I am on a street in Carlton. I am talking to Barack Obama. He’s dressed in a big jacket - and I’m a little surprised - I get the impression of someone in a ‘big role’ but who’s also closer to the streets.

He talks to me about his plan to unify the many ‘nations’ of America. The subtext in his comment is that in his mind, he sees America unifying not just through the ‘state boundaries’ but through the people and the communities that populate the country - these are the many nations of America.

I am touched by this vision. It strikes me that he has really thought about these things, and has genuine aspiration in his role as leader. I say, “and well you’re really in the role to do that too, since you are actually the president”. Up until this point he’s seemed so humble, I hardly knew who I was speaking to.

I am surprised also that he is willing to spend so much time with me here on the nature strip in the middle of a Melbourne street. Won’t there be people of his watching, asking themselves why he’s talking to me.


Though he’s in no rush, we come to agree that we should say goodbye. We hug, and it’s actually quite sad. I feel like I really like this guy.* scene shifts *

As if to test the knowledge I’d gained in the previous scene, I now find myself in a public toilet. I walk into one of the cubicles, and can see it spattered with somebody’s spew. A voice in my head tells me, yes you can complain about the spew or you can recognise why it’s here. “Well someone may well have been washed up on drugs and done this”.

The essence of my thinking is that we have to come closer to the grime and reality. That we can’t ignore these social issues. A friend’s dad Evan shows up, and says something similar about the ‘vomit’ though with more resolution - the firmness that sometimes comes as people age.

I open another cubicle and am thinking about all this. Eww. It stinks. I almost barf just entering...