Chapter 9

Sunday March 13th

Angie came over to see Jill this afternoon. She didn’t seem interested in seeing me, which I thought was a bit tough after the way she had been up in London. I did try to talk to her though while Jill was out of the room at one point.

“Did you hear, I got fired?”

“Yeah, Jill just mentioned it but I’d already heard you really fucked up at the Department.”

“I wondered if there was anything you could do?”

“What to get your job back?” She shook her head. “Life’s complicated enough in Whitehall without me going out on a limb for something like that. Not a chance, I’m afraid. You must have known that?”

“Well yes, but I though I’d ask in case maybe you heard of something.”

“You’d be better off trying to find something near here. Maybe you should have a word with Sally?”

Which wasn’t what I wanted to hear at all.

The two of them went out not long after that. I had a bit of time to myself and put the TV on. If I’d been hoping for some respite from my problems there wasn’t any. The news had live coverage of a demonstration up in London. There was a rally in Trafalgar Square protesting about the planned changes in make voting. It didn’t look like there were as many there as I had seen on other demos.

The commentary said something about Male Control Force officers moving in after a bunch of demonstrators had started throwing bottles. I didn’t see any bottle throwing but the site of the MCF phalanx advancing with shields locked would have been enough to put anyone off the idea of turning up to future demonstrations, I would think.

Then the commentator said, “Government investigators are confident of uncovering the source of these recent leaks via the Safewords organisation,” (which I bloody well hope they aren’t) and “A group of hard line New Order MP’s are calling on Florence Daniels the Home Secretary to proscribe Safewords as a group responsible for disruption to public order.”

I don’t know whether to be worried about the attention that this is getting or pleased that the Government isn’t getting as easy a ride as it otherwise might.

Monday March 14th

I thought I would pop in to the library. Apart from any thing else it would give me a chance to look for jobs and I thought it might help if they got used to seeing me in there every so often. Jill wasn’t bothered when I said I was going except to say, “Don’t get used to having free time. You need to focus on bringing some cash in.”

The librarian that was there last week wasn’t around. Instead there was quite a young girl looking after the place. She gave me a smile as I came in. I’m not used to that sort of thing these days.

I settled down in one corner of the library and picked a few books off the shelves. The place was empty apart from me. The girl behind the counter obviously didn’t have enough to do. After about ten minutes she came over and sat on the desk beside me. “Hi,” she said, “I’m Jess.”

“Err, David,” I responded, not sure how to react. Quite apart from the unusual friendliness, I’m not used to having a nineteen or so year old girl wander up to me and start a conversation. Still less when she ‘s wearing a skirt quite as short as the one of Jess’s brown check pinafore dress. “You’re new here, aren’t you?”

“Yes. My first job out of library school. I guess this is as good as anywhere to learn how it all works. And it seems like a nice village.”

I found her easy to talk to. “Yes. It’s got an interesting history too. That’s what I’m working on...” (I’d thought about that as being something I could legitimately claim to need to spend time in the library for.)

“Yeah, it’s really quiet though. What does anyone do for fun around here?”

“Well there’s always the pub...”

She wrinkled her nose. “I’m not sure that’s really my sort of place.”

I shrugged. “I’m not sure there’s much else.”

She was about to reply when an old lady came in looking for help. I took the opportunity to get back to my studies. I didn’t want to attract more attention than I absolutely had to. I didn’t find anything that would help with the job applications though.

Friday 18th March

I got six replies back to the job applications I sent in last week. All of them said “Thanks but no thanks.” One of them added, “In the light of the remarks of your previous employer, we do not believe it would be worth your while applying for future posts here.” That pissed me off. What had Lucy said, I wondered, and how was I supposed to get another job if she was giving me a reference that said I was unemployable?

I went back into the library, half hoping to see Jess in order to cheer myself up. She was there again and gave me another friendly smile. Today’s outfit was very un-librarian like, a short black dress with a low neck line and long rather puffy sleeves. I must have been giving her a look that wouldn’t fit in with the New Order respect agenda because she gave a giggle and said, “Do you like it? I’m going to a party this evening and I won’t have time to change.”

I said it was lovely and hoped she had a great time. She asked why I didn’t go along too And it was only after I said, “Well, there’s the curfew...” that she said, “Oops! I’d forgotten about that. Shame. It might have been fun.”

Then I said, “You shouldn’t really wear that at work. Aren’t you worried about it getting dusty from all these books?” This turned out to be really stupid.

“I could take it off,” she grinned reaching round the back to where the dress was zipped up.

“No, no, I didn’t mean that.”

“Oh, sorry,” she said, “Have you got one of those thingies on? That would be a shame. You’re about the only man under eighty that’s come in here.” She reached forward to my crotch. I practically leapt back as she grabbed me.

“No, its not that. I mean what are you thinking? Anyone could come in...”

“I can lock the door. It’s always quiet at this time.”

“Look, I really can’t.” Suddenly I thought of a good get out. “I mean, not without checking with my sponsor...”

“You’re a spoilsport David,” she said with a pout. “Have a word with your sponsor so maybe we can play next time you’re down here.”

She let me carry on with my studies after that but the wave and the wink that she gave me when I finally went left me in no doubt that I wasn’t going to escape her attentions for long.

When I got back home Jill was in the living room with her mother. I didn’t think it was the ideal time to raise the question of whether I was allowed to start boffing Jess. Jill was standing there in a pair of old jeans and a baggy sweater. Sally was the complete opposite in a tailored suit, silk blouse and sheer hose. In spite of their very different looks, the two of them had a very similar tone when it came to me.

“I suppose you haven’t found anything in the way of work?”

“Have you any ideas on how you are going to start contributing to the household again?”

“Can we assume that you haven’t? Well, we have.”

I suppose this was what I had been worrying about but I didn’t – as they guessed – have any way to head it off.

“I need someone to help out around the house,” Sally went on. “Just basic domestic stuff. I’ve tried getting my husband to do it but frankly its more trouble than its worth and it would take me longer to punish his incompetence than it would to do the work myself. Jill tells me you keep the place reasonably tidy here so you can come over and do a couple of hours for me each day. I’ll pay the basic male wage, of course but it will go straight to Jill of course as your contribution. Agreed? Good! Start on Monday.”

With that she got to her feet, kissed her daughter and left.

“There,” Jill said, “I told you we’d sort something out. You can spend the weekend getting this place clean though.”

Monday March 21st

So, today I started off working for Jill’s mother over at her house. Firstly, it’s enormous. There must be eight bedrooms, there’s a pool and a gym, a big living room that opens out onto the garden, a kitchen that’s almost the size of my flat and lots of other utility and service rooms. It was as much as I could do to remember where all the things were as she showed me around.

“There’s a schedule for all this,” Sally said. “In a folder, top shelf of the cupboard in the utility room. Don’t play around with it. I like things done in the order that’s set out. Plus there’s two others working here, so if you start getting creative no one will know what is going on. Finish a job, tick it off on the schedule. Understand?”

I nodded.

Sally smiled. “Good.” And then after a pause. “Well, you’d better get started. If you think I’m going to stride up and down with a riding crop supervising, I’m afraid you’re going to be disappointed. I’ve got better things to do.” And with that she left me.

The schedule said that the kitchen needed to be cleaned and tidied that morning so I got on with it. It was all pretty boring. About all that could be said for it was that the house was a pleasant place to be and the work meant Jill had stopped complaining.

Sally came back to check on how I was doing. I guess she was happy enough as she didn’t tell me to do anything again, so that was a plus. She looked at her watch. “I’ve got some friends turning up in ten minutes. Can you fix a tray with some tea and coffee and bring it through to the lounge. There will be five of us all together.

One good thing about Sally is that she might be bossy but she’s well organised, so as long as I keep my wits about me I think I’ll be OK.

Anyway I fixed the tea things and a jug of coffee found a some biscuits and spread them out on a plate and then discovered a trolley that I could put it all on to wheel it into the lounge. I’d heard the doorbell go and the sound of chatter and I suppose I had assumed it was some friends of Sally from the golf club. Well, when I got in with the trolley I recognised two of them. Sat in a large armchair and looking about as well upholstered as the chair itself was Claire Dobell-Bull. I’d seen her on TV. She’d been one of the founders of New Order and had a reputation as a hard-liner when it came to positive discrimination in favour of women. I think someone said she had coined the term “Shit Male Dominated Decision Making” when the party had first discussed what was wrong with the government of the day. Dobell-Bull was sat back looking as though she’d be quite happy to stay there the rest of the day. She was wearing tweedy clothes, looking like a rather bulkier version of your typical country horse woman, and sucking on an unlit cigar – I guess an attempt to cut down. The other person I recognised was Nina Henning – Angie’s boss. The other three had the look of successful, professional women. One of them was talking while I was in there, saying something about how the detention service was benefiting from private expertise and how she hoped that her firm would be able to support future developments in government policy.

Of course they didn’t want me hanging around, so as soon as I had set things on the table Sally said, “Thank you, David.” I took that as a polite way of saying “fuck off” and turned to go.

As I left the room-I heard someone say, “New house boy?” and someone else say “New house toy, more like”

One thing I’ve noticed about the whole “Respect Agenda” thing is, it only goes one way.

Thursday March 24th

It’s been a busy week but at least I seem to have been able to keep Sally happy and that has kept Jill happy too.

The trouble is that I’m not sure how long I can put up with all this though. The more it goes on the more I think about just getting out and trying to get somewhere out of the whole New Order sphere of influence. Trouble is I’m not sure where. Anywhere on the European mainland would do it but France is probably the best bet. The last conversation I had with Harry didn’t help.

Monday March 28h

Sally had me run an errand into Stanbury today and I put my head around the door of the cafe on the off-chance of meeting Harry. He wasn’t there but the guy behind the counter said he would tell Harry that I was around. We bumped into each other at the bus station. I told him about my working for Sally Guest and the meeting Dobell-Bull and Henning were at. He seemed to think that might be interesting for Cara. “She’s always looking for any inside stuff on the political process,” he said.