The Debt Collectors War

Chapter 25

Ellie decided she had to ask about loyalty. Joe was cleared by the company, and was probably not lying, but Ellie still had to ask. Not hearing he was loyal from Joe himself was probably why she was still feeling a little distrustful.

It was tricky, though, asking. It was rude, very rude. Loyalty wasn’t really something people talked about any more, rather, they just assumed it wasn’t there and everyone could be bought and sold. But people like Ellie and Sameh and Joe, they had to have loyalty. To one another, out here in the field, if to no-one else.

Ellie needed to ask about loyalty, and to do so she needed to point out Joe’s social identity, the set of markers of his genetic heritage like skin colour and language and dietary and sexual preferences that might lead others to make assumptions about him, and which polite people didn’t mention, or even notice, about other polite people, not ever.

Ellie needed to mention Joe’s, if only to explain why she was asking about his loyalty. In effect, she needed to say that she didn’t trust him just because of the shape of his face, and doing that was tricky. Asking about such things, even mentioning one’s own assumptions about another’s social identity, that was just impossibly rude. It was rude to a degree that Joe would be quite entitled to climb in his SUV and drive away, but Ellie still needed to ask.

She needed to know, so she could be sure in her own mind that she could trust Joe. She decided she would just have to do it.

“I need to ask something,” Ellie said.

Sameh looked up, and saw Ellie’s face, and sighed.

“Stop it,” Ellie said to Sameh. Then to Joe, she said, “I’m sorry, but I have to ask.”

He shrugged. “Go on.”

“Doing here what you’d be doing there,” Ellie said. “That isn’t quite true.”

Joe looked at her for a moment, and didn’t seem to understand what she meant. Of course he didn’t understand, Ellie thought. Probably no-one had pointed this out to him in years, just like no-one had to Ellie. When Joe obtained his company clearance, his background would have got him investigated incredibly thoroughly, but no-one would have actually said that to Joe, and no-one would have said why. People did what they needed to, but they were polite about it while they did.

Everyone except Ellie. She wasn’t going to be polite at all.

“You said you’re just doing here what you’d be doing over there,” Ellie said, feeling awkward.

“I did. I am.”

“But not quite, though,” Ellie said. “Is it? It’s not quite the same.”

“It’s the same.”

“No,” Ellie said. “Because these aren’t just hajjis, here. They’re people like you.”

Then Joe understood. Ellie saw his face go tense. He stood there, and didn’t answer, and thought about what she meant.

“Same names,” Ellie said, to be clear. “Same language. Same faces.”

“Their faces are like mine. But they’re still not my people.”

“So you say.”

“I’m not completely sure what you mean,” Joe said, tightly.

He looked uncomfortable. He looked like he’d rather Ellie had asked him when he last had a shit, and in some ways Ellie would rather she had too. She felt awful. Anyone would be awful, taking about this. It just wasn’t pleasant for either of them.

“I mean convince me,” Ellie said. “Make me believe you.”

Joe looked at Sameh. He didn’t say a word, but Ellie understood. If the concern of divided loyalties was so great, he meant, why were Sameh’s loyalties not being questioned too. There were still hajji revolutionaries around Měi-guó, seeking to establish their caliphate. Sameh could as easily be sympathetic to them as Joe was to the debt resisters.