Corker's Freedom by John Berger

Author:John Berger [Berger, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-79432-1
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2011-04-27T00:00:00+00:00

Corker thinks : I am here, we’ve succeeded, nobody can stop me.

Corker knows : I am in a position such as I have never been in before, I have done something irrecoverable and now I must wait for the consequences. It is desperation that has temporarily halted my ageing. I shall stay desperate.

A voice screams : Back! back!

Corker thinks : Bit by bit I shall make it as I want. I want to put the long mirror over the fireplace there. One of the emperors had mirrors all round his bed so he could see his mistress better. Mirror glass is so dear these days, that’s the difficulty. So dear you can’t afford to look – I could make a joke of this. Mirrors are so expensive nowadays that a man can’t afford to look at himself. At this rate we’ll get mirrors with slot machines. Put in a penny for a ten-second look. Put in a couple of bob to see yourself at your best. Put in five, to see yourself young again. I could use this idea in the lecture. Looking glass, looking glass hanging on the wall. Who is the fairest of them all?

Corker makes believe : McBryde.

Corker thinks : It’s funny to find it all again, the carpet, the bed, the dinner set.

Corker makes believe : There is an orange curtain across the doorway. I part it and enter. A beautiful woman stands there as though expecting me. She wears silver bracelets that are almost white, and comes towards me, arms outstretched. Welcome, she says, we have been waiting for you for a thousand and one nights. You have travelled far and you must need refreshment. A bed has been prepared for you, a serving maid hired, a bath made ready. Nor have we wasted the many days and nights we have waited since first we expected you. In these cupboards is the cloth of many colours that we have woven for you. In those drawers is the linen we have embroidered. On those shelves are the plates and bowls we have decorated.

A voice screams : Back! Back! Back!

Corker makes believe : Master what is your wish now? Whatever it be, we shall grant it. I answer her in a clear voice in this very room lying on the bed that has been prepared. I wish to begin again.

Corker thinks : If at first you don’t succeed …

Corker makes believe : You know he has quite an interesting little collection, has Corker. You should drop in at his place sometime and get him to show you his maps and silks – and his own photos too, you know, he’s travelled over half the word. He’s an interesting man to talk to, he is, one of the characters of Clapham – it’s a cosy little place and he lives with his housekeeper.

Corker thinks : I must make up my mind about Miss Brand.

Corker makes believe : My brother walked out of my house and I never saw him again.

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