Arbeit macht frei: - Fredrick Töben

over! It was replaced soon after. So I venture out of CTC for the first time.
Abdul informed me that he painted all the boundary fence posts – lots of
them line the road leading to CTC.
We do not go straight ahead on the highway into Cadell but turn left and
soon after turn right into a restricted area as signs from the Correctional
Services Department make quite clear – outsiders are trespassing on CTC
territory.
The BBQ in the picnic shelter is gas powered. There is the expectation that
it will work when the food for the hungry workers arrives from CTC’s
kitchen.
While some are busy preparing the foundation for the pavers, others are
mowing the lawns, while I paint three sets of posts – others still are busily
fishing joyously with laughter all around, catching the pesky European carp
that infest the Murray. To my horror I see someone push a lawnmower
over a caught carp. I stop my painting and walk over and ask, ‘Why don’t
you take it back home and eat it?’.
A chorus of fellows hiss at me, ‘They’re pests and no good to eat’.
Another chorus hits me: ‘They’re mud dwellers, and that’s what they taste
like’.
I look at the splattered carp’s remains and pick up a couple pieces of meat,
wash them in the river and put some in my mouth. I am fascinated at the
stares I get, as if I had just committed sacrilege.
‘That’s not bad, raw and quite sweet-tasting’.
There is a law that permits fishing, but any European carp caught cannot be
thrown back in the river. I am pleased to see some fellows honed their
throwing skills to such a degree that the waiting pelicans catch the carp
directly; if they miss them, a quick dive below the surface gives the pelicans
a free lunch.
It bothers me to see carp lying about and so I am pleased when another
fellow, of Italian background, says he will be in on cooking some back
home. We do not carry any knives, of course, so I use a spade to chop off
the head and tail, then use the picnic hot plate scraper to gut the fish.
Luckily the bread supplied by the kitchen came in plastic bags, which are
now empty, and I use them to carry a carp each for both of us.
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