Intermission 2 Page 12
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“Lohk, Kamau isn’t—”
“It’s okay, Ricki. I understand.”
“You don’t need to feed me. I’ve eaten recently enough.”
“If you’ll let me rest here for the night, I’ll leave tomorrow morning if my presence causes problems for you.”
“But—”
“I said it’s okay. This is what I expected.”
That face tho
Interesting, Paws and Ricky have different eyes than Lohk.
*sigh*
(explanation for the sigh, if I could, I would put it into a spoiler: I don’t like it when people don’t get along with each other, especially if it is unnecessary like it is here. Prejudice, even if it stems from a lifetime of experiences with a certain group, is something that will usually make the world a worse place than it needs to be. =(
I mean not even Kamau telling Lohk that he isn’t laying claim on -any- of the food that he and Ricki earned (risking life and limb) seems to have softened Lohk’s attitude towards him.
I do respect that such plot-elements may make for a better (long-term) story, so I respect the narrative necessity for them, but I still don’t like reading them.)
I was expecting Lohk to take this action as further reason to mistrust Kamau in a Morton’s Fork sense: accept food like a greedy human, or turn your nose up at food like a disdainful human (who is probably putting on a show to lull you into a false sense of security before the inevitable betrayal). That’s how this mindset works: Evidence cannot change your mind because you already know the answer and can explain anything in terms of what you’ve already concluded.
That said, for all the self sacrifice Kamau does, he is new to having nothing. He turned down soup out of revulsion towards the ingredients, and he was mildly insulted at the low payment. Before he was thrown in jail, he was living better than this. This also shows that Ricki’s expectations are horrifyingly low.
I know we cant make many decisions during intermission, but I hope Ricki takes her share of the food and shares with kamau. Even if it would still leave Ricki malnourished. You just don’t leave a party member like that. 🙂
Take food. Share with friends. It’s what friends do for friends.