by George Friel
News always gets around. The teachers in Collinsburn heard about him and somebody raised his name once in the staffroom.
‘I hadn’t much use for him,’ said Mr Brown. ‘But I must admit I feel sorry for the poor fellow.’
‘He wasn’t a bad sort really,’ said Mr Campbell. ‘A bit pedantic sometimes maybe.’
‘A bit old-fashioned,’ said Mr Dale.
‘Yes he was, wasn’t he,’ said Mr Kerr. ‘Very conscien¬ tious. Never absent. Never late.’
Other people too heard about him through devious gossip.
‘Haw maw!’ Gerald Provan shouted one evening the moment he crossed the door. ‘Know what I heard the day?’
‘Naw,’ said his mother standing over the frying-pan. ‘What did you hear?’
‘Remember big Alfy?’ said Gerald.
‘I’m not likely to forget him,’ said Mrs Provan.
‘He’s been put away,’ said Gerald. ‘He’s in the nuthouse.’
‘It’s where he belongs,’ said Mr Provan, turning the sausages. ‘Bad old bugger. He was aye mad.’
Senga at the table, waiting, listening, said nothing as Gerald gave source and details. She had left school by that time and got a job as a copy typist in an insurance broker’s office. In spite of her squint she had a good appearance and a refined voice. She was skinny as a child, but now she was a slim, smart, confident Miss Provan. She had lost touch with Rose after the Weipers left Tordoch.
They met by chance in the street at the evening rush-hour. They had to stop and speak for old time’s sake. Rose, once the prettier and more graceful, was thicklegged and broad- bottomed. Her face was plump and the mouth rather slack. She was a filing clerk in the Tax Offices in Waterloo Street.
Senga did her best but Rose had nothing much to say. They moved to the edge of the pavement to avoid obstructing people and stood staring past each other after the first awkward words. Senga was going to tell Rose about Mr Alfred, just to break the silence and make conversation. But she changed her mind at once. It might sound malicious to say he was in a mental hospital. And remembering the trouble he had caused them she thought it would be tactless to mention him at all. She tried to think of something else to say.
‘I’ll need to hurry,’ said Rose. ‘Or I won’t get on a bus. I’m late.’
‘Yes, I’m late too,’ said Senga. ‘But I’ll maybe see you again sometime.’
About The Author
A GLASGOW TRILOGY
George Friel (1910–75) was born and brought up in a two- room flat in Maryhill Road in Glasgow, the city where he was to live and work all his life. Educated at St Mungo’s Academy, he was the only one in a family of seven children to go to university where he took an Ordinary ma, before training as a teacher at Jordanhill College. He married his wife Isobel in 1938 and the couple moved to Bishopbriggs where they resided for the rest of their days. When war broke out Friel served in the raoc before returning to teaching, a profession he gradually came to hate and distrust, although he never lost his concern for children. He became assistant head of a primary school before retiring in the early seventies. Such experience became the basis for his novels.
Friel’s first novel was The Bank of Time (1959). In all his books he determined to write about the everyday lives of ordinary people from his own working-class background. His rather dark sense of humour and a rigorously intellectual style did not make him a popular author, although The Boy Who Wanted Peace (1964) sold well after its appearance on television. Grace and Miss Partridge (1969) was followed by Mr Alfred M.A. (1972), perhaps his most powerful novel. An Empty House appeared after the author’s death from cancer in 1975. His short stories were collected and published posthumously as A Friend of Humanity (1992).
Copyright
First published as a Canongate Classic in 1999,
reprinted in 2001 by Canongate Books Ltd,
14 High Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1TE
This digital edition first published in 2009
by Canongate Books Ltd
Copyright © Estate of George Friel
The Boy Who Wanted Peace copyright © George Friel, 1964
Grace and Miss Partridge copyright © George Friel, 1969
Mr Alfred M.A. copyright © Isobel Friel, 1972
Introduction copyright © Gordon Jarvie, 1999
All rights reserved
The publishers gratefully acknowledge general
subsidy from the Scottish Arts Council towards
the Canongate Classics series and a specific grant
towards the publication of this title
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available on
request from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 84767 500 2
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