horror and disgust of coming upon the aftermath of war atrocities was gained by watching the 1999 television series Warriors, shown on the BBC and starring Matthew Macfadyen and Damian Lewis among others. Winner of the 2000 BAFTA Award for Best Serial Drama. Compelling and disturbing to watch with images and scenes not easily dismissed from one’s mind. See IMBd listing.
Chapter 13. If You Were That Farmer
Stacks of old Life magazines with their images in black and white . . .
Top Image: Travel route of the Independent Medical Relief Services (IMRS) aka the Lipik Lipizzaners rescue group.