by Dan Rhodes
Moving from shadow to shadow, the old people had followed her as she walked through the town. From a dark spot along the street they look on as the window opens, and the bare-footed young baker climbs down the drainpipe. For a moment it looks as if neither the boy nor the girl knows what to do, but then they start to talk. Their voices are quiet, little more than whispers, and the old people are too far away and too hard of hearing to make out any of the words, but they can see that they have a lot to say to one another, and that their conversation is a serious one. The young baker and the girl move underneath a streetlamp, and they don’t know why but she takes off her scarf and he gently runs his fingers across her throat. He reaches down and takes her hand. They talk for a while longer, then he takes her other hand and pulls her close, and wraps his arms around her as she rests her head on his shoulder.
The old people look on as he places his hands on either side of her face, and they can see that she is smiling. He kisses her lips, not with the awkwardness that they would have expected, but as if it is the most natural thing in the world. One by one they drift away, back to their families to tell them the news. In kitchens and parlours across the town, sticks are waved in the air, and the announcement made that the sun will no longer be setting to the mournful sound of a dented euphonium.
By the same author
Anthropology
Don’t Tell Me the Truth About Love
Timoleon Vieta Come Home
The Little White Car (as Danuta de Rhodes)
Gold
Thanks to E. Rhodes, A-L. Sandstrum and S. L. Woods for enduring early versions, F. Bickmore and all other Canongateers past and present, Mazza’s International Vulture Consultancy, Purvis & Wade and the English teachers of Denmark for helping to keep the wheels on the wagon, and, most of all, to Arthur.
The title is taken from Robert Browning’s poem The Pied Piper of Hamelin, and from the song Little Hands by Alexander ‘Skip’ Spence.
First published in Great Britain in 2010 by
Canongate Books Ltd, 14 High Street,
Edinburgh EH1 1TE
This digital edition first published in 2010
by Canongate Books
Copyright © Dan Rhodes, 2010
The moral right of the author has been asserted
Lyrics from ‘Live is Life’, words and music by Opus, copyright © 1985, are used courtesy of Budde Music UK. International copyright secured. All rights reserved.
Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and obtain their permission for the use of copyright material. The publisher apologises for any errors or omissions and would be grateful if notified of any corrections that should be incorporated in future reprints or editions of this book.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available on request from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 84767 811 9
Typeset by Palimpsest Book Production Ltd,
Grangemouth, Stirlingshire
www.meetatthegate.com