all the times I’ve prayed, I’ve pleaded, I’ve begged to be chosen and God’s ignored me? And now—
“Norbert,” says Niker. “She wants Norbert!”
Niker’s jeering does not deter Ram-Rod. She beckons me and I just know I’m going to have to go.
“Norbert,” repeats Albert, meditatively.
Kate is already halfway across the room. I stand up.
“Sorry,” I say as we pass like a substituted football players at the edge of the pitch.
“You’re joking,” she says.
A moment later I’m face to face with Ram-Rod. Close to, she looks surprisingly frail. Her body so thin and bloodless, she must, I think, be sitting upright by force of will alone.
“I’m Robert,” I say, extending a polite hand.
“Edith,” she replies, ignoring the hand. “Edith Sorrel.”
My arm drops uselessly and me with it. I’m back on the floor.
Then, like the cavalry, the tea trolley arrives. It comes with clink and clatter and shout and “Thank God” from Albert. Catherine, obviously taken aback that tea can be so early, suggests we all use the time to get “better acquainted”. We know what this means because Liz Finch briefed us on the bus.
“Remember your Elder may be deaf,” she said. “Just ask short, simple questions. Do you have children? Grandchildren? A husband/wife? What job did you use to do? And speak up.”
“Do you have children?” I ask Edith Sorrel.
“No.”
I pause, leave a gap. This the art of conversation, you know. You say something. They say something. You say something.
Edith says nothing.
“A husband?” I enquire hopefully.
“No.”
Another pause. Longer this time. I watch the trolley coming, so very slowly round towards us.
“Looking forward to tea?”
“No.”
The trolley passes us. The staff obviously know that Edith does not take tea, she does not take biscuits. The biscuits are those oblong ones which say “Nice” on them and are covered in sugar. I watch them go Weasel’s way.
“Did you have a job?”
Behind me I can hear Kate’s Albert. He had a job. He worked “in sawmills” and then “on the building”, he got paid sixpence a day.
“How much is sixpence?” asks Kate.
“Eh?” says Albert.
“Sixpence – how much was it worth?”
“Three loaves of bread, that’s what sixpence were.”
“No,” says Edith Sorrel. “I did not have a job. Young women were not encouraged to have jobs.”
And then I think she’s not really trying and it’s not fair and anyhow I’m cross about the biscuits, so I say: “Any special reason why you didn’t want a girl?”
“No.”
“OK. Any special reason for wanting me?”
She stares at me. Under her gaze, I feel quite transparent. As though she’s looking straight through me and out the other side.
“I mean me,” I persist, “me rather than any other boy?”
“No,” says Edith Sorrel.
“Well,” says Catherine, as the tea trolley finally beats a retreat, “I’d like to tell you all a story.”
“Oh aye,” says Albert.
Edith Sorrel clasps her hands in her lap. And I have this weird sensation that she’s holding herself, trying to comfort herself.
“It’s about a silent prince and the young woman who wants to free him from the curse that has rendered him mute. The Prince’s mother and father, the King and Queen, have promised the riches of their kingdom to anyone who can make the young man speak. But for those who try and fail, the penalty is to be instant death.”
“Is it Neighbours?” asks Mavis.
“You daft brush,” says Albert.
“Well, the young woman knew it would take more than skill or cunning or luck to make the Prince speak, for many had gone before her and as many had lost their lives. So the young woman took herself into the forest where her grandparents lived. And as they sat around the cottage after supper, she told them of her plan.
“‘Oh my beloved,’ cried her grandmother, ‘you know not what you ask.’
“‘Indeed I do, Grandmother,’ said the girl. ‘And that is why I’m here. I have come to listen and to learn. For you and Grandfather have lived long in the forest and understand how it is that night turns into day and winter into spring. And if this were not enough, you have lived long in each other’s hearts and so understand the dark and light of love, and if this were not enough you have read many books and told many stories and so know what makes a beginning and what an end. I beg you, Grandparents, share what you can with me, for I am eager to know what you know and to carry your wisdom to the Prince.’”
“Nurse,” cries Mavis. “Shut the curtains!”
“I’ve nearly finished now,” says Catherine, gently. “If you want to sleep. But you see, the grandparents did tell the girl their wisdom. All night long they spoke and she listened. And I was hoping we could do something similar here.”
“What?” says Albert.
“She wants you to tell the children your secrets,” shouts Matron.
“No I won’t indeed. They’d be shocked.”
“Not secrets,” says Catherine. “Wisdoms. Things you’ve learnt over the years.”
“Not to be nosey,” says Weasel’s Elder. “That’s what. Mind your own business. That’s what. Little piggies have big ears. That’s what.”
“Well, that’s a start,” says Catherine.
“That’s what,” says Weasel emphatically.
“Wesley…” says Liz Finch.
“I’m just repeating the wisdom,” says Weasel. “Learning from Dulcie here. That right, Dulcie?”
“Cheeky little blighter,” says Dulcie.
“Anything you’d share with me,” I say to Edith Sorrel, “if I was going to be beheaded tomorrow?”
