The Scheme for Full Employment by Magnus Mills

Author:Magnus Mills
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: For the Benefit of Mr. Kite
Published: 2002-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

8

“Vandalism,” said a voice nearby. “Sheer vandalism.”

Glancing round I saw that I’d been joined by Horsefall. He was standing just behind me, gazing thoughtfully at the yellow mark.

“Who’s done that then?” I asked.

“You tell me,” he replied. “The Scheme gets through about half a ton of crayon every year. Anybody can get their hands on it.”

“Must be a flat-day man trying to make a point.”

“Quite possibly, yes, but I don’t think it’s one person acting on their own. I’ve heard these signs have been appearing all over the place lately. There’ve been reports of them from right across the region.”

He produced a handkerchief from his pocket and moved close to the van. Then he began rubbing at the emblem, gradually obliterating it. This was a slow task because the crayon had a high wax content. Eventually, however, all traces of the figure eight were gone.

“That’s better,” said Horsefall, stepping back and examining his handiwork.

“I’m surprised you went to all that trouble to get rid of it,” I said. “I thought you supers would be sympathetic to the flat-dayers.”

“It depends on the situation,” he answered. “Obviously we favour the full eight hours where it’s at all possible, but our main concern is to get the vans back to the depot on time. We don’t want you stuck out there in some traffic jam when we’re trying to shut the gates for the night, do we?”

“Suppose not.”

“There you are then. In circumstances like that we’d gladly sign your card. We superintendents have homes to go to as well, you know.”

This seemed doubtful, but I let the remark pass and watched as Horsefall returned his now-yellow handkerchief to his pocket.

“So you’d side with the early swervers in some situations, would you?”

“It’s not a question of siding with anyone,” he said. “It’s a question of getting the vans back on time.”

I could tell by Horsefall’s tone of voice that he was prepared to discuss the matter no further. Nonetheless, I had plenty to think about as I began my drive to Eden Lacy. It appeared there were some people who regarded the flat day in very serious terms. I knew already that men like Len Walker and John Ford were outspoken practitioners, and indeed they’d been spreading the word against early swerves for as long as I could remember. Somehow, however, I couldn’t imagine either of them going around daubing emblems all over the place. Not long after I’d got onto the Ring Road, I spotted just such a device drawn on the back of a UniVan travelling ahead of me. It was identical to the one on my cab door, and had again been done in yellow wax crayon. I tried to overtake the van to catch a glimpse of its driver, but at the exact moment I drew level he turned up a side-street and I lost sight of him. A little while later I met a UniVan approaching in the opposite direction. By now I’d run into a spot of slow-moving traffic, so that I was barely doing more than 0mph when I drew alongside the oncoming vehicle.

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