telex with growing excitement. Ever since being told to find âsomething bigâ, sheâd been coming to work even earlier in order to read the nightâs telexes. She was hoping to find the germ of a big story, something that appeared minor at the moment, but that had the possibility to grow into something bigger. And she wanted to find it before anyone else realised its potential. That Algeriaâs President Boumedienne was in a coma, and appeared to be dying, may not be big news in Australia, but she couldnât shake the feeling that there was another story there somewhere. She tried to remember what she knew about Algeriaâs current situation. Nothing. Was that because nothing newsworthy was happening, or was it simply that Australia wasnât interested in Algeria? She went to the morgue, as they called the library, and though she found a few overseas cables regarding Algeria, no corresponding write-up had appeared in The Herald . Once more she reread what little sheâd found, trying to read between the lines, searching for a potential story. She knew Boumedienne had joined the rebel forces prior to Algeriaâs independence, becoming Chief of Staff of the National Liberation Frontâs â or FLNâs â military wing. Then, when Algeria gained its independence, heâd effected a coup against the then President Ben Bella to install himself as president. There had been an attempted coup against him a couple of years later, but since then, it seemed things were reasonably quiet in Algeria.
Still Nicolette read â imposed state control on oil industry; risked war with Morocco when trying to gain access to the Atlantic via the Sahara; juggled independent relations with both Western countries and the Soviet Bloc. And on a domestic level, it seemed Boumedienne ruled by decree, with government censorship and police surveillance by the powerful Sécurité militaire , or Military Security, being the norm.
So what was likely to happen when Boumedienne died? Would not all those people, those groups who may have opposed Boumedienneâs laws, now see this as their opportunity to be heard? Was that where the story lay? The more Nicolette thought about it, the more it seemed she was on to something. She was sure of it. Now all she had to do was convince the foreign-news editor.
10
Eighteen ninety-nine brought the beginning of the Boer War, and Captain Dreyfus, the young French artillery officer whose incarceration for charges of treason on Devilâs Island these past five years had ripped French society apart, was finally pardoned, owing greatly to Jâaccuse , Ãmile Zolaâs vehement open letter published in LâAurore the previous year. And somewhere in Paris, French President Faure suffered a heart attack during a tryst with the wife of the painter Steinheil. He died later that night, but the French of Aïn Azel barely took note â France now seemed such a long, long way awayâ¦
The end of the century also brought many changes to Mariusâ life. He had applied for a further land grant a year after arriving, buying an extra fifty hectares adjoining his property, and the one-roomed house had grown, first to three rooms then to nine.
The large original room was now a lounge room, with a proper dining room and a kitchen next to it. A long corridor lead to a courtyard at the back of the house. To the right of the corridor were Mariusâ office and bedroom, as well as a guest bedroom. To the left, over a large cellar that ran the length of the house, were the other bedrooms and a bathroom. Water was pumped to holding tanks by the house, and the property even had a name â Asif mellul , after the words Berbers used to describe the river when it ran white as it tumbled over rocks in winter. Close to the house were other buildings â a forge, stables for the horses that had replaced the mule, which had been given to Merzoug, and a number of
Still Nicolette read â imposed state control on oil industry; risked war with Morocco when trying to gain access to the Atlantic via the Sahara; juggled independent relations with both Western countries and the Soviet Bloc. And on a domestic level, it seemed Boumedienne ruled by decree, with government censorship and police surveillance by the powerful Sécurité militaire , or Military Security, being the norm.
So what was likely to happen when Boumedienne died? Would not all those people, those groups who may have opposed Boumedienneâs laws, now see this as their opportunity to be heard? Was that where the story lay? The more Nicolette thought about it, the more it seemed she was on to something. She was sure of it. Now all she had to do was convince the foreign-news editor.
10
Eighteen ninety-nine brought the beginning of the Boer War, and Captain Dreyfus, the young French artillery officer whose incarceration for charges of treason on Devilâs Island these past five years had ripped French society apart, was finally pardoned, owing greatly to Jâaccuse , Ãmile Zolaâs vehement open letter published in LâAurore the previous year. And somewhere in Paris, French President Faure suffered a heart attack during a tryst with the wife of the painter Steinheil. He died later that night, but the French of Aïn Azel barely took note â France now seemed such a long, long way awayâ¦
The end of the century also brought many changes to Mariusâ life. He had applied for a further land grant a year after arriving, buying an extra fifty hectares adjoining his property, and the one-roomed house had grown, first to three rooms then to nine.
The large original room was now a lounge room, with a proper dining room and a kitchen next to it. A long corridor lead to a courtyard at the back of the house. To the right of the corridor were Mariusâ office and bedroom, as well as a guest bedroom. To the left, over a large cellar that ran the length of the house, were the other bedrooms and a bathroom. Water was pumped to holding tanks by the house, and the property even had a name â Asif mellul , after the words Berbers used to describe the river when it ran white as it tumbled over rocks in winter. Close to the house were other buildings â a forge, stables for the horses that had replaced the mule, which had been given to Merzoug, and a number of
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