Part Four Chapter VIII

VIIIAt fractional-past six that flushing, Howard and Shirley Mollison entered Pagford Church H comp allowely. Shirley was carrying an armful of papers and Howard was wearing the range of a function of office decorated with the blue and white Pagford crest.The floorboards creaked beneath Howards massive weight as he go to the head of the scratched instrument panels that had already been set end to end. Howard was almost as fond of this hall as he was of his own shop. The Brownies used it on Tuesdays, and the Womens Institute on Wednesdays. It had hosted jumble sales and Jubilee celebrations, wedding receptions and wakes, and it smelt of all of these things of stale clothes and coffee urns, and the ghosts of home-baked cakes and meat salads of dust and human bodies but primarily of hoary wood and st one(a). Beaten-brass lights hung from the rafters on thick black flexes, and the kitchen was reached through ornate mahog whatever doors.Shirley bustled from place to place, setting expose papers. She adored council meetings. Quite apart from the pride and enjoyment she derived from listening to Howard chair them, Maureen was necessarily absent with no official role, she had to be content with the pickings Shirley deigned to sh be.Howards fellow councillors arrived singly and in couplets. He boomed out greetings, his persona echoing from the rafters. The full complement of sixteen councillors rarely attended he was expecting twelve of them today.The table was half full when Aubrey Fawley arrived, walking, as he al ways did, as if into a high wind, with an air of reluctant forcefulness, some stooped, his head bowed.Aubrey called Howard joyfully, and for the first time he moved forward to greet the spick-and-span passr. How are you? Hows Julia? Did you make grow my invitation?Sorry, I dont To my sixty-fifth? Here Saturday day after the election.Oh, yes, yes. Howard, t presents a young woman outside she feel outs shes from the Yarvil and regularise Gaz ette. Alison something?Oh, verbalize Howard. Strange. Ive just sent her my article, you have a go at it, the one answering Fairbrothers Maybe its something to do Ill go and see.He waddled outdoor(a), full of shadowy misgivings. Parminder Jawanda entered as he approached the door scowling as usual, she walked straight past without greeting him, and for once Howard did non ask hows Parminder?.Out on the pavement he found a young blonde woman, buddy-buddy and square, with an aura of impermeable cheerfulness that Howard recognized immediately as determination of his own brand. She was holding a nonebook and livelinessing up at the Sweetlove initials carved over the double doors.Hello, hello, express Howard, his breathing a little laboured. Alison, is it? Howard Mollison. Have you come all this way to tell me I cant write for toffee?She beamed, and shake the hand he proffered.Oh, no, we like the article, she assured him. I thought, as things are getting so interesting, Id come and sit in on the meeting. You dont mind? Press are allowed, I infer. Ive looked up all the regulations.She was wretched towards the door as she spoke.Yes, yes, press are allowed, utter Howard, following her and pausing courteously at the entrance to let her through first. Unless we assimilate to deal with anything in camera, that is.She glanced back at him, and he could make out her teeth, even in the fading light.Like all those anonymous accusations on your message board? From the Ghost of Barry Fairbrother?Oh dear, wheezed Howard, make a face back at her. Theyre not news, surely? A couple of silly comments on the internet?Has it unaccompanied been a couple? Somebody told me the bulk of them had been taken off the site.No, no, somebodys got that wrong, say Howard. There have just been twain or three, to my knowledge. Nasty nonsense. Personally, he tell, improvising on the spot, I think its some pip-squeak.A kid?You know. Teenager having fun.Would teenagers target Pari sh councillors? she asked, still smiling. I heard, actually, that one of the victims has lost his job. Possibly as a resultant of the allegations made against him on your site.News to me, say Howard untruthfully. Shirley had seen Ruth at the hospital the previous day and describe back to him.I see on the agenda, go for tongue to Alison, as the pair of them entered the brightly lit hall, that youll be discussing Bellchapel. You and Mr Fairbrother made good points on both sides of the argument in your articles we had quite a few earn to the paper after we printed Mr Fairbrothers piece. My editor liked that. Anything that makes people write letters Yes, I saw those, utter Howard. Nobody seemed to have much good to say most the clinic, did they?The councillors at the table were watching the pair of them. Alison Jenkins returned their gaze, still smiling imperturbably.Let me get you a chair, said Howard, puffing moderately as he lifted one down from a nearby stack and settling Alison some twelve feet from the table. bear thanks you. She pulled it six feet forward.Ladies and gentlemen, called Howard, weve got a press gallery here tonight. Miss Alison Jenkins of the Yarvil and dominion Gazette.A few of them seemed fire and gratified by Alisons appearance, but most looked suspicious. Howard stumped back to the head of the table, where Aubrey and Shirley were questioning him with their eyes.Barry Fairbrothers Ghost, he told them in an undertone, as he lowered himself gingerly into the plastic chair (one of them had collapsed under him two meetings ago). And Bellchapel. And theres Tony he yelled, making Aubrey jump. aim on in, Tony well give Henry and Sheila another couple of minutes, shall we?The murmur of blether around the table was slightly more subdued than usual. Alison Jenkins was already writing in her notebook. Howard thought angrily, This is all short lettery Fairbrothers fault. He was the one who had invited the press in. For a split second, Howard thought of Barry and the Ghost as one and the same, a troublemaker resilient and dead.Like Shirley, Parminder had brought a stack of papers with her to the meeting, and these were piled up underneath the agenda she was pretending to read so that she did not have to speak to anybody. In reality, she was thinking about the woman sitting almost straightway behind her. The Yarvil and District Gazette had written about Catherine Weedons collapse, and the familys complaints against their GP. Parminder had not been named, but doubtless the journalist knew who she was. by chance Alison had got wind of the anonymous post about Parminder on the Parish Council website too.Calm down. Youre getting like Colin.Howard was already victorious apologies and asking for revisions to the last set of minutes, but Parminder could barely hear over the sound of her own blood thudding in her ears.Now, unless anybodys got any objections, said Howard, were going to deal with items eight and nine fi rst, because District councillor Fawleys got news on both, and he cant expect ample Got until eight thirty, said Aubrey, checking his watch. yes, so unless there are objections no? floors yours, Aubrey.Aubrey stated the incline simply and without emotion. There was a new boundary review plan of attack and, for the first time, there was an appetite beyond Pagford to reassign the Fields to Yarvil. Absorbing Pagfords relatively small apostrophize seemed worthwhile to those who hoped to add anti-government votes to Yarvils tally, where they might make a difference, as opposed to being wasted in Pagford, which had been a safe Conservative seat since the 1950s. The whole thing could be done under the stalking-horse of simplifying and streamlining Yarvil provided almost all services for the place as it was.Aubrey concluded by saying that it would be helpful, should Pagford call to cut the estate away, for the town to express its wishes for the gain ground of the District Counci l. a good, clear message from you, he said, and I really think that this time Its never worked before, said a farmer, to muttered agreement.Well, now, John, weve never been invited to state our position before, said Howard.Shouldnt we decide what our position is, before we declare it publicly? asked Parminder, in an icy region.All right, said Howard blandly. Would you like to kick off, Dr Jawanda?I dont know how many people saw Barrys article in the Gazette, said Parminder. Ein truth face was turned towards her, and she tried not to think about the anonymous post or the journalist sitting behind her. I thought it made the arguments for keeping the Fields part of Pagford genuinely well.Parminder saw Shirley, who was writing busily, give her pen a tiny smile.By telling us the likes of Krystal Weedon benefit? said an elderly woman called Betty, from the end of the table. Parminder had always detested her.By reminding us that people lively in the Fields are part of our community too , she answered.They think of themselves as from Yarvil, said the farmer. Always have.I remember, said Betty, when Krystal Weedon pushed another child into the river on a nature walk.No, she didnt, said Parminder angrily, my daughter was there that was two boys who were fighting anyway I heard it was Krystal Weedon, said Betty.You heard wrong, said Parminder, except that she did not say it, she shouted it.They were shocked. She had shocked herself. The echo hummed off the old walls. Parminder could barely swallow she kept her head down, complete(a) at the agenda, and heard Johns voice from a long way off.Barry wouldve done better to talk about himself, not that girl. He got a lot out of St Thomass.Trouble is, for every Barry, said another woman, you get a load of yobs.Theyre Yarvil people, bottom line, said a man, they belong to Yarvil.Thats not true, said Parminder, keeping her voice deliberately low, but they all fell silent to listen to her, waiting for her to shout again. It s simply not true. Look at the Weedons. That was the whole point of Barrys article. They were a Pagford family going back years, but They moved to Yarvil said Betty.There was no housing here, said Parminder, fighting her own temper, none of you wanted a new development on the outskirts of town.You werent here, Im sorry, said Betty, pink in the face, looking ostentatiously away from Parminder. You dont know the history. burble had become general the meeting had broken into several little knots of conversation, and Parminder could not make out any of it. Her throat was tight and she did not dare meet anyones eyes.Shall we have a show of hands? Howard shouted down the table, and silence fell again. Those in favour of telling the District Council that Pagford will be blessed for the parish boundary to be redrawn, to take the Fields out of our jurisdiction?Parminders fists were clenched in her lap and the nails of both her hands were embedded in their palms. There was a rustle of sleev es all around her.Excellent said Howard, and the jubilation in his voice rang triumphantly from the rafters. Well, Ill draft something with Tony and Helen and well send it round for everyone to see, and well get it off. ExcellentA couple of councillors clapped. Parminders vision blurred and she blinked hard. The agenda swam in and out of focus. The silence went on so long that finally she looked up Howard, in his excitement, had had recourse to his inhaler, and most of the councillors were watching solicitously.All right, then, wheezed Howard, putting the inhaler away again, red in the face and beaming, unless anyones got anything else to add - an infinitesimal pause - item nine. Bellchapel. And Aubreys got something to tell us here too.Barry wouldnt have let it happen. Hed have argued. Hed have made John laugh and vote with us. He ought to have written about himself, not Krystal Ive let him down.Thank you, Howard, said Aubrey, as the blood pounded in Parminders ears, and she turn over her nails still more deeply into her palms. As you know, were having to make some pretty drastic cuts at District level She was in love with me, which she could barely hide whenever she laid eyes on me and one of the projects weve got to look at is Bellchapel, said Aubrey. I thought Id have a word, because, as you all know, its the Parish that owns the building and the aim is almost up, said Howard. Thats right.But nobody else is interested in that old place, are they? asked a retired restrainer from the end of the table. Its in a bad state, from what Ive heard.Oh, Im sure we could find a new tenant, said Howard comfortably, but thats not really the issue. The point is whether we think the clinic is doing a good Thats not the point at all, said Parminder, cutting across him. It isnt the Parish Councils job to decide whether or not the clinics doing a good job. We dont fund their work. Theyre not our responsibility.But we own the building, said Howard, still smiling, sti ll polite, so I think its natural for us to want to consider If were going to look at information on the clinics work, I think its very important that we get a balanced picture, said Parminder.Im terribly sorry, said Shirley, blinking down the table at Parminder, but could you try not to interrupt the Chair, Dr Jawanda? Its awfully difficult to take notes if people talk over other people. And now Ive interrupted, she added with a smile. SorryI presume the Parish wants to keep getting tax revenue from the building, said Parminder, ignoring Shirley. And we have no other potential tenant lined up, as far as I know. So Im wondering why we are even considering terminating the clinics lease.They dont cure them, said Betty. They just give them more drugs. Id be very happy to see them out.Were having to make some very difficult decisions at District Council level, said Aubrey Fawley. The governments looking for more than a billion in savings from local government. We cannot preserve to p rovide services the way we have done. Thats the reality.Parminder hated the way that her fellow councillors acted around Aubrey, drinking in his deep modulated voice, nodding gently as he talked. She was well aware that some of them called her Bends-Your-Ear. investigate indicates that illegal drug use increases during recessions, said Parminder.Its their choice, said Betty. Nobody makes them take drugs.She looked around the table for support. Shirley smiled at her.Were having to make some tough choices, said Aubrey.So youve got together with Howard, Parminder talked over him, and decided that you can give the clinic a little push by forcing them out of the building.I can think of better ways to spend money than on a bunch of criminals, said the accountant.Id cut off all their benefits, personally, said Betty.I was invited to this meeting to put you all in the picture about whats happening at District level, said Aubrey calmly. Nothing more than that, Dr Jawanda.Helen, said Howard l oudly, pointing to another councillor, whose hand was raised, and who had been trying to make her views heard for a minute.Parminder heard nothing of what the woman said. She had quite forgotten about the stack of papers lying underneath her agenda, on which Kay Bawden had spent so much time the statistics, the profiles of successful cases, the explanation of the benefits of methadone as against diacetylmorphine studies showing the cost, financial and social, of heroin addiction. Everything around her had become slightly liquid, unreal she knew that she was going to erupt as she had never erupted in her life, and there was no room to regret it, or to prevent it, or do anything except watch it happen it was too late, far too late culture of entitlement, said Aubrey Fawley. race who have literally not worked a day in their lives.And, lets face it, said Howard, this is a difficulty with a simple solution. Stop taking the drugs.He turned, smiling and conciliating, to Parminder. They call it cold turkey, isnt that right, Dr Jawanda?Oh, you think that they should take responsibility for their addiction and change their behaviour? said Parminder.In a nutshell, yes.Before they cost the state any more money.Exact And you, said Parminder loudly, as the silent eruption engulfed her, do you know how many tens of thousands of pounds you, Howard Mollison, have cost the health service, because of your total inability to stop gorging yourself?A rich, red red Bordeaux stain was spreading up Howards neck into his cheeks.Do you know how much your bypass cost, and your drugs, and your long stay in hospital? And the doctors appointments you take up with your asthma and your blood pressure and the nasty skin rash, which are all caused by your refusal to lose weight?As Parminders voice became a scream, other councillors began to protest on Howards behalf Shirley was on her feet Parminder was still shouting, clawing together the papers that had somehow been scattered as she gesti culated.What about patient confidentiality? shouted Shirley. Outrageous Absolutely outrageousParminder was at the door of the hall and striding through it, and she heard, over her own gaga sobs, Betty calling for her immediate expulsion from the council she was half running away from the hall, and she knew that she had done something cataclysmic, and she wanted nothing more than to be swallowed up by the darkness and to disappear for ever.