Elephants and Castles

by John Patrick

Mary and Samuel were finally outside Fran’s home. It was a crude wooden building, with rough timber planks for walls and windows formed by holes in the wall covered by cloth and board. It was squeezed into a higgledy-piggledy row of similar houses in a cramped back street. The crooked upper storeys leant out over the road, almost touching above the middle of the street. They blocked out most of the sun's rays and gave the street a permanent twilight feel. The road around the house was littered with rubbish and human waste. The sun was up now and the heat had woken the flies and ripened the stench. Some of the neighbours' doors bore the cross and had watchmen outside. Mary and Samuel didn’t care about that. They were just glad to have found the house at last.

  Mary tapped on the door. From inside they could hear shouts from the boys and the forlorn efforts of their mother to enforce discipline.

  Mary knocked harder.

  'Just a minute. I ain’t dressed! Matt, see who’s there.'

  Mary knocked again. 'Aunt Fran, it’s us, Mary and Sam.'

  'Zak, you get it. Zak! ZAK! Are you deaf? Oh bloody 'ell, I’ll do it meself.'

  The door swung open. Fran was still pulling her clothes together.

  'You two! Oh my Good Lord! What the 'ell you doin’ ‘ere? Get inside for 'eaven’s sake. You shouldn’t be 'round 'ere.' She swept them both inside the house.

  They lived in just one room. It was dark, the only light creeping in around the poorly fitting shutters and door. The wooden floor was part covered with a patchwork of worn and dirty cloth. The odour was no better than outside. The two older boys were sat on the only two rickety wooden chairs by a table in the middle of the room. Young William was busy tying to evict one of them so he could have a seat.

  'Here, you boys get up so our guests can have sit down.'

  'They ain’t guests' replied Matthew dismissively 'that’s Mary and Sam.'

  'Get up, go on.' Fran raised the back of her hand to Matthew. He raised his back in return and stayed in the seat.

  'It’s all right Aunty Fran. I don't need no seat.' reassured Mary.

  'What you two doin’ ‘ere anyhow?' Fran sat down on a mat made of sackcloth and patted on another for the children. They sat alongside her.

  'It’s Mister Shipton. He’s real sick now. We ain’t sure he’s gonna live.' explained Mary.

  'That's a shame,' replied Fran, 'a real shame. What you gonna do ‘bout it?'

  'We don’t know! That’s why we’re 'ere. We thought you'd know what to do.'

  'Oh, well, I ain’t no doctor, darlin’. I don't know what else I can do.'

  'What about the stone?’ asked Samuel. 'There must be somethin’ we could do with that. Don't you know some people?'

  'Maybe....' Fran turned to her boys. 'Will you lot stop bloody fightn’ for two minutes?'

  The boys continued to argue.

  'Look,' went on Fran 'there’s this old Scottish woman called Munro, lives not far from ‘ere. I reckon she'll know a thing or two. You still got that stone?'

  Samuel pulled it from his pocket and held aloft. A shaft of light somehow found its way into the dingy room. It hit the stone and exploded into a kaleidoscope of orange, pink and red light that criss-crossed over the dark wooden walls. The boys fell silent.

  Fran thrust her hands over the stone and pushed it back at Samuel. 'OK but keep it 'idden. There’s people 'round 'ere that would love to get their hands on that thing. Come on, put it away an' we’ll go find ‘er.'

  James was waiting at the Alderman’s office. Edwards was inside trying justify having brought him a male searcher. A few weeks earlier the Alderman would have sent him away with a flea in his ear. A man doing a woman's job! That would have been unthinkable. But it really didn’t matter anymore. His searchers were dying faster than he could replace them. So long as the job was done, who cared? He'd be dead soon anyway.

  James sat in the lofty hall with half a dozen women waiting to be sworn in. Brock stood in the doorway gazing into the street. The women said nothing. They were no happier than James to be there and the promise of a small reward for each corpse they searched was scant consolation. They all knew they were unlikely to ever spend the money.

  The door swung open.

  'OK, all of you, in here.' Edwards gestured to them all to enter the Alderman’s office.

  A man in uniform sat between a polished table and an oak-panelled wall. He had quickly thrown on his gown and chain of office but they did little to hide the tired eyes and haggard expression. He didn’t enjoy sending another group to their death.

  'Thank you my good ...people.' Before him on the table lay a large leather clad book. He pushed it towards the row of new searchers stood before him. 'Time is pressing so I thank you all for your sacrif …your loyalty. My physician will explain your task shortly but I remind you that if you fail to carry out your duties you'll be imprisoned until you change your mind. Is that clear?' He waited for them all to nod in acknowledgement. 'Now you'll swear on the Holy Bible. Mister Edwards please.' He waved his hand impatiently.

  Edwards took the hand of the first woman in the row and placed it on the bible. 'Repeat after me. I do solemnly swear before Almighty God, to carry out these duties…'

  'I do solemnly swear before Almighty God, to carry out these duties…'

  'to the fullest of my abilities and the satisfaction of my conscience …'

  'to the fullest of my 'bility and the… the…satis...'

  'so help me God, in the knowledge that failing to honour this oath…'

  'so help me God, and…'

  'will incur the wrath and vengeance of Almighty God…'

  'will … will… what was it?'

  'and eternal damnation. Next.'

  In turn they each had a go at repeating the words. The Alderman shuffled and fidgeted in his chair, eager to get on.

  'Good, good. Now all that remains is to tell you what you're looking for. The good Doctor Chambers has kindly agreed to speak to you all. Where is he Mister Edwards? Shouldn't he be here by now.'

  'I think he's donning his attire Sir.'

  'What? Have you told him these people haven't seen plague yet?'

  'I told him Sir but he insists.'

  The Alderman sighed. He flapped his hand dismissively towards the searchers. 'Sit, sit. This shouldn't take a minute.'

  They sat in a row on a long wooden pew. A few minutes later, the ornate double door at the far end of the room rattled and shook. There was a thud then the doors flew open. A tall figure in ankle-length black cape and wide-brimmed hat stumbled into the room. He peered at them through fogged goggles set in the middle of a leather face mask and hood. A long duck-like beak protruded from the middle of his face. The searchers gasped in unison. They all shuffled away along the seat, pushing the furthest onto the floor. The doctor felt his way gingerly across the room with the help of his wooden cane.

  'Good Morning Doctor Chambers. So pleased you could join us.'

  The searchers rose to their feet.

  The doctor said something but the words were muffled by the mask.

  Edwards rolled his eyes heavenwards.

  'Anyway, the good doctor will explain what you're looking for and what you must do when you find a body. Thank you doctor.'

  Doctor Chambers talked quickly. He waved his arms and his stick in the air, pointing at James and the women in turn, touching the skin of their forearms and neck with his cane. It sounded as if he was talking underwater and nobody but the doctor understood a word of it.

  The Alderman gritted his teeth. 'My good doctor, none of these people have even seen plague let along touched it. Can we please lose the mask?'

  The doctor hesitated. He peered closely at the new searchers in turn through his goggles then the Alderman. After a little more thought, he finally removed the hat, hood and mask. Dried flowers and herbs tumbled to the floor. He flattened down the ring of red hair that surrounded his sweating scalp, mopped his freckled brow and looked nervously at the row of new searchers. ‘None of you have had
contact with plague before?'

  They all shook their heads.

  He looked dubiously at them and then carefully placed his hood and mask on the table. 'From now on none of you will come near me unless I am wearing these clothes. Is that clear?'

  More nods.

  'You all know about plague, you know about the black sores and the fever and the cough and the blood and all of that… yes? Well, you’ll be told where the corpses are, which house you’ve got to search. I need to know how many dead you see and if it looks like plague. Make sure you check the whole house. Check for children who might have been shut away. Check every last part of every house.' He dabbed the beads of sweat from his face again. 'If anybody is not quite dead then you’re to tell the watchman to lock the house up again and you must return two days later to make sure. Nearly dead doesn’t count.'

  'Pardon me, Sir.' One of the searchers raised a hand nervously. 'What if... what if they're all dead but for a child?'

  'Weren't you listening? There are no exceptions! Do you understand?' The searcher opened her mouth to reply but Doctor Chambers didn't give her a chance. 'You'd want to take that sick child home with you? Is that it? Make your family sick too? Make us all sick! Listen to me. No child is going to run around here spreading death and disease. You make sure those houses are locked up, do you hear?'

  She nodded quietly and bowed her head.

  The Alderman joined the conversation 'And keep to yourselves. Apart from your own family you have contact with nobody. You don’t work, you don’t go out, you do nothing apart from this. If I hear otherwise you’ll be jailed, all of you. Is that clear? Now Mister Edwards take them and tell them where they are to go.'

  The group followed Edwards out of the room. James held back waiting for his chance to speak to the Alderman. After everyone else had left the room he pulled out several pieces of silver cutlery tucked in his clothes.

  The Alderman looked up from his table. 'What do you want?'

  'I thought you may like some gifts sir. These are fine silver. The best. The sort that would be fine enough for your table sir. I...I thought, that maybe you might find it in your heart to perhaps release me from this job… or maybe find somethin’ else for me to do for you sir...'

  The Alderman took the silverware from James. He glanced at them briefly and shrugged before placing them down on his desk. 'Thank you. I’ll give it consideration.' He waved James away.

  'Sir, I have a family and young children… If you can find it in your heart…'

  'Good day Sir.'

  'Please, my wife and children…'

  'Listen to me!' snapped the Alderman, 'Every person I see has children. Every one of them. Good people too. Do you think I like sending them off to die? Do you? And then you come in here and think that because you’ve brought me a few pieces of stolen silver that I should favour you? He rose to his feet and stood nose to nose with James. His voice crackled with contempt. 'I don’t care about your 'gift'. I know a hundred empty houses where I could go and get all the silver I want. But I don’t. You know why? Because God is waiting for us, that’s why. He is standing at the gates right now deciding who will enter. I have the sense not to flout his laws in the last hours before I go to meet him.' He grabbed the cutlery from the table and thrust it into James’ chest. 'Take them back. Save them for your last meal before you got to meet your maker.'

  'Sorry Sir, I didn't mean...'

  'Get out of my sight!'

  Chapter 20