Hatred

by M J Dees

  Dylan seemed reassured, but inside Jim felt unsettled.

  Jim waited for Annabel on the street outside the GP’s surgery. He had agreed to meet Annabel at a quarter to four, and it was now five past. He had suggested she make an online appointment, but she had pointed out the difficulties of confirming pregnancy over the internet.

  She arrived at ten past and he had to wait outside while she entered the waiting room. There must have been about thirty people in the waiting room. Fortunately, Annabel had got an appointment, so the wait was not long.

  “Annabel Smith?” the doctor called from the doorway. “This way, please.”

  The doctor examined Annabel.

  “Beginning of the second month, I’d say,” he said when he had finished.

  As they left the surgery, Annabel stopped and took him by the hands and told him the news.

  The first thing that rushed through Jim’s mind was how the three of them would survive on his salary from the university. They would have to move out of the boarding house and everything, not just rent, was so expensive.

  “It’ll be okay,” she said. “Don’t worry.”

  “Yes,” he said, deep in thought.

  “What I would like,” said Jim. “Is a little house somewhere nice and quiet.”

  “I know,” said Annabel. “Somewhere in the country, get rich, or maybe we could borrow the money.”

  “I just got a message from Dr Green asking for a meeting tomorrow,” said Jim. “Maybe he wants to give me a rise.”

  “Thanks for coming,” said Dr Green, as Jim took a seat in his office. “As you probably know, the new regime is restructuring the university and... well, there’s no straightforward way to say this, so I’m just going to come out and say it. We’ve been told we have to cut some departments from the faculty and your department is one that will go. HR will be in touch with your redundancy package.”

  “When does this come into force?” asked Jim.

  “Immediately, clear your desk today.”

  Part Two – London

  “Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.” – John Stuart Mill

  Chapter Seven - 23 years and 5 months before the collapse

  Jim was signing on at the Job Centre. No amount of searching had uncovered another post.

  “Here is what our universal job match service returned,” said the advisor, from an LCD screen behind a sheet of clear perspex.

  Jim examined the result.

  “But this is fast-food delivery,” Jim protested.

  “That’s all we have.”

  “But I’m a university lecturer.”

  “The search did not return any matches in that field.”

  “But there must be something closer than this,” Jim pointed at the screen.

  “There are very few jobs available, Mr Smith. Those that have jobs stick to them.”

  “But I can’t do this.”

  “I’m afraid that you have to show you are actively seeking employment. If you do not go for the interview, I will have no choice but to end your jobseeker’s allowance.”

  “But they’ll offer me the job and you’ll end the allowance, anyway.”

  “Yes, but at least you’ll have a job, Mr Smith. We have already forwarded the details to your app.”

  Jim left. He could still look for jobs while he worked at the fast-food restaurant, and the wages would be more than the job seekers’ allowance.

  The interview was with a spotty teenager, and the hourly rate was pitiful. Jim would have to work 14 hours to earn more than his jobseekers allowance, but a 40-hour week would yield a darn sight less than the salary he was earning as a lecturer.

  He wandered home, wondering how he would break the news to Annabel that he now worked in a fast-food restaurant, but when he arrived, he found her in high spirits.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “There is a letter for you, from London.”

  “From London?”

  She handed him an envelope and he could see that it was from his sister, Lisa. He tore it open, scanned the contents, and then gave Annabel an enormous hug.

  “Lisa knows someone at a university. They’ve offered me a position.”

  “For when?”

  “As soon as possible, they had an unexpected vacancy and wanted to fill it as soon as possible.”

  “But where are we going to stay?”

  “With her, she says she has a room we can stay in.”

  “That’s wonderful. London will be so good for my music,” Annabel enthused, though she wasn’t too enthusiastic about staying with her sister-in-law. “Have you told her about the baby?”

  “No, I thought it would be better to do it in person.”

  *

  Lisa met them at King’s Cross.

  “You look wonderful, the pair of you,” she said, meeting them off the train. “Where’s your luggage? Is this everything?”

  Annabel and Jim felt ashamed as they realised again that their two suitcases, each and Jim’s philodendron plant, amounted to everything they possessed in the world.

  “Well, you don’t need possessions if you have money.”

  “We don’t have any money either,” said Jim.

  “I hope you don’t get up early,” she was ignoring Jim and addressing Annabel.

  “I like to sleep in, but he’ll have to get up for work.”

  “Don’t worry about him. He can butter his own toast. Now, let’s get a Ride, do you have the app? We have to get back, I’m throwing a party.”

  “A party? Today?” Jim complained.

  “Don’t worry, it’s not in your honour, it’s just business,” she said.

  When they arrived at the house, Lisa told them where to leave their shoes and masks and showed them their room.

  “It’s huge,” said Annabel.

  “I used to rent it out to foreigners. But I’ll let you have it at half the price. Would you mind giving me a hand in the kitchen? My cleaner couldn’t come in.”

  She let them into the kitchen, where used plates and pots and pans covered almost every surface. Annabel washed while Jim dried, and Lisa pretended to tidy. They heard the front door open.

  “That’ll be Tony.”

  “Tony?”

  “Yes, he’ll help.”

  “Who’s Tony?”

  “Who have we here?” Tony, a man old enough to be Jim’s father, stood in the kitchen doorway ogling at the pair washing up. “Who do we have here? Did you give the cleaner the push?”

  “I told you my brother and sister-in-law were coming to stay.”

  “You didn’t tell me anything about it. I didn’t even know you had a brother and now there’s a sister-in-law?” Tony turned his attention to Annabel. “You are always welcome to wash up here.”

  “What are you talking about?” Lisa complained. “First you flirt, then you say you know nothing about my brother. Not only did I tell you about him, but you fixed him up with a job at the university.”

  “I did not. I never find jobs for people with times as they are. You know the dollar collapsed, don’t you?”

  “Oh, God! What a man! You said it was all sewn up and that I should ask him to come.”

  “I may have mentioned it as a possibility, but I don’t remember any brother. I was with the chancellor yesterday and she said nothing. She would have mentioned it. No, you’ve been dreaming again.”

  Annabel and Jim had finished the washing up. They stood looking between Lisa and Tony.

  “Does this mean you got us to come all the way from Edinburgh just because you wanted to rent out your room?”

  “Jim,” Annabel warned.

  “And just because you needed someone to do the washing up,” Jim continued. “Annabel and I are poor. So what are we going to do now?”

  “You can always go back to Edinburgh,” said Lisa. “I’m not to blame for this. It’s him. I bet he’s forgotten that we are having a party this eve
ning.”

  “Tony,” Annabel interrupted. “It might not seem important to you that we have a job. I’m sure you are clever enough to make your way through whatever happens.”

  Tony swelled with pride.

  “But we are very ordinary and very unhappy. Please, could you find us a job?”

  Jim noted the singularity of the word job.

  “I’ll do it. I’ll find you a job. How much do you need to live?”

  “But you know all about it,” Lisa protested. “You were going to get him a job at the university.”

  “But the university wouldn’t pay much,” said Tony.

  “Enough to live on,” said Jim.

  “In that case, you don’t want to do that. I’ll get you a job in the city, something in finance. That’ll set you up.”

  “I’ve had enough of people being set up,” said Lisa.

  “He’s a lecturer,” said Annabel. “All he needs is a lectureship at the standard wage.”

  “Well, if that’s all it is, I’ve done that sort of thing lots of times. I’ll talk to the chancellor tomorrow and your husband can begin the day after.”

  “Thank you. Thank you very much.”

  “No problem, young lady. Now where did I put my coat, was I wearing it when I came in?”

  Tony went back into the hall.

  “And he says he’s not ” Lisa forced a laugh.

  “Are you going to tell her about the baby?” Annabel whispered.

  “Not yet, let’s wait until she is in a better mood.”

  *

  Tony was waiting for Jim outside the university the next day.

  “Ah, there you are,” he said when he saw Jim approaching. “I talked the hind legs off the chancellor. She’s now wild about you. I hope we didn’t disturb you last night.”

  “Not at all,” Jim lied. “Do I have to see the chancellor now?”

  “Let her wait. She’ll be happy to have you. I had to spin her a bit of a yarn. Who’s hiring anyone these days? If she wants to know anything about you, you know nothing.”

  “Maybe you s” Jim was getting nervous.

  “Nonsense, you’re capable of lying, anyone can see that.”

  “It’s just that... I need this job.”

  “This job? Don’t look at me like that. Does it worry you I’m friends with your sister?”

  “No, not at all,” said Jim, feeling very awkward.

  “Don’t let it. When we argue, don’t think about it. It’s just part of our relationship and we’d get bored without it. As for her wanting rent, don’t give it to her, she’ll only squander it. And don’t worry about the evening parties, they’ll happen as long as there are suckers.”

  Tony hailed a taxi.

  “I should have been at Victoria half an hour ago. The boys will tear a strip off me,” he got in the cab and shouted out the window. “Second courtyard on the right, say nothing. Good luck.”

  Jim entered the university complex and found his way to a reception in a large atrium. There was a poster which read: ‘no vacancies of any kind.’

  “I have an appointment with the chancellor,” Jim said. “She’s expecting me.”

  “What is it concerning?” the receptionist asked, without emotion. “We have no vacancies.”

  Jim thought about saying a job and then thought better of it.

  “Tony,” he said.

  The receptionist continued to type away on her tablet, and Jim felt he was being ignored.

  “I believe the chancellor is waiting for me,” Jim said after a while.

  The receptionist emitted a sound that Jim could best describe as a hiss.

  After a while, another member of staff entered the reception. The receptionist nodded at Jim. The other member of staff looked at him and left. A few minutes later, the member of staff returned.

  “The chancellor will see you,” he said.

  Jim followed him across the atrium to a lift where they ascended to the top floor. There, he led Jim to a waiting room surrounded by glass walls, to offices with the most spectacular view of London Jim had ever seen.

  A middle-aged man sat at a desk at one end of the room.

  “Please take a seat, Mr Smith. The chancellor is still engaged,” he said.

  The telephone buzzed, and the man picked it up.

  “Yes, Chancellor,” he hung up the receiver. “She will see you now.”

  The man got up and opened a door, which Jim walked through.

  The office was vast with one desk with nothing on it but a folding tablet.

  “Good morning,” said Jim to the woman sitting behind the immense desk.

  “What do you want?” snapped the chancellor.

  “I thought Tony...”

  “I’m not interested in Tony! I want to know what you want.”

  “I’m applying for a position as a lecturer.”

  “We’re not recruiting lecturers.”

  The chancellor waited for a reply. Eventually, she stood up.

  “Anything else?” she asked.

  “Well, if anything becomes available...”

  “In times like these? When the Government reneges on £6 trillion in external debt, we all feel it. There are assets being seized all over the world.”

  There was a long silence, which the chancellor finally broke.

  “Who are your references?”

  “Dr Green at Edinburgh...”

  “Well, we’re not taking on staff. We’re laying off old staff.”

  There was another long silence.

  “Are you competent?” the chancellor asked.

  Jim mumbled something incoherent.

  “Good, you can start tomorrow. Speak with Mr Collins outside, he’ll give you the standard contract and run you through all the personnel formalities, health and safety and all that. Goodbye.”

  “Thank you, goodbye,” said Jim and he backed across the room towards the door.

  Jim was just turning the handle when he heard the chancellor speak again, barely audible.

  “My best to your father, tell him I’ve taken you on. Tell Tony, I’ll be free on Wednesday evening. Goodbye Mr Smith.”

  Jim stood in the street outside the university. He felt exhausted, as if he had just survived some life and death battle. Jim wandered back to his sister’s flat, contemplating the fact that he now had a father and seeing as though his supposed father’s name was Jackson and his name was Smith, which made him illegitimate. Jim could just imagine how Tony had portrayed his youthful folly to the chancellor, but because of Tony’s invention Jim now had a job. It didn’t matter how competent Jim was or how good his references were; it had only been Tony who had got him the job.

  He looked around. There seemed to be many people on the street moving with little purpose. He imagined they must be unemployed, just wandering around with no job. There was no point looking for jobs as there were no jobs to look for, and Jim imagined the mood in their homes must be worse than the mood on the streets, so they just wandered.

  Jim was tempted to wander with the crowd of job seekers, but he knew he should go home and tell Annabel the news. Although he had just got a job, he felt more affinity for the unemployed than those working. He worried that, at any moment, he could find himself one of them again. As quickly as the chancellor had given him the job, she could take it away.

  The city seemed to reflect the turmoil the country was in. While Jim and Annabel had been preoccupied with the fight for independence in Alba, another scandal had rocked Westminster. Monkey flu had been allowed to run rife through the quarantine camps and there was evidence that not only had the government been aware, but that the conspiracy had gone all the way to the Prime Minister, who had been forced to resign.

  Now, following the collapse of the European Central Bank, the European nations were swapping the Euro for a global currency backed by China. They excluded the UK from the currency; the US refused to join.

  Meanwhile, a TV celebrity, Roberts, had formed a new organisation, U
nity, which had drawn from all sides of the political spectrum to fight what Roberts called the evils of big business, but Jim couldn’t see how they expected to get elected. They didn’t seem to mind being excluded from the global currency. In fact, it seemed to be a matter of pride.

  While the Government was talking about tightening belts and saving money, Roberts made speeches about how important it was for everyone to feel British and vote for unity. Jim suspected Roberts was promising to fund the projects of celebrities in return for their political support.

  Jim’s opinion of politics was that they all wanted something from him, but nothing for him. They couldn’t give a damn about his quality of life. He looked at the masses on the streets and thought all it would take was one disagreement with Tony and he would be back among them again.

  Jim worried the unemployed might despise him in his suit. He wanted to tell them he was one of them, and felt he wanted to be with them rather than Annabel. She considered herself a socialist and an anti-fascist, but Jim thought it was only on account of her step-father. She believed it was wrong to judge anyone because it was impossible to know anyone’s circumstances. And now he had to tell her they had a reason to be happy. But behind his happiness lay a fear, a fear that it would not last.

  The next day, Jim went into the university to acquaint himself with his new colleagues.

  The first he met in the staff room was Cook, a lecturer who seemed to know his onions but disturbed Jim because of the National Unity pin on the lapel of his jacket.

  “We are a cross party organisation,” said Cook, noticing Jim staring at the badge. “Our members come from all sides of the political spectrum to reunite this divided country. We are still reeling from the shock of two pandemics, a terrible deal imposed on us by Europe. We are falling apart, Jim, especially after the currency devaluation and it’s time we put petty ideological differences aside to unite the country.”

  “By the political spectrum, you mean the right,” said Jim.

  “Socialism is a scourge, Jim, it doesn’t work. Do you want to live in a communist state? That’s what you’ll get if the left has their way. Do you know we have eight million immigrants? And yet we have millions on the dole, it’s not right, Jim. And then there’re the refugees, don’t get me started on the refugees, trafficking drugs, raping women. I see stories like these on my flip every day. No wonder the Government has banned them from sending money out of the country, quite right too.”