Part Four Chapter X

XAt nine oclock on the morning of the choice for Barrys seat, Parminder left the Old Vicarage and walked up Church Row to the W t go forth ensembles class. She rapped on the door and waited until, at last, Colin appeared.There were shadows around his bloodshot eyes and on a lower floor his cheekb angiotensin-converting enzymes his skin seemed to have thinned and his clothes gr let too big. He had non yet re saturnine to work. The news that Parminder had screamed confidential medical information close Howard in public had set back his tentative reco very(prenominal) the more(prenominal) robust Colin of a few nights ago, who had sit on the leather footstool and pretended to be confident of victory, might never have been.Is everything all right? he asked, closing the door behind her, practice of medicineal noneing wary.Yes, fine, she said. I thought you might want to walk kill the church building lobby with me, to ballot.I no, he said weakly. Im sorry.I know how you feel, Colin, said Parminder, in a small tight voice. still if you dont vote, it means theyve won. Im not hand proscribed to let them win. Im press release to go down thither and vote for you, and I want you to come with me.Parminder was effectively suspended from work. The Molli countersigns had complained to every professional eubstance for which they could find an address, and Dr Crawford had advised Parminder to take time off. To her great surprise, she matte peculiarly liberated.But Colin was shaking his head. She thought she saw tears in his eyes.I cant, Minda.You can she said. You can, Colin Youve got to stand up to them Think of BarryI cant Im sorry I He made a choking noise and burst into tears. Colin had cried in her surgery onward now sobbed in desperation at the upliftt and soul of fear he carried with him every day of his life.Come on, she said, unembarrassed, and she took his arm and steered him through to the kitchen, where she handed him kitchen roll and let him sob himself into hiccups again. Wheres Tessa?At work, he gasped, draw his eyes.There was an invitation to Howard Mollisons sixty-fifth birthday party lying on the kitchen get across somebody had torn it neatly in two.I got one of those, as well, said Parminder. Before I sh let oned at him. Listen, Colin. Voting I cant, whispered Colin. shows them they havent beaten us.But they have, said Colin.Parminder burst emerge laughing. afterward contemplating her with his mouth open for a moment, Colin started to laugh too a big, roaring guffaw, like the bark of a mastiff. all t older right, theyve run us out of our jobs, said Parminder, and neither of us wants to leave the house except, other than that, I come back were in very exhaustively shape indeed.Colin took off his supply and dabbed his wet eyes, grinning.Come on, Colin. I want to vote for you. It isnt over yet. afterwards I blew my top, and told Howard Mollison he was no better than a junkie in front of the whole counci l and the local anesthetic press He burst out laughing again and she was delighted she had not hear him laugh so much since New Year, and then it had been Barry making him do it. they forgot to vote on forcing the addiction clinic out of Bellchapel. So, please. Get your coat. Well walk down there together.Colins snorts and giggles died away. He stared down at the big hands fumbled over each other, as if he were washing them clean.Colin, its not over. Youve made a difference. People dont like the Mollisons. If you get in, wed be in a much stronger position to fight. Please, Colin.All right, he said, after a few moments, awed by his own daring.It was a short walk, in the fresh clean air, each of them clutching their voter registration cards. The church star sign was empty of voters apart from themselves. Each roll a thick pencil cross beside Colins name and left with the sense experience that they had got away with something.Miles Mollison did not vote until midday. He paused at his partners door on the way out.Im off to vote, Gav, he said.Gavin indicated the telephone pressed against his ear he was on hold with Marys damages company.Oh right Im off to vote, Shona, said Miles, go forward to their secretary.There was no harm in reminding them both that he was in take on of their support. Miles jogged downstairs and proceeded to the Copper Kettle, where, during a brief post-coital chat, he had ordered to meet his wife so that they could go down to the church hall together.Samantha had spent the morning at home, leaving her assistant in depend on at the shop. She knew that she could no longer put off telling Carly that they were out of business, and that Carly was out of a job, that she could not bring herself to do it before the weekend and the c erstwhilert in London. When Miles appeared, and she saw his excited little grin, she go through a rush of fury.Dad not coming? were his first words.Theyre going down after closing time, said Samantha.There were two old ladies in the voting booths when she and Miles got there. Samantha waited, looking at the backs of their iron-grey perms, their thick coats and their thicker ankles. That was how she would look one day. The more crooked of the two old women noticed Miles as they left, beamed, and said, Ive near voted for youWell, thank you very much said Miles, delighted.Samantha entered the booth and stared down at the two names Miles Mollison and Colin Wall, the pencil, tied to the end of a small-arm of string, in her hand. Then she scribbled I hate bloody Pagford across the paper, folded it over, cover to the ballot box and dropped it, unsmiling, through the slot.Thanks, love, said Miles dimly, with a pat on her back.Tessa Wall, who had never failed to vote in an election before, drove past the church hall on her way back home from school and did not stop. Ruth and Simon Price spent the day peaching more mischievously than ever about the possibility of moving to Reading. Ruth t hrew out their voter registration cards while clearing the kitchen t satisfactory for supper.Gavin had never think to vote if Barry had been alive to stand, he might have done so, but he had no desire to dish up Miles achieve another of his lifes goals. At half-past five he packed up his briefcase, irritable and depressed, because he had finally run out of excuses not to have dinner at Kays. It was oddly irksome, because there were hopeful signs that the insurance policy company was shifting in Marys favour, and he had very much precious to go over and tell her so. This meant that he would have to store up the news until tomorrow he did not want to waste it on the telephone.When Kay opened the door to him, she launched at once into the rapid, quick-fire talk that usually meant she was in a bad mood.Sorry, its been a alarming day, she said, although he had not complained, and they had barely exchanged greetings. I was late back, I meant to be further on with dinner, come throug h.From upstairs came the insistent frighten away of drums and a loud bass line. Gavin was surprised that the neighbours were not complaining. Kay saw him watch up at the ceiling and said, Oh, germaniums furious because some boy she care back in Hackney has started going out with another girl. She seized the glass of wine she was already drinking and took a big gulp. Her conscience had bruise her when she called Marco de Luca some boy. He had virtually moved into their house in the weeks before they had left London. Kay had found him charming, considerate and helpful. She would have liked a son like Marco.Shell live, said Kay, pushing the memories away, and she returned to the potatoes she was boiling. Shes sixteen. You bounce at that age. Help yourself to wine.Gavin sat down at the table, wishing that Kay would make Gaia turn the euphony down. She had virtually to shout at him over the vibration of the bass, the rattling saucepan lids and the loud extractor fan. He yearned aga in for the melancholy calm of Marys big kitchen, for Marys gratitude, her need for him.What? he said loudly, because he could tell that Kay had just asked him something.I said, did you vote?Vote?In the council election she said.No, he replied. Couldnt care less.He was not sure whether she had heard. She was talking again, and only when she turned to the table with knives and forks could he hear her clearly. absolutely disgusting, actually, that the parish is colluding with Aubrey Fawley. I expect Bellchapel will be finished if Miles gets in She drained the potatoes and the splatter and crash drowned her temporarily again. if that silly woman hadnt befogged her temper, we might be in with a better shot. I gave her spate of stuff on the clinic and I dont think she used any of it. She just screamed at Howard Mollison that he was too fat. Talk about unprofessional Gavin had heard rumours about Dr Jawandas public outburst. He had found it mildly amusing. all this uncertaintys very dama ging to the people who work at that clinic, not to mention the clients.But Gavin could muster neither pity nor indignation all he felt was dismay at the firm grip Kay seemed to have on the intricacies and personalities compound in this esoteric local issue. It was yet another indication of how she was capricious roots deeper and deeper into Pagford. It would take a lot to dislodge her now.He turned his head and gazed out of the window onto the overgrown garden beyond. He had offered to help Fergus with Marys garden this weekend. With luck, he thought, Mary would invite him to stay for dinner again, and if she did, he would skip Howard Mollisons sixty-fifth birthday party, to which Miles seemed to think he was looking in front with excitement. wanted to keep the Weedons, but no, Gillian says we cant cherry-pick. Would you call that cherry-picking?Sorry, what? asked Gavin.Matties back, she said, and he had to struggle to call that this was a colleague of hers, whose cases she had been covering. I wanted to keep working with the Weedons, because sometimes you do get a particular feeling for a family, but Gillian wont let me. Its crazy.You must be the only person in the valet de chambre who ever wanted to keep the Weedons, said Gavin. From what Ive heard, anyway.It took nearly all Kays obstinacy not to snap at him. She pulled the salmon fillets she had been baking out of the oven. Gaias music was so loud that she could feel it vibrating through the tray, which she slammed down on the hob.Gaia she screamed, making Gavin jump as she strode past him to the foot of the stairs. GAIA caper it down I mean it TURN IT DOWNThe volume change magnitude by perhaps a decibel. Kay marched back into the kitchen, fuming. The row with Gaia, before Gavin arrived, had been one of their worst ever. Gaia had stated her intention of telephoning her father and asking to move in with him.Well, good luck with that Kay had shouted.But perhaps Brendan would say yes. He had left her w hen Gaia was only a month old. Brendan was married now, with ternion other children. He had a huge house and a good job. What if he said yes?Gavin was glad that he did not have to talk as they ate the thumping music filled the silence, and he could think about Mary in peace. He would tell her tomorrow that the insurance company was making conciliatory noises, and receive her gratitude and admiration He had almost cleared his plate when he realized that Kay had not eaten a hit mouthful. She was staring at him across the table, and her formulation alarmed him. Perhaps he had somehow revealed his inner thoughts Gaias music came to an abrupt halt overhead. The throbbing quiet was dreadful to Gavin he wished that Gaia would put something else on, quickly.You dont still try, Kay said miserably. You dont fifty-fifty pretend to care, Gavin.He attempted to take the easy way out.Kay, Ive had a long day, he said. Im sorry if Im not up to the minutiae of local political sympathies the se cond I walk Im not talking about local politics, she said. You sit there looking as if youd rather be anywhere else its its offensive. What do you want, Gavin?He saw Marys kitchen, and her sweet face.I have to solicit to see you, Kay said, and when you come round here you couldnt make it clearer that you dont want to come.She wanted him to say thats not true. The last point at which a defensive measure might have counted slunk past. They were sliding, at increasing speed, towards that crisis which Gavin both urgently in demand(p) and dreaded.Tell me what you want, she said wearily. Just tell me.Both could feel the birth crumbling to pieces beneath the weight of everything that Gavin refused to say. It was with a sense of lay them both out of their misery that he reached for words that he had not intended to say aloud, perhaps ever, but which, in some way, seemed to excuse both of them.I didnt want this to happen, Gavin said earnestly. I didnt mean it to. Kay, Im really sor ry, but I think Im in love with Mary Fairbrother.He saw from her expression that she had not been prepared for this.Mary Fairbrother? she repeated.I think, he said (and there was a bittersweet pleasure in talking about it, even though he knew he was wounding her he had not been able to say it to anyone else), its been there for a long time. I never hold I mean, when Barry was alive Id never have I thought he was your best friend, whispered Kay.He was.Hes only been dead a few weeksGavin did not like hearing that.Look, he said, Im trying to be direct with you. Im trying to be fair.Youre trying to be fair?He had ceaselessly imagined it ending in a blaze of fury, but she simply watched him putting on his coat with tears in her eyes.Im sorry, he said, and walked out of her house for the last time.On the pavement, he experienced a rush of elation, and zip to his car. He would be able to tell Mary about the insurance company tonight, after all.