Weaveworld

III

SO NEAR, SO FAR

1

he echoes that Cammell had spoken of were still loud and clear in Rue Street when, as evening drew on, Cal and his passengers arrived there. It was left to Apolline, using pages torn from the atlas spread out like playing cards on the bare boards of the upper room, to compute the carpet’s present location.

To Cal’s untutored eye it seemed she did this much the same way his mother had chosen horses for her annual flutter on the Derby, with closed eyes and a pin. It was only to be hoped that Apolline’s method was more reliable; Eileen Mooney had never chosen a winner in her life.

There was a burst of controversy half way through the process, when Apolline – who appeared to have entered a trance of some kind – spat a hail of pips onto the floor. Freddy made some scathing remark at this, and Apolline’s eyes snapped open.

‘Will you keep your damn silence?’ she said. This is bloody hard work.’

‘It’s not wise to use the Giddies,’ he said. They’re unreliable.’

‘You want to take over?’ she challenged him.

‘You know I’ve got no skill with that.’

‘Then bite your tongue,’ she snapped. ‘And leave me to it, will you? Go on!’ She got to her feet and pushed him towards the door. ‘Go on. Get out of here. All of you.’

They withdrew to the landing, where Freddy continued to complain. ‘The woman’s lazy,’ he said. ‘Lilia didn’t need the fruit.’

‘Lilia was special,’ said Nimrod, sitting at the top of the stairs, still wrapped in his tattered shirt. ‘Let her do it her way, will you? She’s not stupid.’

Freddy sought solace with Cal. ‘I don’t belong to these people.’ he protested. ‘It’s all a terrible error. I’m not a thief.’

‘What is your profession then?’

‘I’m a barber. And you?’

‘I work in an insurance company.’ It seemed odd to think of that; of his desk, the claim forms piling up in the tray; of the doodles he’d left on the blotting paper. It was another world.

The bedroom door opened. Apolline was standing there, with one of the pages from the atlas in her hand.

‘Well?’ said Freddy.

She handed the page to Cal.

‘I’ve found it.’ she said.