Catastrophe Practice (42 page)

Jason came into the kitchen. He was carrying a typescript. He said ‘Hullo —'

Eleanor thought — Please God, no one say: I was afraid you might not remember me —

Lilia's voice, from the hallway, said ‘It must be someone else's.'

Jason said ‘Yes it must be someone else's.'

Eleanor held out her hand for the typescript. She said to Jason ‘They're all your story anyway.'

Lilia came into the kitchen. She was carrying her baby. There were Eleanor, Anderson, Judith and the Professor sitting round the table.

Anderson said ‘This is like the last act of panto.'

Judith said ‘Didn't Lenin act in a panto?'

Jason said ‘It is not like the last act of a panto!'

The professor said Can we all write our own stories then?'

Lilia held up her baby and seemed to be showing it the room. She said ‘Look how pleased he is to see you!'

Jason said ‘Yes, you write your stories.'

Eleanor said ‘They'd still be about the same thing.'

Jason said ‘What.' Then — ‘Throw away the scripts!'

The baby stretched out its hands to the people in the room.

Lilia said ‘He can walk! He was so bored of the people outside!'

Anderson said ‘Can he not fly?'

Eleanor got up and went over to Jason. She thought — But at the end of the last act, in that construction like a telephone box, there is enough room for more than just us to come alive?

She put her hand on Jason's arm. She said ‘We are your seeds. We are each other's children.'

Jason said ‘We will be able to go out into the world?'

There was a banging on the door outside.

Eleanor thought — I'll go.

Lilia said ‘Do you think they followed us?'

Jason went past Eleanor into the hallway. She heard him opening the front door. Then he was saying ‘Oh do come in!'

Eleanor saw two men in the garden. She did not know if they were policemen, or those on the other side.

The Professor called ‘Tell them we've been told to stay here, and not to say any more just now!'

One of the men came in and looked into the sitting-room. One looked up the staircase.

Anderson called ‘— And we're keeping in touch with them by telephone!'

Lilia said ‘Have you had breakfast?'

Judith said ‘There's room —'

Lilia held her baby out so that it was taken by jason. Then she went out with the two men who had gone back into the garden, where there were splinters of glass like light.

Eleanor called ‘You know where we are —'

The baby seemed to crow.

Jason said ‘What goes on in that huge head!'

Nicholas Mosley was born in London and educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford. He served in Italy during the Second World War, winning the Military Cross for bravery. He succeeded as 3rd Baron Ravensdale in 1966 and, in 1980 he also succeeded to the Baronetcy.

He is the author of twelve novels.
Hopeful Monsters
won The Whitbread Book of The Year Award in 1990. Mosley is also the author of several works of nonfiction, most notably the autobiography
Efforts at Truth
and a biography of his father, Sir Oswald Mosley.

Discover books by Nicholas Mosley published by Bloomsbury Reader at

www.bloomsbury.com/NicholasMosley

Catastrophe Practise

Efforts at Truth: An Autobiography

Hopeful Monsters

Imago Bird

Judith

Time at War

For copyright reasons, any images not belonging to the original author have been
removed from this book. The text has not been changed, and may still contain
references to missing images.

This electronic edition published in 2013 by Bloomsbury Reader

Bloomsbury Reader is a division of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 50 Bedford Square,
London WC1B 3DP

First published in Great Britain 1979 by Martin Secker & Warburg Ltd

Copyright © 1979 Nicholas Mosely

All rights reserved
You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise
make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means
(including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying,
printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the
publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

The moral right of the author is asserted.

eISBN: 9781448211197

Visit
www.bloomsburyreader.com
to find out more about our authors and their books
You will find extracts, author interviews, author events and you can
sign up for
newsletters
to be the first to hear about our latest releases and special offers.