The Silent Twins by Marjorie Wallace

Author:Marjorie Wallace [Wallace, Marjorie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2012-08-31T03:00:00+00:00

Gliding smoothly figures unwind

While others continuously whisper

Rising waves of stories which bind

Together a legion, born only out of disaster.

Predictions spelled out for a lingering fate

Only they know: secrets, dangers.

Enveloped in arrival of each date.

For they are your astrologers.

Silently shadows perform

Shimmering in welcome moonlight.

Silently shadows perform

Throughout the sleeping night.

Jennifer Gibbons, 21st January 1982

The only events which broke the routine of the twins’ early prison days were a series of postponements of their court appearance and a visit from June’s solicitor. Michael Jones was a young clerk from the firm of Eaton-Evans and Morris in Haverfordwest, which was recommended to them by the police. June had met him once or twice before she had been taken to the remand centre. Both girls received legal aid and Jennifer, because of a possible conflict of interest between them, had a different solicitor – Ivor Rees from another Haverfordwest firm, Price and Son – but at June’s insistence Jennifer was asked along to the visit and Michael Jones did most of the work for both girls.

Michael Jones’s arrival in the prison was a surprise and a challenge. The girls were taken to the chief officer’s room, but once there they decided they were unable to meet their solicitor face to face. Through their usual muttered and written negotiations, they persuaded the chief officer to agree to a new scenario for the encounter – over the telephone. Miss Barry and Mrs MacCarthy were on duty that afternoon and were astonished to overhear the conversation. June was talking on the phone in the chief’s room while Jones was replying on the phone in the adjoining office. Yet they were so close they could be heard as though they were in one room. Neither officer had heard June or Jennifer speak fluently before; they had believed they were almost mute. The clarity and sharpness of their joint interview was a revelation. From the twins’ accounts and the recollections of the officers, it went something like this:

June: ‘How long do you think we’ll get?’

Jones: ‘It’s difficult to say. It depends on how you get on.’

Jennifer: ‘We believe we are entitled to have our property back from you and the police. Could you please return my diaries?’

Jones: ‘I’ll see if I can fix that.’

June: ‘Is there any drug or treatment such as hypnotism which we could receive?’

Jones: ‘Yes. I’m talking to a Dr Spry about that. But first, can you tell me, was there any particular reason for you to light those fires? Why did you do it?’

Jennifer: ‘We only did it so we could remember . . . June and I would like to have our pen-pal letters back.’

Jones: ‘Yes, we’ll see if we can arrange that. Any more questions?’

Jennifer: ‘Can you tell us what is going on behind the scenes? We have been here over two months. What does the judge think about our case?’

Jones: ‘He’s more concerned with your progress now than with what you have done . It is very important that you start to talk if you want me to help you to get out of the remand centre.

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