‘I can’t go into it — not in present company.’
The women were on chairs, facing each other across twenty feet of carpet, in the centre of which Brodie sat crosslegged, playing with the dog. She was like a bored child forced indoors by her aunts, who made an effort from time to time to include her in the conversation and who spoke with self-conscious care, knowing they had a young listener.
‘And how is Peter Pan?’ said Lady Arrow. ‘They haven’t expelled you from that I hope.’
‘Rehearsals start in a few weeks,’ said Araba. ‘It’s a headache — I’ve got so many other things to do. I have to take lessons on the wire. It’s a complete bore, learning to fly.’
‘It sounds super,’ said Lady Arrow. ‘Did you hear that, my love — she’s learning to fly!’
‘When I was at the home,’ said Brodie, ‘they took us to see Peter Pan one Christmas.’
‘And did you like it?’ asked Lady Arrow.
‘The part with the pirates was pretty freaky,’ said Brodie. ‘I can’t remember the rest. I think it was too long.’
‘Your political affairs must take up a great deal of your time, Araba,’ said Lady Arrow turning away from Brodie.
‘The League? It’s the only thing that keeps me sane.’
‘How many members do you have?’
‘That’s a reporter’s question, Susannah. You know better than to ask that.’
‘I love secrets,’ said Lady Arrow. ‘I only wish I had some myself. Perhaps I do!’
‘How did you get into it?’ asked Brodie, holding the dog on her lap and letting him gnaw her wrist.
‘Historical necessity,’ said Araba. ‘It had to happen. You can’t ignore what’s going on around you. You take it for just so long and then something snaps.’
‘I never thought of it that way,’ said Brodie.
‘It can be a very humbling thing to know how much power you really have. I’m not talking about playing around with it, the political protest wank that only makes you feel good — that doesn’t change anything. No, I mean, when you realize that there are thousands, just like you —’
Brodie was shaking her head, laughing softly and stroking the dog.
‘I can see you’re not very impressed,’ said Araba. ‘But I’ll lend you a book if you like.’
‘I read one.’
‘And what did you think of it?’
‘Too long,’ said Brodie.
‘There speaks the voice of innocence — innocence is a form of laziness, isn’t it? The young and their all-purpose comments. I must remember that — it was too long!’
‘It’s probably a fair comment,’ said Lady Arrow. ‘I don’t know. I’m hopelessly out of my depth with political theory.’
Araba said, ‘I’m so sick of the young, I’m so tired of hearing about them and seeing them courted.’ She turned to Brodie and said crossly, ‘You don’t know anything, but if you listen you’ll see you have a part to play.’
‘No,’ said Brodie.
‘You might be surprised,’ said Araba.
Brodie said, ‘I could never play Peter Pan.’
‘Oh, Lord,’ said Lady Arrow. ‘Didn’t I tell you?’
‘It’s not that the book was boring,’ Brodie explained. ‘I liked the pirates. But the flying! I’d freak out on that wire. I’m afraid of heights.’
‘Tell her about the League,’ said Lady Arrow.
‘I don’t want to alarm her,’ said Araba.
‘She won’t be alarmed.’
‘Then she won’t understand.’
‘I’m stupid,’ said Brodie. ‘Right? That’s what you’re saying. I’m stupid — I don’t know nothing.’
Araba blushed slightly and said, ‘We’re mainly Trots, but some are outright anarchists or anarchosyndicalists. Are you with me?’
The dog barked. Brodie giggled and patted him.
‘It’s a grass-roots movement of workers, the only viable alternative to the existing power structure of hacks and exploiters.’ Araba got to her feet. ‘It’s a party committed to action on all fronts.’
‘I like parties,’ said Brodie.
‘She’s really quite passionate,’ said Lady Arrow.
‘Stuff your praise,’ said Araba. ‘We’re not part-timers. And I warn you we’re not joking. Any corrupt government is bound to fail — this one will, and when it does we’ll be there to take over.’
‘Then you’ll be the big shits,’ said Brodie.
‘No,’ said Araba, ‘because then we’ll hand it over to the people.’
‘The word “people” is so bald,’ said Lady Arrow. ‘ “People” — that’s what politicians say. Who are they, the people?’
‘They’re, like, mainly the straights, aren’t they?’ said Brodie. ‘It’s everyone except the freaks.’
‘What a jolly good definition,’ said Lady Arrow.
‘I don’t think you want to hear anymore,’ said Araba.
‘I think Brodie would like you to be specific,’ said Lady Arrow. ‘You’ve been awfully abstract with your people and your grass-roots.’
‘I could scare you with specifics.’
‘Go on, try,’ said Lady Arrow, and she sat forward and took a pinch of snuff.
‘Well, for one thing we haven’t ruled out the possibility of confrontation.’
Brodie said, ‘Hey, what’s this dog’s name again?’
‘I mean direct action,’ said Araba, ignoring Brodie. ‘In a word, Susannah — violence.’
‘Bombs,’ said Lady Arrow.
‘Oh, bombs,’ said Brodie, chucking Poldy under the jaw, making him growl.
‘It frightens you, doesn’t it?’ said Araba.
‘Only if I think about it a little,’ said Brodie. ‘Like these clocks they use are so poky, all done up with sticking-plaster and that, they can blow up when you’re legging them.’
‘I wouldn’t know about that,’ said Araba, but her green eyes were electric and she looked closely at Brodie.
‘I’m telling you straight,’ said Brodie. ‘Sometimes they go wrong. Say the hands get muddled up and they’re touching the screw and you can’t see them. They’re so feeble you can hardly tell when it’s legged anyway. Then you twist the wires over and as soon as they, like, touch, it’s the last act, ain’t it?’
‘What does that mean?’ said Araba.
‘You’ve had it. You’re snuffed. You’re wiped out.’
Lady Arrow stared at her. She had been on the point of taking some more snuff, but she stopped her hand halfway to her nose and held it there, at shoulder level and a little forward, as if resting her hand on an invisible shelf. She said, ‘Have you some experience of these things, my darling?’
‘A little bit,’ said Brodie, and hung her head.
‘It’s considered very fashionable to know a bomber,’ said Araba. ‘A few years ago it was Yorkshiremen. Then it was Africans. Now it’s bombers. Your girlfriends must envy you.’
‘I don’t have no girlfriends.’
‘Well, your gang.’
‘It’s not a gang,’ said Brodie. ‘It’s more a bunch of people. A family, like.’
Lady Arrow said, ‘I’ve met a number of them. They’re quite impressive.’
‘I’m sure,’ said Araba. ‘It sounds a great hoot. After that, our League would strike you as rather dull.’
‘If you’re into bovver,’ said Brodie, ‘it might not be so bad.’
‘I take it you are into bother, as you say?’ said Araba.
‘It’s the only way, ain’t it? You said so yourself — everything’s rotten. It’s a rip-off.’
‘But what’s your programme?’
‘Bovver,’ said Brodie. ‘Just bovver.’
‘She’s a Trot way down,’ said Lady Arrow proudly. ‘A true anarchist.’
‘I doubt very much whether she knows the word.’