Oiling Palms

Ambassador GeorgeAmbassador George (played by John Koroma) spends his weekdays sitting in conferences while daydreaming of past fishing trips with Joe Biden or the Saudi princes.

He has been going to international climate conferences for years and the climate has been getting worse and worse all the time. Nowadays he has a lot of trouble motivating himself to go to work.

His old buddy Smith (Erik Riekko), from younger days when both were running around the oilfields searching for their fortunes, notices George's disillusionment.

Smith, now a high flying venture capitalist, hatches a plan to offer his old buddy an escape plan from the staid civil service world by bringing George into his grand scheme to make a killing on a coal and oil play. This requires oiling the palms of just enough government people to make the Madrid climate talks fail.

George has just the contacts he needs, so Smith corners his old buddy at a casino blackjack table. George's losses grow as fast as Smith's chips pile up.

George sees through Smith's bigger scheme and cashes out. He tells Smith off before he leaves, but doubts Smith will relent in his design to torpedo the climate talks. Little does he suspect that Melinda (Kiersten Leslie), the young woman with the drug problems he picked up in the rain outside the flamenco club, might be able to suceed where he couldn't.

Text: John Koroma

When he is not fishing or coaching Helsinki's youth in the secrets of football stardom, John Koroma is translating from French or making a name for himself as an afrocusine whiz. His interest in theater harks back to his school days in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

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