INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
The Adventures of Urlen – Chapter 10
A few years ago the World Youth Games were held in my home city in the UK and my parents were approached to act as hosts to competitors who for whatever reason were not to be accommodated in the competitors' village. Shortly before the Games got underway we were phoned to say that there was a sole competitor from Papua New Guinea who was taking part in the swimming. He was officially recognized by his country but was traveling with his sponsor and his coach. The sponsor and the coach would have separate arrangements made for them but would my parents be prepared to give hospitality to the swimmer, ensuring that he had breakfast in the morning and a bed to sleep in at night. We were told that he spoke quite good English and that he was polite and well mannered.
There was one slight snag : the request came so late that my parents, not expecting one, had fixed up to spend a month in South Africa visiting my elder sister; but as I was 21 and about to start my last year at University, it was agreed that I could act as host in their place. Our house was quite a large one and I was pleased with the idea of not being alone during the Games, which I was keen to attend.
It was quite a shock when he arrived because his sponsor turned out to be a gorgeous Norwegian blonde, called Ingrid, in her mid-thirties, with long, flowing blonde hair and a determined manner. She spoke English so well that it was difficult to tell whether she anything but English. His coach, Anton, was originally from Czechoslovakia but he had worked in England and had lived for some time in Papua New Guinea. He spoke both Lomi's dialect and English with fluency and he told me that Lomi and Ingrid were engaged to be married, even though Lomi was only about 21. When I asked him why he was only "about" 21, Anton told me that he had been born on one of Papua New Guinea's many islands, the youngest of a large family. They were too poor to send him to school and no record had been kept of his birth. On this island, apparently, it was the custom for the youngest member of the family to look after the parents as they aged; and as Lomi, who was about eight years younger than the next older brother and may have been younger than some of his nephews and nieces, it fell to him to look after his parents. They both died when he was about 14 and he was left an orphan. Meanwhile he had helped with tourism on the island, which is how he met Anton, who was the first entrepreneur to arrive there from the West. He acted as a caddy on the new golf course, he took tourists out fishing in a boat and he spent a lot of time in the water swimming. Though he had had no formal education he was intelligent and had quickly picked up enough English to serve his needs.
Anton helped him when necessary, realizing that Lomi had a specific talent for swimming; and since he had been a coach in England before coming to Papua New Guinea, he took the lad in hand. His progress was so rapid that an application for him to represent PNG in the 50 metres freestyle event at the Youth Games was officially accepted by the person responsible for vetting and authorizing the application, namely Ingrid! At this stage in her career she was acting for the PNG Government.
As soon as I met Lomi I realized why Ingrid had got her hands on him. He was one of those people from whom good nature seems to shine out of his eyes. He had lovely manners, a beaming smile, immensely good humour, found everything interesting and on greeting you he clasped both hands together in the attitude of prayer and bowed his head over them. Except for his nose, which was a little too snub for the western ideal of beauty, he was exceptionally good-looking, with fine dark hair, deep brown eyes and a figure so slim that I was not surprised he was fast through the water. Training with Anton had given him broader shoulders than he might otherwise have had, so he looked the picture of fitness and good health.
When he was introduced to me, he bowed over his triangulated hands, gave me a broad smile and said "Hello, Urlen, please call me Lomi." I was pleased because the name that had been spelt on the paper introducing him to my parents had been several syllables long and looked unpronounceable in English-speak.
Ingrid was quick to take charge. "Lomi will stay with you here, now, and you will give him breakfast in the morning. Then I will arrange for a taxi to take him to the swimming baths so that he can practise. In the evening he will come to my hotel and I will arrange for him to come back to you at about 10 o'clock."
I noticed that Anton grimaced while Ingrid was telling me this, giving me the feeling that he disapproved of the way she dominated things. I was astounded at the thought that Ingrid and Lomi could be engaged to be married and determined to find out more from Anton in due course.
When we were left alone Lomi turned out to be talkative, though he had problems with pronouns and verbs. By temperament he was naturally cheerful and he was full of curiosity about the English way of life. I soon learned that this was his first trip outside PNG and that he was a "jungle boy", having been raised in a village far from twentieth century civilization. When I asked him if he had a religion, he was not sure what I meant. I gathered that his family (his numerous brothers and sisters) were fond of him but too poor and too preoccupied with their own affairs to do much for him, and he spoke more of Anton than anyone else. That first evening was not the time to press him on the subject of Ingrid, but - thinking about it - I could see that it was in his interest to tie himself to her wheel. She was his sponsor and was making the trip possible for him. From Ingrid's point of view, however, I could see why she wanted him. Not only was he devastatingly attractive to look at, but his warm brown skin against her golden hair and white skin made a stunning contrast. Moreover he never talked back at her - or anyone else, for that matter. He greeted everyone with smiles and the same winning bow of the head over clasped hands.
The next morning, after I had given him a vegetarian breakfast, a taxi, sent by Ingrid, arrived to take him to the swimming pool. Later that morning I went down to see him swim; and a lovely sight he was, so slim-hipped in his swimming trunks that if you saw him from the side he looked as thin as a piece of paper. There was a smooth bulge in his trunks, but because he was so streamlined he swam like a fish and I was not surprised that he had met the minimum time for qualification. He and Anton worked well together, Anton using as few words as possible, and Lomi being willing to try out anything his coach suggested.
There was a week's acclimatization and practice for competitors before the week of the Games and Lomi worked hard, setting off each morning in his taxi at about nine o'clock and returning in the evening at 10. Sometimes Ingrid accompanied him, sometimes not.
It was a few days before the first heat that things changed dramatically. My computer was in his bedroom and I needed to look something up on the internet. He had gone to bed as soon as he got in and I could see from the light shining under his door that he was still awake. I therefore knocked, rather perfunctorily, and went in. I saw at once that he hadn't heard my knock because he was lying back on his pillow with ear-phones on. At the same time there was a rhythmic motion going on under the single sheet that covered his body which could mean only one thing. When he saw that I had entered the room, the movements quickly stopped, he took off his ear-phones, placed his hands triangularly together over the hump under the sheet and bowed his head in his usual greeting. He looked startled but not especially embarrassed.
"Sorry, Lomi," I said, "I didn't realise that you hadn't heard my knock. Carry on, if you like" - and I looked meaningfully at his hands and the hump they were covering.
He gave me his dazzling smile. "Is all right, Urlen," he said.
