‘My oath it does. Think about it, all those desperados crammed in together. Liars, thieves, rapists, and who knows what else before they got here. Just like all the whitefellas who first came from England – convicts, murderers, rapists.’

Manolis pulled at his earlobe. ‘Of course, you know that my family also once came here from another country. Are you calling my grandfather a murderer and rapist?’

The young constable laughed, which made him wince in pain and clutch his ribs. ‘Prob’ly. But don’t worry. I bet you mine was too.’

‘They all were back then. Life was cruel.’

‘But your family didn’t come to Australia as reffos, did they?’

‘No. But my grandfather was once a refugee.’ Manolis talked about his father’s father, his papou Georgios, after whom he was named. ‘He was living in Turkey in 1923. There’d been a war; Greece lost, so the Turks kicked them out. He had to walk to the coast before boarding a tiny boat across the Aegean.’

‘How far did he walk?’ Sparrow asked, mouth full.

‘Hundreds of miles, through heat and rain and snow. One out of four refugees died. And then, when he arrived in Greece, my papou discovered the Greeks didn’t want him either.’

Sparrow swallowed the black ball of jerky in his mouth. It visibly avalanched down his drainpipe throat. ‘Who told you all this?’

‘My dad. I never got to meet my papou, he died before I was born. Dad said the Greeks coming home were all dirty and diseased. They received no medical attention. So at least we give that to new arrivals here.’

‘Yair, sure.’ Sparrow scoffed. ‘Even when they swallow razor blades or nails or screws. Or eat washing powder or drink bleach or snort insect repellent.’

Manolis said his papou escaped just in time. ‘He had forged papers that said his family had already left.’

Sparrow licked his bloody lip. ‘Most reffos today got forged passports too. And pay bribes.’

‘My papou bribed the Turkish guards as well,’ he said. ‘Part of the game.’

Sparrow again laughed, winced.

‘The native Greeks spat on him, beat him up,’ Manolis continued. ‘They didn’t trust his odd dialect. “Tourkosporoi! ” they yelled at him: “Seed of Turk!” The fact he’d lived in a Muslim country made his adherence to Christianity suspicious.’

Sparrow smiled to himself. ‘Boy, treated like crap in your own country. I can’t imagine how that must feel.’

Manolis stood, preparing to return to the detention centre.