“Some eighty-five thousand people are trapped in a muddy no-man’s-land along the border of Kosovo and the Republic of Macedonia, with no access to food, medical assistance, or shelter, as they seek refuge from the ongoing conflict in the former Yugoslavia, and NATO bombings in Serbia. . . .”

The sound of Vi’s chopping had stopped, and Jed had paused the game.

“The UN high commissioner for refugees has submitted a formal request to the Australian government for aid and assistance, while the US has continued to urge their allies to make similar provisions in offering safe haven.”

The sound of Lily’s footsteps running down the stairs carried over. When she got to the bottom she started to say, “Mẹ, that was so embarrassing—” but Vi shushed her as the newscaster kept talking.

“. . . Prime Minister John Howard has reasserted that the government will not offer asylum. Immigration Minister Ruddock said . . .”

Then a different voice came on, a recording of a man saying, “. . . flying planeloads of refugees into Australia would not be an appropriate response.”

Vi said something under her breath and then she switched off the radio. Jed unpaused the game and went back to Mario, but his heart and thumbs weren’t really in it anymore.

Lily wandered over and sat sideways on one of the armchairs, her legs hanging over the side. The screen door opened and shut behind us as Vi went outside.

“She’s having a smoke,” Lily said.

My eyebrows went up. “Didn’t she quit?”

Lily shrugged but Jed said, “She did, but that stuff stresses her out.” He threw his head back slightly, toward the kitchen and the radio. “I think it reminds her of when she was a kid.”

I knew there’d been a war in Vietnam, where both Jed’s parents were from. I knew that Pop had missed out on something called the draft—when the government forced young men to go and fight. Jed’s mom and dad were our age and growing up in Vietnam when the war was on, and then they came to Australia with their parents once it was over. Jed’s parents didn’t know each other when they came here—they met when they were older and living in the city, studying business at university. But after their first meeting, they swapped life stories and figured out that they had actually lived only a few towns apart in Vietnam, and that both their families were evacuated on planes to Australia within just a few days of each other. I guess when you hear a story like that, it must be fate that you’re meant to be together. Or something.

“I think it’s a bit crappy that our government won’t help.”

I blinked at Jed’s swearing. Lily swore all the time, and Vi was always threatening to wash her mouth out with soap—but Jed was quieter.