One Hand Clapping by Anthony Burgess

Author:Anthony Burgess [Burgess, Anthony]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Drama, General
ISBN: 184668918X
Google: CBRpBwAAQBAJ
Amazon: B00BLMWYXM
Publisher: Serpent's Tail
Published: 1961-01-01T12:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

It was quite a bit of a job getting rid of this Redvers Glass, though it was more Howard wanting to get rid of him than me. I’d often heard about poets, though not much at school, and it was a really new experience for me to have one there in our living-room. He was not very well-dressed, as I’ve already said, but you could see he had something about him, especially when he talked, and he had a nice voice, all fruity. He kept on talking and telling us how he’d been at Oxford with this Reeves man of the Daily Window and how Reeves had been poor in those days and Redvers Glass’s family had been very rich, though now they had thrown him out or something for being a poet and not wanting to go into the family business or something. Anyway, at Oxford College or University or whatever it’s called, Redvers Glass had helped Albert Reeves with money and Reeves had never been able to pay him back but had always sworn that he would some day and here he’d done it, in a way. That was Redvers Glass’s story. He also finished off the biscuits as well as the walnut cake and drank six cups of tea, the last cup being almost pure water. So I asked him if he’d like a drink from one of our bottles, which I could see him eyeing in a thirsty sort of a way, and he said yes, so I poured him out this Grand Marnier in mistake for sherry, but he drank it without turning a hair. Then he wanted more and wanted to start reciting his poetry, but Howard said, ‘You get off into town now and get a hotel for the night and then decide what you want to do tomorrow.’ Redvers Glass said:

‘London is finished, finished and finished and finished.’ You could tell that was the Grand Marnier coming out. ‘The future of healthy English art lies in the provinces. Yes, oh yes, that is where the poet and musician will best flourish.’ And a lot more like that, saying London was too big to care about anyone, and it had no heart, but in the provinces things were different. I didn’t follow much of what he said, but I couldn’t help the odd sly giggle. Anyway, Howard more or less threw him out and you could hear him singing a bit down the street, a real happy poet, as he should be with nine hundred quid of Howard’s in his pocket or bank or wherever he had it. Then I giggled really out loud and Howard couldn’t help smiling either. I got our supper ready now and, as we were in the money, I’d bought some tinned Russian Crab which was very expensive just about then because of the trouble or something, and we had it with vinegar and tinned potato salad and I’d made more tea. And after supper we didn’t watch the TV.

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