Eyes of the Blind
Page 35
Briefly, nobody spoke.
“If this is true, Daniel,” Tony Strong said, “although I applaud your commitment to the Association, I’m afraid you’re going to have to resign. I’ll give you that much dignity.”
“What do you mean, ‘if ’?” Daniel snarled. “You’ve made more out of this than anyone.”
The next day the Mirror ran a two-page exclusive about extraordinary goings-on at a house in northwest London. The reporters credited were Matthew Long and Niall Burnet. Significant figures in a major national charity had been embarrassingly caught in the throes of some kind of sex party which had then disintegrated into a battle of incredible allegation and counter-allegation. There were pictures of the house, of Tony Strong OBE and of Daniel Sullivan, director general and deputy director general of the British Association for the Blind, with scantily clad girls whose faces were pixellated or out of shot. There were lengthy interviews with Theresa Clarke, widow of the eye doctor whose recent suicide had shocked his profession, and with Roderick Leman, father of Miranda Leman, recipient of the world’s first binocular eye transplant. There were detailed biographies of Tony Strong and Daniel Sullivan, and of the owner of the house, pictured in the act of opening the front door, Vivien Loosemore. One of the girls present, Rebecca Blackford, had agreed to be named and gave salacious details about what took place on these exclusive gentlemen’s evenings, of which this was her second.
Under the circumstances, Carl Fisher, chairman of the British Association for the Blind, felt he had no option but to ring the changes at the top of the organisation.
Niall was frustrated. The police showed massive reluctance to go after a major charity and dig into its finances. It was exactly as he had predicted. The real crime remained unpunished.
“But it’s over,” Miranda said. “And you’ve got lots of money from the Mirror.”
“True,” Niall admitted. “Do you fancy a holiday?”
“Yes! Where?”
“I was thinking maybe Telford.”
“Sounds perfect.”
“You’ve got a lot to thank me for,” Lindsey said to John Holthouse.
“Did you know?” he asked her.
“I’m not just a pretty face,” she said.
“No,” he mused. “But I’m wondering how – ”
“Wonder on, Mr. New Deputy Director General.”
THE END
ALEX TRESILLIAN
Alex grew up in rural England with a dream to write for a living which never quite came true. He has enjoyed incarnations as a theatre publicity officer, restaurant manager, teacher, teacher trainer, and curriculum developer. Along the way Alex wrote five plays that were performed by students including one, Never Mind the Rain Forests, that was enthusiastically reviewed (3 stars) at the Edinburgh Fringe. Another, Gavin’s Kingdom, received a professional workshop production at the Birmingham Rep. Plays Into Shakespeare, a book for English and Drama teachers that introduced students to the characters in Shakespeare’s plays through short modern-English ‘additional’ scenes, was published by First and Best in Education in 2007.
Alex moved to Abu Dhabi in 2008 with a Lebanese international education company that had a contract to train English teachers and develop curriculum materials. Latterly moved to their Academic Development office in Beirut and wrote two series of books for students from ages eight to sixteen – one on grammar and one on the art of writing.
He is now living with his wife of many years in Worcestershire, his children pursuing careers in education, fashion, charity fundraising and web development in places as disparate as Beijing, London and Chesterfield. Alex also enjoys writing stories for his young grandchildren.
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