offensive.’
‘No one will let them in here.’
‘Stable doors, Mr McCaffrey, stable doors. Who will hold them back if not you, or Mr Grant, or others like you?’
‘The SNP are forming a new resolution to clarify the situation ,’ said Jeff.
‘I fear the time for resolutions, however worthy, is past, Mr McCaffrey. It is the time for action.’
‘If you would just let me finish? We are considering a resolution that would allow us to raise a Scots army under the auspices of the United Nations.’
‘And how will your pigeon-post resolution find its way past von Braun’s rockets? Scratch for feed in bombed-out cities? Wake up, Mr McCaffrey.’
Jeff looked like my father’s dog when he had a rat in his jaws. I asked to go to the toilet again because I couldn’t wait any longer. Mr Ford called the officer, who came with me along the corridor and waited outside the door. I was so embarrassed that I almost didn’t need to go any more. After I pulled the chain, I took a moment in front of the mirror to tie back myhair. It was getting very long but Jeff didn’t like me to cut it. I was tired of all the men’s talk and worried that Mr Ford might be right about the Nazis. If Jeff didn’t want to fight, maybe he could go to work on the farm with my brothers, but he seemed set on being like Douglas. For a moment I wished he was Douglas, and not just running after him. I rubbed some carmine on my lips because they looked a bit pale and wondered what it would feel like if Douglas touched them.
The policeman gave me a smile when I came out of the toilet , as if he thought I looked nice, and he whispered, ‘Dinnae fash yersel’, hen, it will all pass,’ but I ignored him and walked straight into the drawing room.
‘I’d like to go out to the garden, Mr Ford,’ I said. ‘My vegetables won’t grow themselves and I need to water them.’
He nodded, and turned a page in his book. ‘Dig for victory, Mrs McCaffrey. That’s the spirit.’ He looked at Jeff, who stared straight ahead. A muscle was twitching in his cheek.
I wondered if I could sneak Jeff’s letters out and dig them into the earth, but the boxes had already been taken away. They were probably in Mr Ford’s car. The officer winked at me as I passed, as if he guessed my plan.
The garden was in shadow, and the birds were picking insects from the earth I’d hoed over, when Jeff came down to the back green. He put his arms round my waist and I leant against him, my hand still on the hoe. ‘You are a child of nature, Agnes,’ he said.
When I turned to face him, he was greetin’. I wiped away his tears, and he said, ‘Pip, Pip,’ and gave a watery smile. We stood there a long time, leaning together. He said Mr Ford was away now and the house would be quiet if I wanted to come up, but I knew the door to his study would be standing open, his papers gone and nothing would ever be the same again.
It was midnight before he came to bed that night. His typewriter rattled and the bell on the carriage rang again and again as it reached the end of the line. I could hear sheet after sheet being torn up. I worried about where he could get morepaper if he ran out. The moon had almost moved out of the top pane of glass in the bedroom when he came through. I hadn’t wanted to look at the blackout blinds, so I had left them up and a cool breeze was coming in at the top of the window. He was wearing the silk pyjamas Prof Schramml had left him when he went abroad, and he wiggled his eyebrows and said, ‘How do I look?’ But I wasn’t in the mood and turned over in bed. He said I wasn’t to be a soor ploom and that everything would be fine, but I didn’t see how it could be. ‘Don’t trouble yourself over it, Agnes. The Party will support me,’ but I told him I was tired of only getting half the story and that most women didn’t spend the evening sweeping up the ash from their husband’s half-burned letters. ‘I don’t want men I don’t know stamping
‘No one will let them in here.’
‘Stable doors, Mr McCaffrey, stable doors. Who will hold them back if not you, or Mr Grant, or others like you?’
‘The SNP are forming a new resolution to clarify the situation ,’ said Jeff.
‘I fear the time for resolutions, however worthy, is past, Mr McCaffrey. It is the time for action.’
‘If you would just let me finish? We are considering a resolution that would allow us to raise a Scots army under the auspices of the United Nations.’
‘And how will your pigeon-post resolution find its way past von Braun’s rockets? Scratch for feed in bombed-out cities? Wake up, Mr McCaffrey.’
Jeff looked like my father’s dog when he had a rat in his jaws. I asked to go to the toilet again because I couldn’t wait any longer. Mr Ford called the officer, who came with me along the corridor and waited outside the door. I was so embarrassed that I almost didn’t need to go any more. After I pulled the chain, I took a moment in front of the mirror to tie back myhair. It was getting very long but Jeff didn’t like me to cut it. I was tired of all the men’s talk and worried that Mr Ford might be right about the Nazis. If Jeff didn’t want to fight, maybe he could go to work on the farm with my brothers, but he seemed set on being like Douglas. For a moment I wished he was Douglas, and not just running after him. I rubbed some carmine on my lips because they looked a bit pale and wondered what it would feel like if Douglas touched them.
The policeman gave me a smile when I came out of the toilet , as if he thought I looked nice, and he whispered, ‘Dinnae fash yersel’, hen, it will all pass,’ but I ignored him and walked straight into the drawing room.
‘I’d like to go out to the garden, Mr Ford,’ I said. ‘My vegetables won’t grow themselves and I need to water them.’
He nodded, and turned a page in his book. ‘Dig for victory, Mrs McCaffrey. That’s the spirit.’ He looked at Jeff, who stared straight ahead. A muscle was twitching in his cheek.
I wondered if I could sneak Jeff’s letters out and dig them into the earth, but the boxes had already been taken away. They were probably in Mr Ford’s car. The officer winked at me as I passed, as if he guessed my plan.
The garden was in shadow, and the birds were picking insects from the earth I’d hoed over, when Jeff came down to the back green. He put his arms round my waist and I leant against him, my hand still on the hoe. ‘You are a child of nature, Agnes,’ he said.
When I turned to face him, he was greetin’. I wiped away his tears, and he said, ‘Pip, Pip,’ and gave a watery smile. We stood there a long time, leaning together. He said Mr Ford was away now and the house would be quiet if I wanted to come up, but I knew the door to his study would be standing open, his papers gone and nothing would ever be the same again.
It was midnight before he came to bed that night. His typewriter rattled and the bell on the carriage rang again and again as it reached the end of the line. I could hear sheet after sheet being torn up. I worried about where he could get morepaper if he ran out. The moon had almost moved out of the top pane of glass in the bedroom when he came through. I hadn’t wanted to look at the blackout blinds, so I had left them up and a cool breeze was coming in at the top of the window. He was wearing the silk pyjamas Prof Schramml had left him when he went abroad, and he wiggled his eyebrows and said, ‘How do I look?’ But I wasn’t in the mood and turned over in bed. He said I wasn’t to be a soor ploom and that everything would be fine, but I didn’t see how it could be. ‘Don’t trouble yourself over it, Agnes. The Party will support me,’ but I told him I was tired of only getting half the story and that most women didn’t spend the evening sweeping up the ash from their husband’s half-burned letters. ‘I don’t want men I don’t know stamping
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