Little Constructions by Anna Burns

Author:Anna Burns [Burns, Anna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781644451120
Publisher: Graywolf Press
Published: 2019-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Tom Spaders. In the gang’s eyes, yer man, who had gone mad since being set upon by the babies, had always been of the calibre of the Guardian of the Filing Cabinet. Therefore they ignored him on the inside just as they had ignored him on the outside, which didn’t seem to bother him, keeping himself to himself as he was.

Initially, whilst in prison, Spaders withdrew and had refused to interact with anybody. He refused also to see visitors, ie Jotty, who came expressly seven times a week, fighting her own demons, to see him. Why should I see her? he thought. This is like Samson and Delilah and women’s guiles and manipulations. Well, she can stop all that ‘Tell me your secret! Tell unto me the answer to the riddle! Put forth your riddle for I won’t tell it to the Philistines,’ for look – she’s got me with my eyes out! Got me with my strength gone! Got me where she wants me! So of course it stands to reason, from her point of view, she can afford to be nice to me now. Well, I know her game. I got her number. Sometimes Tom knew he wasn’t being dignified in his trauma, but it was early days. He hadn’t got through his bitternesses yet. To be precise, he had only started in on his bitternesses and, as you know, it’s not until you’ve been through that one really Big Bitterness that the other bitternesses people think are huge, and who feel sorry for you because you’ve got them, you know don’t count a hoot at all. Tom hadn’t got there yet. It was still the time of the Big One, so he was bitter and broken and angry at Jotty, and angry at everybody, and disbelieving in his horror that, actually, he had killed somebody. Jotty, for her part however, and encouraged by the Salsa Dancing Policeman, continued to come to the prison to try to meet with him, with him continuing to pretend, in his pain and grief, to be far too busy in executive meetings to grant any favour to her.

To get it exact, though, when first he’d been arrested, on the same day the gang had been arrested, Tom had been sent to the hospital because of new physical injuries that had been done upon him. Then, when he was recovered, he left hospital and went to court to get sentenced and then was put immediately in jail. When he was in jail it was decided, fairly quickly, to transfer him – because of his bitternesses – to the mental asylum, but then they moved him back to the prison after deciding he was a bit on the bitter broken shocked side, but apparently wasn’t mad after all. This, by the way, was the opposite to what happened to Janet. They didn’t arrest her at first, so she was up at the chemist, giving herself some hefty staff discount. She was arrested later, around the same time her husband and sister were released.

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