The Mob 2

I managed to locate my cousin M. He's got this Indonesian mobile that's kind of wonky. And so I find myself shouting into a phone, dodging reverb and waiting seconds for my voice to arrive to where he's at... which, as the bird flies, would be just 8 kilometers. For a second it took me back to the 60's, ringing Jakarta once a year for Christmas. Cousin M., three years my senior, has never lived in Holland. He was brought up in Ghana, Indonesia and Denmark and went to international schools. Yet he (still) speaks perfect Dutch, though perhaps slightly old fashioned in vocubulary and pitch. He sounds uncannily like my grandfather. I haven't seen him since I was 12 years old. Tomorrow's going to be interesting.