The Stranger Came (67 page)

As
she
knelt
at
the
man's
side,
a
hand
gripped
her
arm
and
pulled
her
upright.
It
was
the
boy
Nick,
'Come on!
Move it!
Move it!'
He
was
hysterical
with
excitement,
and
when
she
tried
to
pull
free
took
a
tighter
convulsive
grip
that
hurt
her.
'Don't
mess
about
stupid
cow
you
want
to
be
here
do
you?'
He
dragged
her
with
him
to
the
van,
threw
her
in
and
followed
her
into
the
passenger's
side.

'We
was
almost
too
late!'
The
pustule
on
his
nose
had
burst,
and
she
thought
that'll
give
him
relief,
and
wondered
at
the
oddness
of
that
occurring
to
her.
'God,
if
I'd
missed
it!'
In
the
light
from
the
street
she
saw
there
was
a
smear
of
blood
on
her
sleeve
from
his
hand.
She
swallowed
and
drew
a
breath
against
being
sick.

With
a
yell
the
fat
man
heaved
up
into
the
driver's
seat.
The
door
shut
and
they
were
moving
backwards
very
fast,
reversing
round
the
corner
and
then
forward
again,
turning
right
and
racing
back
the
way
they
had
come.
She
was
conscious
of
hands
on
the
wheel,
big
hands
with
swollen
fingers,
and
then
of
his
legs
filling
all
the
space
thrusting
against
the
cloth
of
his
trousers.
Their
voices
echoed,
the
succulent
wheeze
of
the
fat
man's
mixing
with
Nick's,
making
sense
to
her
in
fragments.
Magic
!

L
eft them for dead
!
Everything went

Y
ou see Kite

D
ead

M
agic

S
ee Kite standing there

M
agic

D
id for one anyway me no problem

L
ike a bleeding general standing there

S
mooth as silk

M
agic

Kite
! See Kite!

B
e proud of us

'You
think
we
couldn't
run
the
country?
Give
Kite
the
chance!
Not
that
it's
likely.
We
know.
We're
not
stupid.
But,
listen,
you
have
any
idea
how
many
votes
Hitler
got
in
elections?
Peanuts
that's
how
many
–
until
the
Depression
came
along
that
is.
Or
what
about
Lenin?
People
in
the
caff
in
Switzerland
would
have
laughed
in
your
face,
Kite
says,
if
you'd
told
them,
see
that
little
bald
geezer
in
the
corner
there?
He's
going
to
be
the
new
Czar
of
Russia.
Ha,
ha,
bleeding
hang
about
till
1914
comes
along,
laugh
then.
We're
not
stupid.
"We
English
are
a
wonderful
people"
you
know
who
said
that?
Mrs
Thatcher,
that's
who.
Said
that
to
the
Young
Conservatives
she
did.
A
wonderful
people
that's
us.’
The
two-seater
couch
creaked
as
he
rocked
back
and
forward,
smoothing
the
sweat
off
his
forehead,
down
each
cheek
in
turn.

'Nick
told
me
you
lot
were
good
at
making
speeches,' she
said.

'That's
politics,
isn't
it?'

'You
call
what
happened
tonight
politics?'

Talking
all
the
time
on
a
high
of
excitement,
he
had
brought
her
and
she
had
gone
along
not
sure
what
would
happen
if
she
refused.
She
had
thought
this
quiet
house
was
the
garage
owner's
home,
but
when
she
said
that
to
him
going
in
the
fat
man
had
grinned,
'My
wife
and
daughter
will
be
watching
the
telly.
Wouldn't
be
fair
to
disturb
them,
doctor.’

‘
Course
you
could
call
it
politics,’
he
said,
the
couch
groaning
as
he
shifted
from
one
ham
to
the
other.
'What
else
I
been
explaining?
But
you
don't
listen.
Why?
Because
you
don't
care.
But
I'm
supposed
to
credit
you're
here
because
Fraser
Allander
shot
off
his
mouth
about
the
Pax.
So
what
do
you
call
you
turning
up
here
then?
A
house
call?'

His
head
jerked
round
at
the
sound
of
the
door
opening.
The
girl
stopped
in
surprise.
She
was
wearing
only
white
G-string
briefs
and
a
bra
that
looked
in
need
of
a
wash.
Her
thighs
were
long
and
pale.

'Sorry,'
she
said.

'I
told
Doreen
we'd
be
in
here,'
the
fat
man
said.

'Oh
…
sorry.’

'The
dinosaur
had
a
brain
in
its
tail.
Like
this
one,'
he
said
to
Anne.
'It
takes
a
while
for
the
message
to
reach
up
top.’

Anne
hated
the
casualness
of
that
contempt.
She
smiled
at
the
girl,
who
frowned
in
response
and
shut
the
door
behind
her
with
as
much
of
a
bang
as
she
dared.