For Fear of Little Men by John Blackburn

Author:John Blackburn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Valancourt Books
Published: 2022-04-18T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

‘Don’t you hate that noise, Tania?’ Megan was listening to a Skyrider throbbing through the low cloud that hung over the valley. ‘Dan considered those exhaust frequencies were restful and inoffensive, but to me they’re horrible – a chorus of banshees foretelling a death in the family.’

‘I don’t like the noise of a Skyrider, Meg, because it always reminds me of my . . . my accident.’ For no reason she could think of, Tania hesitated over the word. The church clock had just struck eleven and the two women were walking in the garden before going to bed. ‘But though the plane’s sound is a bit eerie, surely it’s not unpleasant, and your husband must have known what he was doing. Cedric told me that he did a lot of research to get the frequencies just right. Sent out questionnaires to test public reaction and so forth.’

‘Does anybody really know what they’re doing, my dear? Cedric and the other directors thought Dan’s brain-child was a waste of time and money, but he got his way – as usual.’ Meg looked at a lighted bedroom window. Bragshaw was still nursing his poisoned ankle, but he had sworn to return to work in the morning, whatever Travers might say. ‘Dan always had his way. The board objected to Graebe’s appointment at Linsleat, but he threatened to withdraw his capital if they vetoed it.

‘Dan had two reasons for varying those exhaust frequencies, you know. He hoped to lessen annoyance, but he wanted advertisement as well. He once said that he regarded his engines as transmitters sending out call signs which would be heard all over the world and recognized as his.

‘Yes, my late husband was a presumptuous man, Tania, and he usually got what he wanted. Maybe he got what he deserved, too.’ Meg nodded towards the west. Cloud and darkness screened Allt y Cnicht, but Tania knew she was thinking of the mangled body that had lain below the crag. ‘He proposed to me because he wanted to preserve the estate and, as people may have told you, I accepted him for the same reason.’ She turned and they started to stroll back to the house.

‘That’s only partly true, though. I had to pay off my father’s creditors, but I was very attracted to Dan when I first met him. He was on holiday, touring about the country at random, and had put up at the Rose and Leek for a night. Just one night was what he intended, but it stretched out into a month because he said that he’d fallen in love with the district. He used to go for long walks during the day, and every evening we’d meet for a drink or have dinner together and he’d tell me where he’d been. I’ve never known anybody so exuberant, so full of enthusiasm for a place. It was like being with a boy who’d just come home from a boarding school he hated.

‘A boy who I

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.