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Authors: Phil Rickman
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you want to know what he’s doing or not?’
‘All right.’
‘You ready for this? He’s training to be a shrink.’
‘What? But he was—’
‘Well, not a shrink exactly. He hates psychiatrists because they just give you drugs to keep you quiet. More a kind of psychotherapist. He was consulting one in Hereford, and the guy realized that, after years in and out of mental hospitals, Lol knew more -ologies and -isms than he himself did, so now he’s employing him a couple of days a week for sort of on-the-job training, and Lol’s doing these night classes. Isn’t that so cool?’
‘It…’ Merrily thought about this. ‘I suppose it is, really. Lol would be pretty good. He doesn’t judge people. Yeah, that’s cool.’
‘Also, he’s playing again. He’s made some tapes, although he won’t let anybody hear them.’
‘Even you?’
‘I’m working on it. I may go back there – I like that shop. Lots of stuff by indy folk bands. And I’m really glad I saw him. I didn’t want to lose touch just because he moved out of Ledwardine.’
Merrily said cautiously, ‘Lol needed time to get himself together.’
‘Oh,’ Jane said airily, ‘I think he needed more than that, don’t you?’
‘Don’t start.’
‘Like maybe somebody who wasn’t terrified of getting into a relationship because of what the parish might think.’
‘Stop there,’ Merrily said lightly, ‘all right?’
‘Fine.’ Jane prodded the music up to disco level and turned to look out of the side window at the last of the grim amber sinking on to the shelf of the Black Mountains. A desultory rain filmed the windscreen.
‘Still,’ Merrily thought she heard the kid mumble, ‘it’s probably considered socially OK to fuck a bishop.’
That night, praying under her bedroom window in the vicarage, Merrily realized the Deliverance issue wasn’t really a problem she needed to hang on God at this stage. Her usual advice to parishioners facing a decision was to gather all the information they could get from available sources on both sides of the argument, and only then apply for a solution.
Fair enough. She would seek independent advice within the Church.
She went to sit on the edge of the bed, looking out at the lights of Ledwardine speckling the trees. They made her think of what Huw Owen had said about the targeting of women priests.
Little rat-eyes in the dark .
She hadn’t even raised that point with Mick Hunter. He would have taken it seriously, but not in the way it was meant by Huw.
Merrily shivered lightly and slid into bed, cuddling the hot water bottle, aware of Ethel the black cat curling on the duvet against her ankles, remembering the night Ethel had first appeared at the vicarage in the arms of Lol Robinson after she’d received a kicking from a drunk. She hoped Lol Robinson would be happy with his girlfriend. Lol and Merrily – that would never have worked.
Later, on the edge of sleep, she heard Huw Owen’s flat, nasal voice as if it were actually in the room.
Little rat-eyes in the dark .
And jerked awake.
OK. She’d absorbed Huw’s warning, listened to the Bishop’s plans.
It was clear that what she had to do now, not least for the sake of her conscience, was go back to Hereford and talk to Canon Dobbs.
The Last Exorcist.
Merrily lay down again and slept.
6
Sweat and Mothballs
‘O H YES ,’ M OON said, ‘he was outside the window, peering in – his face right up to the glass. His eyes were full of this awful, blank confusion. I don’t think he knew who I was. That was the worst thing: he didn’t know me.’
‘He was in the… garden?’ How do I handle this? Lol thought. She’s getting worse .
‘I ran out,’ Moon said. ‘Then I saw him again at the bottom of the steps leading up to the camp. And then he wasn’t there any more.’
She was sitting on a cardboard box full of books. There were about two dozen boxes dumped all over the living area. Lol hadn’t been into the kitchen
‘All right.’
‘You ready for this? He’s training to be a shrink.’
‘What? But he was—’
‘Well, not a shrink exactly. He hates psychiatrists because they just give you drugs to keep you quiet. More a kind of psychotherapist. He was consulting one in Hereford, and the guy realized that, after years in and out of mental hospitals, Lol knew more -ologies and -isms than he himself did, so now he’s employing him a couple of days a week for sort of on-the-job training, and Lol’s doing these night classes. Isn’t that so cool?’
‘It…’ Merrily thought about this. ‘I suppose it is, really. Lol would be pretty good. He doesn’t judge people. Yeah, that’s cool.’
‘Also, he’s playing again. He’s made some tapes, although he won’t let anybody hear them.’
‘Even you?’
‘I’m working on it. I may go back there – I like that shop. Lots of stuff by indy folk bands. And I’m really glad I saw him. I didn’t want to lose touch just because he moved out of Ledwardine.’
Merrily said cautiously, ‘Lol needed time to get himself together.’
‘Oh,’ Jane said airily, ‘I think he needed more than that, don’t you?’
‘Don’t start.’
‘Like maybe somebody who wasn’t terrified of getting into a relationship because of what the parish might think.’
‘Stop there,’ Merrily said lightly, ‘all right?’
‘Fine.’ Jane prodded the music up to disco level and turned to look out of the side window at the last of the grim amber sinking on to the shelf of the Black Mountains. A desultory rain filmed the windscreen.
‘Still,’ Merrily thought she heard the kid mumble, ‘it’s probably considered socially OK to fuck a bishop.’
That night, praying under her bedroom window in the vicarage, Merrily realized the Deliverance issue wasn’t really a problem she needed to hang on God at this stage. Her usual advice to parishioners facing a decision was to gather all the information they could get from available sources on both sides of the argument, and only then apply for a solution.
Fair enough. She would seek independent advice within the Church.
She went to sit on the edge of the bed, looking out at the lights of Ledwardine speckling the trees. They made her think of what Huw Owen had said about the targeting of women priests.
Little rat-eyes in the dark .
She hadn’t even raised that point with Mick Hunter. He would have taken it seriously, but not in the way it was meant by Huw.
Merrily shivered lightly and slid into bed, cuddling the hot water bottle, aware of Ethel the black cat curling on the duvet against her ankles, remembering the night Ethel had first appeared at the vicarage in the arms of Lol Robinson after she’d received a kicking from a drunk. She hoped Lol Robinson would be happy with his girlfriend. Lol and Merrily – that would never have worked.
Later, on the edge of sleep, she heard Huw Owen’s flat, nasal voice as if it were actually in the room.
Little rat-eyes in the dark .
And jerked awake.
OK. She’d absorbed Huw’s warning, listened to the Bishop’s plans.
It was clear that what she had to do now, not least for the sake of her conscience, was go back to Hereford and talk to Canon Dobbs.
The Last Exorcist.
Merrily lay down again and slept.
6
Sweat and Mothballs
‘O H YES ,’ M OON said, ‘he was outside the window, peering in – his face right up to the glass. His eyes were full of this awful, blank confusion. I don’t think he knew who I was. That was the worst thing: he didn’t know me.’
‘He was in the… garden?’ How do I handle this? Lol thought. She’s getting worse .
‘I ran out,’ Moon said. ‘Then I saw him again at the bottom of the steps leading up to the camp. And then he wasn’t there any more.’
She was sitting on a cardboard box full of books. There were about two dozen boxes dumped all over the living area. Lol hadn’t been into the kitchen
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