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Authors: Chris Beckett
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face was white.
“The Welfare? You’ve got to be kidding me. I don’t want to be in Welfare!”
“Why not mate? Why on Earth not? The money’s good and you’d be doing important work. Protecting children, protecting innocent little ones. What could be better work than that?”
“But… But look what happened to that Welfare today… I was there… They… We…”
At this Bobby Grab’s face grew dark.
“What are you saying Johnny boy? Are you saying that David Simpson didn’t deserve what he got? I find that hard to believe, I must say, after what happened to that poor little Jenny Sue.”
“No, mate, of course not.”
“Would that little girl have had to suffer if he’d done his job?”
“No, mate.”
“You sure?”
“Of course I’m sure.”
“I should hope you are. Otherwise what were you doing there, as I could see on your card, helping out at Lavender Grove this afternoon? What were you doing there if that was a man who didn’t deserve it?”
“I’m not saying that.”
“Well I’m relieved to hear it, mate.”
“But… I might not be any good at the job. That’s what I mean. I might not know what to do,”
The gangman laughed indulgently.
“You’re forgetting something, mate. You’re forgetting what always happens when a little child dies like Jenny Sue. First the Public Accuser does the Naming and sees that the Price is paid. But what comes next, eh? What comes next?”
“Um… I… er…”
“Then comes the Healer, doesn’t he?” the gangman reminded him, as if he was talking to a child. “The Healer comes in, dressed in white, just as Accuser comes dressed in black. And Healer looks into it all doesn’t he? And he listens to those who know about these things, and he makes new rules to ensure that it will never ever happen again. You must know that, mate! He does it every time!”
Johnny nodded yes, he supposed so. Truth be told, you didn’t pay so much attention to these things after the Naming and the Price were done. And it wasn’t on Screen much either.
“Trust me, my lad, that’s how it works,” said Bobby Grab, indulgently pinching Johnny’s cheek between a fat finger and a fat thumb, as if he was a kind old uncle and Johnny was a little boy.
Bobby turned his neckless head to look at his men.
“I’m right boys, aren’t I?” he asked.
“Spot on, boss, spot on.”
“So what I’m saying,” the gangman went on, “what I’m saying is that by the time you start work as a Welfare Officer, Healer will have come, and he’ll tell you just what to do, and then all you’ll have to do is do what he says and you’ll be fine. Beats working in a blanket factory every time if you ask my opinion. And it’s not as if you’ve got the build for our sort of work.”
He beamed round at the big men around him. All the gangmen laughed.
“Just listen to the Healer, Johnny, and you’ll be fine,” advised Bobby Grab, and he nodded to his men to let Johnny go.
“Take the week off,” he said. “That’s the law. A week on full pay. And then you’ll get a letter telling you what to do. All right? You won’t play silly buggers will you? You know that we’d only come and find you? ’Course you do. And anyway when you think about what I’ve said, you’ll realise that this could be just the chance you need. After all a fair-minded young fellow like you wouldn’t have gone to the lynching if you didn’t know perfectly well that any half-decent human being could do a better job than Officer Simpson. It wouldn’t really have been right.”
He gave Johnny a hearty slap on the back to send him on his way, and then the gang headed off into town looking for more young men and women. And Johnny headed home.
But all the way he kept noticing the Screens with their promises of new Names next week. And he dreamt that night that he was alone at the bottom of a well, like poor little Jenny Sue.
The Caramel Forest
In the caramel forest the leaves, trunks and
“The Welfare? You’ve got to be kidding me. I don’t want to be in Welfare!”
“Why not mate? Why on Earth not? The money’s good and you’d be doing important work. Protecting children, protecting innocent little ones. What could be better work than that?”
“But… But look what happened to that Welfare today… I was there… They… We…”
At this Bobby Grab’s face grew dark.
“What are you saying Johnny boy? Are you saying that David Simpson didn’t deserve what he got? I find that hard to believe, I must say, after what happened to that poor little Jenny Sue.”
“No, mate, of course not.”
“Would that little girl have had to suffer if he’d done his job?”
“No, mate.”
“You sure?”
“Of course I’m sure.”
“I should hope you are. Otherwise what were you doing there, as I could see on your card, helping out at Lavender Grove this afternoon? What were you doing there if that was a man who didn’t deserve it?”
“I’m not saying that.”
“Well I’m relieved to hear it, mate.”
“But… I might not be any good at the job. That’s what I mean. I might not know what to do,”
The gangman laughed indulgently.
“You’re forgetting something, mate. You’re forgetting what always happens when a little child dies like Jenny Sue. First the Public Accuser does the Naming and sees that the Price is paid. But what comes next, eh? What comes next?”
“Um… I… er…”
“Then comes the Healer, doesn’t he?” the gangman reminded him, as if he was talking to a child. “The Healer comes in, dressed in white, just as Accuser comes dressed in black. And Healer looks into it all doesn’t he? And he listens to those who know about these things, and he makes new rules to ensure that it will never ever happen again. You must know that, mate! He does it every time!”
Johnny nodded yes, he supposed so. Truth be told, you didn’t pay so much attention to these things after the Naming and the Price were done. And it wasn’t on Screen much either.
“Trust me, my lad, that’s how it works,” said Bobby Grab, indulgently pinching Johnny’s cheek between a fat finger and a fat thumb, as if he was a kind old uncle and Johnny was a little boy.
Bobby turned his neckless head to look at his men.
“I’m right boys, aren’t I?” he asked.
“Spot on, boss, spot on.”
“So what I’m saying,” the gangman went on, “what I’m saying is that by the time you start work as a Welfare Officer, Healer will have come, and he’ll tell you just what to do, and then all you’ll have to do is do what he says and you’ll be fine. Beats working in a blanket factory every time if you ask my opinion. And it’s not as if you’ve got the build for our sort of work.”
He beamed round at the big men around him. All the gangmen laughed.
“Just listen to the Healer, Johnny, and you’ll be fine,” advised Bobby Grab, and he nodded to his men to let Johnny go.
“Take the week off,” he said. “That’s the law. A week on full pay. And then you’ll get a letter telling you what to do. All right? You won’t play silly buggers will you? You know that we’d only come and find you? ’Course you do. And anyway when you think about what I’ve said, you’ll realise that this could be just the chance you need. After all a fair-minded young fellow like you wouldn’t have gone to the lynching if you didn’t know perfectly well that any half-decent human being could do a better job than Officer Simpson. It wouldn’t really have been right.”
He gave Johnny a hearty slap on the back to send him on his way, and then the gang headed off into town looking for more young men and women. And Johnny headed home.
But all the way he kept noticing the Screens with their promises of new Names next week. And he dreamt that night that he was alone at the bottom of a well, like poor little Jenny Sue.
The Caramel Forest
In the caramel forest the leaves, trunks and
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