Into Darkness by Jonathan Lewis

Author:Jonathan Lewis
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781409037521
Publisher: Random House

8

FOR A HUNDRED MILES SHE’D known she was driving to see Mr Ned. It made sense; his place was on the side of the city she was coming in on. She knew that, because of a job she’d done years ago with him and Banshee in some bomb factory near the station. He’d been really nice. She was terrified: that the place was booby-trapped, that the terrorists were still at home or that they’d come back and catch them at it. Mr Ned was utterly cool. At first she felt really uncomfortable having someone so close on her tail, particularly given the skin-tight clothes they had to wear, but she had no time to brood and after a bit having him so close just made her feel safe. She thought he must have a gun, though she didn’t know where he’d hidden it. For a man, he moved really gracefully and silently. Kate could tell everyone was really pleased, because for the first time ever she’d had a car drive her home. It had dropped Mr Ned off first, so she knew where he lived.

Taking the Land Rover had been Nick’s idea. He reckoned it’d stop him from changing his mind and going for a spin when no one was looking. You for starters, she’d added, but he didn’t have much of a sense of humour. She was glad to be leaving. He’d been clever about Suzy and the stress, and she’d learned a bit about blindness and guide dogs, particularly one aspect, but Nick Parsons was the sole subject of his own song. She didn’t admire him one bit. Not like Sir Tommy Best. He’d shown you could be blind as a bat and still make a real contribution to people. And it wasn’t just Sir Tommy. Kate had had a brilliant English teacher at school who was blind. Loads of lessons were like being in a war zone, but when Mr Booth taught them Paradise Lost you could hear a pin drop. Her mum’s cousin was blind. He worked for the Citizens Advice Bureau during the day and did shifts for the Samaritans at night. And Nick had actually known Sir Tommy. Had cried on his shoulder. Why hadn’t he followed Sir Tommy’s amazing example? But then Tommy Best had been a wonderful person before he went blind. Nick must have been insufferable. She didn’t believe losing his sight had anything to do with it, though it allowed him to add self-pity to self-adoration. Maybe it was precisely because he had loved himself so much that he felt so sad and angry when the object of his passion was suddenly afflicted.

She kept wanting to tell him to get over it and get a life. I mean, how bad was it going blind? OK, really bad, but at least he was alive, in his own place, with money. All he did was look after himself. He did nothing for others. Nothing that made use of his other senses. He could have listened to the radio and read lots using braille.

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