by Paul Beatty
Day 119
Five more soldiers are dead and all the civilian population has now been infected except two: a teenager called Christie and Miriam. None who has shown symptoms has lived. The children seem more resistant but in the civilian group they have all succumbed slowly. Today the first of Winter’s Hill showed symptoms. Catherine and her partner Geoff and their two children. They were the last people to join Winter’s Hill. But this is not the worst blow for me and Miriam. Bill was brought to us delirious this afternoon. The soldiers who brought him said he’d stayed at his post when he must have had the fever.
Day 120
Bill died early this morning. I was able to speak to him in the brief respite before the swellings started. I made my peace with him. He told me how much he regretted that we couldn’t be together and how he had fallen for me when he saw how brave I’d been when trying to treat his wound. I said I loved him, though in truth I don’t know if I really did. When the swellings took hold it was almost as if you could see them grow as you watched. It took two of us to hold his hands away from his arms and face as he tried to claw at his own skin. Finally, he screamed out, arched his back and then relaxed, dead. I collapsed at his side sobbing. Miriam came and, with Charlie’s help, pulled me away from Bill’s corpse.
Day 121
Miriam must have given me a shot of something for I must have slept the clock round. I didn’t wake up until earlier this evening. I was on the bed we’d set up for use when we are on duty. I realised immediately something was different but it took some time to realise what it was.
It was quiet. No one was moaning, no one yelling out in the last stages of the plague. I got up and walked through the infirmary. There were no patients and no volunteers. I was alone. Outside it was just as quiet and still I saw no one. I was suddenly very frightened. Was I the only person left? Had everyone else died? The picture of the bodies in the hospital came into my mind.
I walked down towards the gate. Coming round a corner of the main building I realised why it was so quiet. Winter’s Hill people were digging a long trench. By the side of the trench there were thirty bodies ready for burial. I recognised all the patients who had been in the infirmary the night before. The bodies of the Commander and his second-in-command were there. I spotted Geoff and Catherine, their offspring and finally Bill. Miriam saw me. She came to me a put her arm round my shoulders.
When the trench was complete we buried them all. There are thirty-five of us left. Thirty-three from the Winter’s Hill group plus Christie and Miriam. Everyone else is dead. But no one who is left has any symptoms of the plague.
Day 124
For the last three days we have all been in shock and in a quandary. Without the soldiers we cannot defend the fort. If any other forts find out, we will be attacked and massacred. So we must leave and run the risk of travelling towards the coast through the winter. On the other hand we cannot be certain that the plague has run its course in our group and there will be no more cases. Miriam thinks that it is possible that we are all immune from whatever it is that causes the plague but the only way we have of knowing is to wait for the ten days’ incubation period to pass.
So over the last three days we have been debating this problem inside the council and outside, while we loaded all the stores we could find into the small group of lorries that we will use as transport.
Day 125
The loading was completed this morning. From now on we can go whenever we wish. At dawn James sent out scouts towards the forts we know of. They came back at about midday to say that only one still seems operational. But there were signs that there may be some sort of column of transport coming towards us from the other side of the city.
After all the scouts were back James called us together and we heard their reports. Then we voted. A majority were in favour of leaving as soon as possible.
Day 126
We started this morning at dawn, and have been going for about four hours as I write this. About an hour after we left we heard explosions and gunfire coming from the direction of the last remaining functioning fort in our part of the city. We think whatever the column was that was coming from the direction of the city centre had reached them. We may have got away only just in time. By this evening we will be out into the country to the west of the city.
Chapter 13
With a struggle Francesca got Anya back to their roundhouse and into bed. She waited until Anya had fallen asleep and then went down to the jetty where Tobias was still working on the repairs to his boat. She went on board, found him and asked if he had time to talk. They went down the steps into the cabin.
‘Are you alright?’ he said. ‘You’re as white as snow.’
‘I’d be better for a drink of water.’ Her hands were shaking.
‘I think I can do better than that. Hang on a minute,’ and he went forward into the main hold of the boat.
She looked round the cabin. It had a simple, wide bed that faced the door. On one side there was a lift-up flap below cupboards built into the wall. It was the same sort of flap that she had seen the Crèche Nurses use for writing in the stock book. On the other side of the bed was a set of shelves which held a collection of what she knew must be books. They were all tucked behind bars that would keep them in place even during the fiercest of storms. She went over to them and carefully took one down. She flicked through its pages, past writing she could not decipher and pictures of strange scenes: people in odd-looking clothes, enormous cities with things suspended in the air. Tobias came back.
He was carrying a large, plain glass bottle and two beakers, also made of glass. ‘This is what you need,’ he said cheerfully. He dropped the beakers onto the bed and then, pushing the bottle under his broken right arm, he pulled its stopper with his free hand.
‘Hold the glasses for me,’ he said to Francesca. She picked them up from the bed and held them out to him. He poured a little of the liquid from the bottle into each, re-stoppered the bottle and dropped it onto the bed. He took one of the glasses for himself.
‘Try this.’ He raised his glass to her. ‘ To life,’ he said and swallowed the liquid in one satisfied gulp.
She tried to do the same, raising her glass and replying, ‘ To life,’ but the smell of the liquid got up her nose. Before she could drink, it made her cough so all she managed was a large sip. The liquid burned her tongue and mouth, and made her lips go numb. Then her nose was full of the fragrance of a fruit she couldn’t identify. Despite its sharpness, it was not unpleasant and she swallowed, feeling a thread of warmth as it went down inside her. She coughed again. ‘What is it?’ she said, sipping again.
‘Where it came from they call it aquavite, the water of life. In other places it’s called moonshine, brandy and many other names. This was made from a fruit called the damson. But wherever it comes from and whatever form it takes, it cheers the heart in times of trouble.’ He paused. ‘What happened this morning?’
Francesca sat on the bed. ‘I went with Anya to see the Crèche Nurses. It was terrible. They humiliated her. They probed and assaulted her in all…’ she hesitated, ‘…in all her most private places.’ She looked away embarrassed and began to cry. Tobias laid his hand on her shoulder and squeezed reassuringly.
‘Is she pregnant?’
The simple, firm question helped her composure. ‘Yes she is,’ but as soon as she had said it she remembered the picture of Anya on the table and it made her angry.
‘You know more than anyone about the Rule,’ she burst out, ‘more than anyone except Peter. The Head Crèche Nurse said that Peter has no control over them. She said that while the Head of the Council comes and goes from year to year, the Rule gives them the responsibility of seeing that the community survives from generation to generation. We’re powerless against them!’
Tobias sat next to her on the bed and topped up their glasses. ‘I don’t know exactly what power they have because they are not referred to in the Red Book.’
‘What! Ho
w do you know?’
‘I’ve read it.
‘You’ve read the Red Book?’
‘Yes. Soon after Peter, Sylvia and I became friends I started to teach Peter how to read. I had only one book then and so I had to use that. One evening we were going through it when we started to talk about what the Red Book might actually say. “I wonder what’s actually in the Rule,” said Peter. “It would be great fun to know whether, when Old Septimus,” he was the Head of the Council then, “whether when Old Septimus says that such and such is in the Rule, whether it’s actually there.”
‘“It would be very convenient if he could make it up as he went along,” I added. “Why don’t we borrow it, read it and then we’ll know for sure?”
‘From that remark grew a plan. I hadn’t lost all my scavenger guile so finding where the Red Book was kept was not too difficult. One night, when Septimus was away visiting the herders on the northern boarder we got into his longhouse, I borrowed the Red Book for the night and read it. We returned it to its proper place before dawn and no one ever found out.’
Francesca laughed. The picture of Peter, of all people, stealing the Red Book from the Head of the Council and reading it in secret with Tobias was unbelievable.
‘You’re a remarkable man,’ she said to Tobias. ‘So what does it say?’
‘Well it wasn’t written by one person or at a single time; there are different parts to it. Some bits are about when to plant things. Some are about how to settle differences between Gatherers; Peter was using that part at the informal meeting. There are the words of the Founder’s songs and other recitations used at different times of year. There are the rules about the Harvest Festival and Mayday but they come very late on in the book and must have been written well after the initial foundation of Heron Fleet.’
‘What comes first?’
‘The very first entry in the Red Book is the terms of the Pact. Next is the Rule which, as far as I can remember, only refers to the creation of the Council.’
‘So the Head Crèche Nurse was wrong?’
‘Perhaps. The Red Book doesn’t mention them as such but the terms of the Pact, which centres on the commitment to have children under a single-sex partnership regime, implies that, even from the start, someone must have had to do the impregnation the Crèche Nurses do now.’
‘So what Anya suffered this morning has always been part of Heron Fleet?’
‘Well at least the potential for that sort of cruelty has been.’
‘You know I think they even keep a record of every period every woman has.’
‘Well that might make sense. You might need that information when you have to make the choice of who gets impregnated. It’s got to have some bearing on who is the most fertile or predicting the best time to do it.’
‘But to find that out they’d have to spy on us all, all the time. That’s, that’s…’ she was lost for words.
‘So calculating, so oppressive? Yes it is. But it doesn’t surprise me. People with secret powers in any community can easily get as cruel as the Head Crèche Nurse was to Anya. I’ve seen what happens to people in the Scavenger Gangs; I know how casually cruel people can become. The big question is why the Pact was written at all? After all, the Pact is not strictly part of the Rule even if the community now treats it that way; even though it’s the first document in the Red Book. In other communities and even in the Scavenger Gangs, a pact is something made between equals. It’s an agreement and it dissolves if one of the parties to it ceases to agree to it. If the Pact has any of that nature then why shouldn’t a couple refuse to be bound by it whilst remaining loyal to the Rule?’
‘I’d like to see you get that argument past the Crèche Nurses.’
‘Nonetheless it’s an interesting thought. The most important thing at this moment is whether you feel better?’
‘Yes thank you. You seem to put things into perspective for me.’
‘In that case you should be getting back to Anya.’ He stood up and collected her glass up with his. ‘There’s one thing you should know before you go but it’s not good I’m afraid. I went to see Ruth.’
‘What did she say?’
‘She is adamant. She’ll not withdraw the accusation. In fact, if she could, I think she’d personally throw Anya off a cliff.’
‘Why is she so bitter?’
‘Well I don’t think it’s about Anya or Jonathan, I think it’s really about you. Because she still loves you, she wants to hurt you for hurting her. At the same time she thinks that if Anya is out of the way, she might get you back. Either way she will stick to her story. It may be irrelevant to the Testing anyway since Anya and Jonathan have already agreed it is true. She may have started the process but she can’t stop it now even if she had a mind to. I wonder if she really knows what it means for her. The only effect of her withdrawing the accusation, or refusing to repeat it at the Testing, would have been to give us a bit of a moral advantage.’
The next few days rather dragged for Francesca. Anya recovered physically, but remained uncharacteristically quiet and withdrawn. Francesca tried taking her down to the boat but Anya didn’t know her way round well enough to be of help with the repairs. The only good news was that Tobias had his splints off and had been discharged from the Infirmary.
‘They’ve let me come back and live on the boat,’ he said, clearly happy to be back on board. ‘But I’m to eat in the Gathering Hall, so if anything new comes up I can tell you about it in the evening.’
In the end Francesca, desperate to find something to occupy both Anya and herself, went back to as many of her duties in the Glasshouses as she could, taking Anya with her. This worked well. Sylvia set them easy things to do like dividing and planting out rhubarb plants. The simple physical effort lightened Anya’s spirits. There was the extra advantage that the area of the Glasshouses they were working in was well away from some of the more curious and gossipy Gardeners.
After the evening meal Francesca, Anya and Jonathan all spoke to Tobias. ‘Not much new to report,’ he said. ‘I’ve been trying to gauge how the community feels about all this. They seem divided. The younger Gatherers seem to be on our side, the older ones against. Then there are the ones that remember me. They’re dead against us. I think they see it as a way of settling old scores! Still, one thing’s for sure, everyone is on Francesca’s side. There’s hardly a bad word being said about her.’
A big boost for Anya was a visit from her old Crèche Mother, Elizabeth, who came to find her and see how she was.
‘The Crèche Nurses won’t help you but you’re still my Anya and I’ve learned a bit about having babies over the years, so what I know I’ll share with you. When this lamb is born,’ she said, patting Anya’s stomach gently, ‘he or she will need all the help they can get. Worst comes to the worst, it will have me and I don’t care who knows it.’
Francesca left them alone and Elizabeth talked to Anya for a long time. At the end they hugged each other warmly before Elizabeth went back to her current charges.
‘Is that better?’ asked Francesca.
Anya smiled for the first time since the visit to the Crèche Nurses. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Nice to know someone outside our immediate friends still cares about me and the child.’
But just as there seemed to be a breathing space in which they might all come to terms with what was happening, things changed again. That evening, at the end of the evening meal, Peter stood up and called for silence.
‘The Council has conferred and has decided that the Testing of Anya and Jonathan will take place the day after tomorrow here in the Gathering Hall. All Gatherers and Apprentices who are not required for essential duties are welcome to attend.’
‘So now we know,’ said Francesca to Anya.
‘Yes, at least the waiting is over,’ Anya replied and she squeezed Francesca’s hand, though she looked fearful again.
It was Francesca’s responsibility to get Anya to the Gathering Hall by mid-morning. When they
got there, the Hall was almost completely full. One of the Gatekeepers showed them to their places in front of the Council Table. Two smaller tables had been set up. At one Thomas and Jonathan sat. Francesca and Anya were shown to the second. Tobias sat a little way to the right at a third table on which was a small pile of books.
The Council door opened and the oldest Gatekeeper came in. He carried a long black staff. He walked in front of the Council Table until he was in the middle. Then he turned and banged staff on the floor three times.
‘All having business and interest in the Testing of these accused, should now present themselves. Please take your places and stand for the Council.’ As everyone in the Hall stood he turned and faced Peter’s chair. Then the Council filed in. When they were all present, the Gatekeeper turned his staff horizontal and placed it in front of Peter, bowed and withdrew. Peter held up the Red Book.
‘See people of Heron Fleet. Here is the Rule we follow. It is in the name of this Rule that we meet today. It is the Rule that keeps us together and contains the Gatherer principles of community, identity and stability.’ Then he put the Red Book down and the Council and people sat.
‘I will start by explaining how this Testing will proceed. Those to be tested are at the front here with their sponsors. The purpose of the Testing is not to prove if the accusation is true or not, Jonathan and Anya have already agreed that it is, but to decide punishment in the light of Anya’s and Jonathan’s responsibility. Since both of those to be tested are Apprentices, Tobias the Outlander will speak on their behalf. Francesca as the Gatherer partner of Anya, and therefore the senior partner of either accused, has chosen Tobias and the Council have agreed that, though separated from Heron Fleet for many years, he still has the status of a Gatherer. Tobias the Outlander, do you accept this responsibility as Speaker?’
