Of Love and Other Wars by Sophie Hardach

Author:Sophie Hardach [Sophie, Hardach]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781838939205
Publisher: Head of Zeus

*

The next day they moved Paul into a cell with a bunk bed. The upper bunk stayed empty. It surprised him, since the gaol was clearly overcrowded. Still, it was a relief. The cell was dark and cramped, a concrete box with a window so high up he could not see outside, but at least there was no one to harass him. He had heard that one of the most basic rules in gaol was never to ask any of the inmates about their crimes. Yet all the men who shouldered past him in the corridor, who took the full bowl of porridge from his hands as if it had been offered to them, seemed to know why he was there. Some of them were tense, quick and scrawny, the type who would be good with a knife. Others clearly needed nothing more than their rake-sized hands to smash a face or wring a neck. Had Paul met them on a dark street in Highgate, he would have crossed to the other side or sought safety in the next pub. Here, there was no avoiding them.

He started out with a towel, a bowl, a brush and a spoon. Soon he had only a bowl, a brush and a spoon. Then, only a bowl and a spoon.

His father sent him buttons and lavender soap and advised him to use these as currency. He also told him to find other conchies in his wing – other Quakers, ideally – and gather every night for Quiet Meeting.

‘Thank you,’ Paul wrote, ‘but there are no other conchies here. Yes, I’m surprised, too.’

The buttons and lavender soap bought him some protection. He took the fact that they left him his bowl and spoon as a kindness, until he discovered the real reason: without a bowl, he would not be served porridge, and if he wasn’t served porridge, he couldn’t give half of it to whoever was standing behind him in the queue.

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.