I ain't sittin' in this darn hole no more

Published: October 30, 2008 at 11:11pm

Cue the Ennio Morricone theme-track from A Fistful of Dollars. Anglu Farrugia stands up, sending his bar-stool skidding behind him, and tucks one thumb into his holster.

ANGLU: (To Piripero) Get three coffins ready.

ANGLU’S SIDEKICK: Adios, Amigo.

HELENA DALLI: We don’t like to see bad boys like you in town.

OWEN BONNICI: Go get your elephant. You let him get away from you?

ANGLU: You see, that’s what I want to talk to you about. He’s feeling real bad.

OWEN: Huh?

ANGLU: My elephant. You see, he got all riled up when you men fired those shots at his feet.

HELENA: Hey, are you making some kind of joke?

ANGLU: No. See, I understand you men were just playin’ around. But the elephant, he just doesn’t get it. Of course, if you were to all apologize…

(The others laugh. Anglu moves his poncho aside, exposing his pistol.)

ANGLU: I don’t think it’s nice, you laughin’. See, my elephant don’t like people laughing. He gets the crazy idea you’re laughing at him. Now if you apologize, like I know you’re going to, I might convince him that you really didn’t mean it . . .

(Pause as music builds, men draw their guns. Anglu draws his and fires five shots, then holsters his gun.)

JOHN BAXTER: I saw the whole thing. You killed all four of them. You’ll pay all right. You’ll be strung up.

ANGLU: (Draws gun again) Who are you?

JOHN BAXTER: I’m John Baxter, sheriff.

Just is case you’re wondering, this is an excerpt from the real screen-play, except that in the real screen-play, the elephant is a mule and some names have been changed to protect the characters’ identities.

Now here’s the real thing.

The Malta Independent, Thursday, 30 October

Labour walks out in protest from parliamentary committee meeting

The Labour Party’s representatives on the parliamentary committee for draft legislation walked out in protest when discussing the Public Administration Bill.

Deputy leader Anglu Farrugia led the MLP representatives. He said that the MLP suggested an amendment to article 15, to reflect the public’s right to contest directives issued by the permanent secretary about government departments which could be against the public interest or which were against consumer interests.

Committee chairman Francis Zammit Dimech stopped the debate and brought article 15 to the vote. Dr Farrugia said this was no way to conduct parliamentary business and MPs Helena Dalli, Owen Bonnici and himself objected and walked out.

Sadly, no ponchos – but that darn Helena, she’s a pistol.




2 Comments Comment

  1. Tony Borg says:
    October 31, 2008 at 10:26 am

    An eyewitness told me that Bonnici and Dalli walked out with the rest of the committe, amongst whom were FZD (chairman) and Chris Said. Only the elephant rider stormed out making a scene. Can someone confirm this? I listened to the press release on radio and only the elephant rider spoke.

    [Daphne – I would imagine the news report posted above is correct.]

    Reply
  2. Dr.C. says:
    October 31, 2008 at 2:55 pm

    Allow me to go off topic, but another smooch is awaiting captioning! :)
    http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20081031/local/muscat-calls-on-the-archbishop

    [Daphne – The man is gross. Does he have to leave a trail of saliva wherever he goes? Obviously, nobody’s told him that you don’t actually press your lips to the hand or even make kissing noises. You make a perfunctory gesture in its general direction, leaving your lips exactly as they are, with no pursing or lip-smacking. And absolutely no Frenching. I trust the archbishop had a bacteriological wet-wipe to hand.]

    Reply

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