Ladies from Hell by Keith Roberts

Author:Keith Roberts [ROBERTS, KEITH]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 9780575104341
Publisher: Orion Publishing Group
Published: 2015-12-31T00:00:00+00:00

It was Tuesday night. No, Wednesday morning of course. Very early, barely four. She stirred, half-awake. She had been riding the bus again, in the endless din. She had finished Bevis, she finished him last week, and had tried to read Hassan. The prayer to Yasmin was beautiful, it had made her want to cry; but later the violence of the play distressed her and she had laid it aside.

The days had been like any others; the bus, then the run for the lavatories, the noise and heat of School; uproar in the Study Halls, the trannies, sun through the hot high panes. She had been counting the hours, nearly the minutes, each one a victory; but the enemy was Time itself, and she could never win. There was too much Time; even the eight days to end of term stretched like an eternity, and there was another whole year to run. There would never come a Last Day, a last time for the bus, an evening when she could walk away and be free, never to return. She knew now, she would stay at the School for ever.

Her absence had been noted, she was certain of it; it would be all they needed, the last piece of proof. The Fourths and Fifths were watching her, she was nearly sure. She had been jostled, badly, in Canteen and on her way to her Study Group; and a filthy note had been somehow slipped into her pocket. So the word had gone round.

The Duke had a new girlfriend now, or so they said; Janey Hollis, from the next village but one. She usually caught one of the other buses but she’d started coming on hers, her heart nearly stopped when she saw her fair hair in the little group by the halt. She’d seen him with her at break times, twice now; she was a tall girl, really pretty, you couldn’t miss her. And once she’d turned and stared—straight at Liz—and said something to the rest and they had all laughed as she hurried away, trying not to run. She knew they turned and stared, she felt their eyes burn hotly on her back. Kolaszynski had been there and Osgood and two broads, Sheila Brent from 5X Second and another girl, Patricia something, she was very tall, even taller than Jane. She was wearing silvery stretch pants and she was really beautiful; dark, like an Indian, with long narrow black eyes. They said it was Pat who’d held the kitten for him.

She jumped, and the whole bed started; one of those great starts that happen when you’re dozing, half asleep and half awake. Nearly like falling off a cliff. They said you always woke before you hit the ground, if you didn’t you would die. But she had woken. She clenched her fingers, stared out at the bright night patch of sky. She could see things in the room even though it was dark; the chairback and her skirt and shoes, pale patch that was a fresh-pressed shirt, hanging on the wardrobe front.

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