[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.‘Where is - or was - the fort, incidentally?’ Kane asks.‘Long gone,’ Sendak replies.‘Nothing left but the name.’Deborah takes a step to one side as the line passes, snapping a photo of the complex from a sufficient distance to get the whole place in the shot.Beansy has looped his rucksack over his stick, Dick-Whittington-style.He hops up on to a large tree stump for a moment and steps off, obliviously getting in the way just as Deborah’s phone-camera clicks.It takes a special kind of talent, she thinks, to be that much of an arsehole even when he’s not trying.Beansy scuttles back to the pack and begins singing as they progress.‘Yo left, yo left, yo left, right, left.’Most of the boys pick up the cadence.‘Yo left, yo left, yo left, right, left.’Happy that they are now in synch as his rhythm section, Beansy sings over the top of them, to the tune of Yellow Submarine:‘We all live in a Catholic housing scheme, the walls are painted green, Michael Fagan shagged the—’Guthrie cuts him off with a hand over his mouth.‘That’s enough, McBean,’ he says sternly, which to Beansy is fucking rich coming from him.Beansy’s dad told him Deputy Dan used to be on his supporters’ bus to Celtic games, and was as enthusiastic as anybody for belting out the rebs.Just ahead in the vanguard, Sendak sighs.‘Gonna be a long day,’ he opines.‘Oh yeah,’ agrees Kane.‘Okay, next victims, let’s go,’ Sendak calls, prompting Marianne and Cameron forward.Kane has a look over the edge, getting the all-clear sign from Blake at the bottom, while alongside him Heather helps the newly descended Deborah detach herself from the harness.The group have been taking turns to execute a gentle abseil down a rock face, two at a time.They’re almost done, but Kane predicts the pace is about to slow as the more reluctant candidates are running out of other people to hide behind and will probably require some persuasion.Kane would bet the house on Julie Meiklejohn being last.It uncharitably occurs to him that she might provide invaluable impetus to speed the other fearties up if someone points out the greater risk of the line breaking after it has been subjected to the stresses of supporting her.Not nice, he knows, but it’s the release provided by such thoughts that helps him stay professional.They don’t care to admit it, but being human, teachers are inevitably going to like some kids more than others, and Julie is one plump chick who is never going to be described, by way of compensation, as having ‘a nice personality’.He can vividly imagine the processes that got her that way: the teasing and bullying that toughened her up and taught her how to locate other people’s vulnerable spots.Maxwell’s equations said that the amount of energy in the universe could never increase or reduce, but it seemed pain and cruelty multiplied like bacteria.Guthrie helps Marianne into the harness while Kane assists Cameron, then Sendak attaches them to the lines.‘You’ve seen it twenty times now,’ Sendak reassures them.‘Just kick off, and the line will only play out when you want it to, okay? So you go as slow or as fast as you need.’Marianne bounces off gently, taking it a little at a time.Cameron, not wanting to be shamed by a girl, kicks away more ambitiously and panics at the sensation, going by how tentative his second kick appears.Sendak has a look down, satisfies himself that the latest pair will manage, though they won’t be breaking any speed records.‘So, how did this thing go down?’ Sendak asks quietly.It takes Kane a moment to realise what Sendak is referring to.Kane gives him a look, seeking confirmation that this is so.‘Hey, if you don’t want to talk about it, that’s cool,’ Sendak responds, misreading.‘I understand.’‘No, no.Talking about it is supposed to be why we’re here.’ Even as Kane says this, he realises how hard that is going to be.All they’ve discussed so far has been people’s feelings, and only in the most abstract way.It’s like they’ll have to approach it by degrees, peeling away the protective layers one by one.‘Andrew Dunn - the kids called him Dunnsy - got in a fight with Matt over there.’ Kane nods to his right, where Matt is now the only remaining male.‘When I say a fight, more like.’‘Matt started a lot of fights by the provocative act of being shy and awkward, right?’ Sendak suggests.‘You got it.The other kids don’t know what to make of him.He is very, shall we say, emotionally self-sufficient, and they can’t deal with that.He can seem very aloof.’‘Which doesn’t always go down with attention-seeking teens.’‘Exactly, that being a very apt description of wee Dunnsy.He was a little guy: short, tendency to overcompensate in terms of aggression and volume.’‘A hard-case wannabe,’ Guthrie chimes in regretfully.‘More combustible than the bigger men because he had more to prove.Not a bad lad.Not a bad lad at all.’ Guthrie swallows.This is hurting.It’s as much as Kane has witnessed him discussing any of the particulars of that day.‘But a bit too eager for a fight.Tragically too eager,’ he concludes, his face threatening to crack.‘I don’t know precisely what precipitated it and I don’t suppose it matters, but Dunn set about Matt in the corridor where some of the pupils have their lockers.It’s a busy spot at break time, as you can imagine.A lot of kids milling around, and one of them happened to be Robert Barker.’ Kane sighs, a dozen tabloid headlines screaming in the face of his thinking.‘Barker was.’‘Troubled,’ Guthrie says, relieving him.‘He was in the year below this lot: younger in years but very much older in terms of experience.His father was put inside for murder when Barker was ten.Mother an IV drug abuser, dead loss.String of equally useless and varyingly abusive junkie boyfriends.Barker was a deeply disturbed kid.Randomly violent and self-destructive [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.‘Where is - or was - the fort, incidentally?’ Kane asks.‘Long gone,’ Sendak replies.‘Nothing left but the name.’Deborah takes a step to one side as the line passes, snapping a photo of the complex from a sufficient distance to get the whole place in the shot.Beansy has looped his rucksack over his stick, Dick-Whittington-style.He hops up on to a large tree stump for a moment and steps off, obliviously getting in the way just as Deborah’s phone-camera clicks.It takes a special kind of talent, she thinks, to be that much of an arsehole even when he’s not trying.Beansy scuttles back to the pack and begins singing as they progress.‘Yo left, yo left, yo left, right, left.’Most of the boys pick up the cadence.‘Yo left, yo left, yo left, right, left.’Happy that they are now in synch as his rhythm section, Beansy sings over the top of them, to the tune of Yellow Submarine:‘We all live in a Catholic housing scheme, the walls are painted green, Michael Fagan shagged the—’Guthrie cuts him off with a hand over his mouth.‘That’s enough, McBean,’ he says sternly, which to Beansy is fucking rich coming from him.Beansy’s dad told him Deputy Dan used to be on his supporters’ bus to Celtic games, and was as enthusiastic as anybody for belting out the rebs.Just ahead in the vanguard, Sendak sighs.‘Gonna be a long day,’ he opines.‘Oh yeah,’ agrees Kane.‘Okay, next victims, let’s go,’ Sendak calls, prompting Marianne and Cameron forward.Kane has a look over the edge, getting the all-clear sign from Blake at the bottom, while alongside him Heather helps the newly descended Deborah detach herself from the harness.The group have been taking turns to execute a gentle abseil down a rock face, two at a time.They’re almost done, but Kane predicts the pace is about to slow as the more reluctant candidates are running out of other people to hide behind and will probably require some persuasion.Kane would bet the house on Julie Meiklejohn being last.It uncharitably occurs to him that she might provide invaluable impetus to speed the other fearties up if someone points out the greater risk of the line breaking after it has been subjected to the stresses of supporting her.Not nice, he knows, but it’s the release provided by such thoughts that helps him stay professional.They don’t care to admit it, but being human, teachers are inevitably going to like some kids more than others, and Julie is one plump chick who is never going to be described, by way of compensation, as having ‘a nice personality’.He can vividly imagine the processes that got her that way: the teasing and bullying that toughened her up and taught her how to locate other people’s vulnerable spots.Maxwell’s equations said that the amount of energy in the universe could never increase or reduce, but it seemed pain and cruelty multiplied like bacteria.Guthrie helps Marianne into the harness while Kane assists Cameron, then Sendak attaches them to the lines.‘You’ve seen it twenty times now,’ Sendak reassures them.‘Just kick off, and the line will only play out when you want it to, okay? So you go as slow or as fast as you need.’Marianne bounces off gently, taking it a little at a time.Cameron, not wanting to be shamed by a girl, kicks away more ambitiously and panics at the sensation, going by how tentative his second kick appears.Sendak has a look down, satisfies himself that the latest pair will manage, though they won’t be breaking any speed records.‘So, how did this thing go down?’ Sendak asks quietly.It takes Kane a moment to realise what Sendak is referring to.Kane gives him a look, seeking confirmation that this is so.‘Hey, if you don’t want to talk about it, that’s cool,’ Sendak responds, misreading.‘I understand.’‘No, no.Talking about it is supposed to be why we’re here.’ Even as Kane says this, he realises how hard that is going to be.All they’ve discussed so far has been people’s feelings, and only in the most abstract way.It’s like they’ll have to approach it by degrees, peeling away the protective layers one by one.‘Andrew Dunn - the kids called him Dunnsy - got in a fight with Matt over there.’ Kane nods to his right, where Matt is now the only remaining male.‘When I say a fight, more like.’‘Matt started a lot of fights by the provocative act of being shy and awkward, right?’ Sendak suggests.‘You got it.The other kids don’t know what to make of him.He is very, shall we say, emotionally self-sufficient, and they can’t deal with that.He can seem very aloof.’‘Which doesn’t always go down with attention-seeking teens.’‘Exactly, that being a very apt description of wee Dunnsy.He was a little guy: short, tendency to overcompensate in terms of aggression and volume.’‘A hard-case wannabe,’ Guthrie chimes in regretfully.‘More combustible than the bigger men because he had more to prove.Not a bad lad.Not a bad lad at all.’ Guthrie swallows.This is hurting.It’s as much as Kane has witnessed him discussing any of the particulars of that day.‘But a bit too eager for a fight.Tragically too eager,’ he concludes, his face threatening to crack.‘I don’t know precisely what precipitated it and I don’t suppose it matters, but Dunn set about Matt in the corridor where some of the pupils have their lockers.It’s a busy spot at break time, as you can imagine.A lot of kids milling around, and one of them happened to be Robert Barker.’ Kane sighs, a dozen tabloid headlines screaming in the face of his thinking.‘Barker was.’‘Troubled,’ Guthrie says, relieving him.‘He was in the year below this lot: younger in years but very much older in terms of experience.His father was put inside for murder when Barker was ten.Mother an IV drug abuser, dead loss.String of equally useless and varyingly abusive junkie boyfriends.Barker was a deeply disturbed kid.Randomly violent and self-destructive [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]