by Alex Shearer
And we were introduced.
‘Very pleased to meet you,’ Reynold said. ‘And welcome to Ignorance.’
‘I’ve got a question,’ Peggy said, ‘to ask you about that.’
‘It’s all perfectly simple really,’ Reynold said. By now we all had long cool drinks in our hands – a Drool had brought them in – and plates of fresh fruit and snacks. ‘Are you at all familiar with the old world poets?’
‘Not as familiar as I would like to have been,’ Peggy answered, keeping an admirably straight face and not letting a single crinkle of sarcasm crack the veneer. ‘And the memory does go a little at my age.’
‘It’s Shakespeare I’m thinking of,’ Reynold went on.
‘Never heard of him,’ Martin said. ‘Was he any good?’
‘You’ll hear plenty about him at City Island,’ Peggy said.
‘He did coin one or two memorable phrases,’ Reynold continued. ‘Ignorance being one of them.’
‘Ignorance?’
‘“When ignorance is bliss, ’tis folly to be wise.” Correct, Tania?’
‘Absolutely, darling.’
‘That one we’re familiar with,’ Peggy said.
‘And that was the basis of my father’s entire philosophy,’ Reynold told us.
‘That you’re better off being ignorant?’ Peggy said.
‘Exactly.’ Reynold smiled. ‘Or happier, anyway. If you don’t have a clue how to do the unpleasant and laborious things in life, you won’t be expected to do them, will you, darling?’
‘You will not, dear. More to drink? I’ll ring for a Drool.’
More cool drinks appeared. A Drool came and went.
‘My father made his money in mining,’ Reynold continued. ‘In the Uranium Islands. Made billions. Then he sold up. And when he died, he left the money to me, and we bought this island, moved in with some like-minded people, christened the place Ignorance – in a tongue-in-cheek, ironical sort of way – and we’ve been here ever since: lotus eaters.’
‘Lotus –?’ I said.
‘It means, young lady, that we do nothing but enjoy ourselves, all day long. We neither reap nor sow, nor toil, nor spin. We simply enjoy life, don’t we, Tania?’
‘To the full.’
‘We don’t know how to do anything practical and we don’t get our hands dirty and we don’t do anything we don’t want to.’
‘We leave all that to the Drools.’
Peggy was looking as sour as the lemon slice in her drink. I knew from old that if there was one thing Peggy did not approve of, it was doing nothing.
‘And so where did they come from?’ she said. ‘The workers?’
‘The Drools? We brought a few with us. They had their own little island but couldn’t make a living there – terribly barren, terribly poor place. And the rest of them just followed later. And they do seem to breed at quite a rate. But they’re marvellous little people really. No resentment or envy in them. Do anything for you.’
Peggy looked at Reynold.
‘And you’re sure about that?’ she said.
‘I’m sorry?’
‘No resentment –?’
‘Oh, absolutely none. It’s not in their character. Just love looking after you. Born to serve, you see. That’s Drools.’
‘And what if the money runs out?’ Peggy went on. Our hosts plainly didn’t like her questions, which seemed to be making them uncomfortable.
‘Well, I don’t think that’s about to happen any time soon, is it, dear?’ Tania said. And Reynold let out a hearty, if somewhat forced and artificial, laugh.
‘No. It is rather hard to get through a few billion,’ he said. ‘No sooner have you spent some than your interest and dividends come in, and you wind up with even more. In fact, what people don’t realise about an awful lot of money, is that it just multiplies, all on its own. It’s quite impossible to spend it all. So, run out of it – no, I don’t think that’s about to happen. Ah, that sounds like the door, darling. Our first guests must be arriving. I’ll ring for a Drool to bring some drinks.’
The villa began to fill up with more fine and elegant people. Whether they were also wealthy or whether they too lived on Reynold’s billions, I didn’t know and felt it would be rude to ask.
We were quite the celebrities at that gathering – or quite the novelties anyway. I did wonder if all these rich, elegant people, with no work to do, were not more than a little bored with their lives. But maybe not. There were stylish sky-yachts moored up at the coast, some of them bigger than mansions; perhaps they travelled, went sky-skiing, went deep sky-fishing, or amused themselves in any of a hundred expensive ways.
‘I don’t like it here.’ Martin came over to me. ‘Do you like it?’
‘No.’
‘There’s something creepy about the place.’
‘I know.’
‘What is it?’
‘Menace,’ I told him. ‘Unease.’
‘No, it’s not that.’
‘What then?’
‘I don’t know. Something in the air. And how can they stand having nothing to do? And not knowing how to do anything, or how anything works. I like knowing how things work. Don’t you?’
‘Yes, I guess I do.’ Though I hadn’t really thought of it before.
Peggy got away from a conversation she plainly didn’t want to be involved in.
‘We’ll go soon,’ she said.
‘What about the boat?’
‘They’ll have done it by now. It’s a couple of hours’ work at most.’
But Reynold overheard her.
‘Oh, I really don’t think so. Your boat won’t be ready for days. Smashed solar engine, wasn’t it? That’ll take a week to fix at the very least.’
‘It’ll what?’ Peggy stared at him.
‘Oh yes. Had a small meteorite land on our yacht, smashed a solar, got my top Drool on the case, took him a week and cost a small fortune. But don’t worry about the cost of yours. You’re our guests. Put it on my tab.’
Peggy bristled.
‘I pay my way,’ she said. ‘Always have, always will. When I get to be a charity case, that’s when you can start stitching up the winding sheet.’
‘Really, Peggy, it’s not a problem. I’ve told a Drool to get your rooms ready. You can stay with us.’
‘Thanks, but I don’t think we’ll need to. We’ll be on our way shortly. I’ll just go down and check on progress.’
‘Very well. If you insist. If you want to go and look at it, I’ll order the sedans.’
‘We,’ Peggy said, ‘will walk.’
Reynold looked at her as if she were mad.
‘Walk?’
‘Yes, walk. Back down to the harbour.’
‘But you can’t do that.’
‘Why not? It’s downhill, isn’t it?’
‘Only Drools walk.’
‘We’re walking too.’
‘Why?’
‘We like walking.’
‘But – that’s not how we do things here. You don’t need to walk.’
‘I want to walk,’ Peggy said. ‘I want to feel the ground under my feet and stretch my old legs.’
‘But –’
‘What?’
‘The Drools might think … that you’re Drools too.’
‘Let them think it.’
‘They might try to strike up a conversation with you.’
‘Fine by me. I’ll talk to anyone. So’ll they. Won’t you?’
She turned to us. Martin and I just had to nod.
‘Well, really … I don’t know what to say …’ Reynold spluttered.
‘Thanks for your help and hospitality. We won’t break up the party. We’ll just slip out. Say goodbye to Tania for us.’
‘Your boat won’t be ready. When you’ve checked on the progress, just come back here.’
‘It’ll be ready.’
So we had to put down our long, cool drinks in the tall, crystal glasses, and slip out into the heat and dust
of the day, and we took the track that descended through the dusty town of Ignorance and led us to the harbour.
It was weird. People stared at us, both the ones in the sedan chairs and the Drools. The occupants of the chairs just looked baffled, or slightly offended, at our appearance. They tugged the curtains shut, to keep the insects and the dust and the sight of us out.
The Drools made me uneasy. They weren’t like they had been when we were with Tania and being carried around in sedans. They looked sly now, more than clever; cunning, rather than intelligent. They seemed like opportunists, just waiting for a chance to come along. And while before they had appeared kind, now they seemed to have a latent brutality, as if they boiled inside with simmering resentment and a sense of long-harboured injustice.
Once or twice we were jostled and shoved. These incidents could have been accidents, but I didn’t feel they were. Martin was the same height as most of the Drools, only he was still growing, whereas they were done with it. They didn’t seem to mind him; it was as if he was one of them; but I was elbowed and pushed, and so was Peggy; there was no respect for age.
We made it to the harbour. Some Drools were gathered by our boat. They looked up at our approach. One of the Drools was better dressed than the others. Not for him old shorts and T-shirts. His clothes were as good as Reynold’s had been, though he lacked Reynold’s height.
‘How is it? Is it done?’
‘My dear lady … Casper Jones, at your service.’
Peggy gave him the once-over.
‘So? Is it done?’
‘Done? My dear lady, your solar engines were completely smashed. And not just that. The alternator too, and the solenoids and the heat exchanger and, well … a whole host of other matters too technical for you to understand.’
‘Try me,’ Peggy said.
Casper smiled indulgently and made a gesture with his hands.
‘It’s complicated, madam. Only a Drool can fix this. A lady like yourself –’
And the other Drools around him nodded in agreement.
‘Get out the way,’ Peggy said. She got onto the deck and inspected the solar engine. We followed her on board. The solar panels had all been replaced. I couldn’t really see what else needed to be done.
‘As you can see –’ Casper began.
‘As I can see,’ Peggy said, ‘the alternator is fine – and needs a new coil at most, which can be fitted in five minutes. The solenoid has got nothing to do with it and isn’t broken anyway. Because there is no solenoid. So I don’t know what you’re talking about. And as for the heat exchanger, it isn’t even up on deck, is it? So how could it have got damaged? Huh?’
Casper’s mouth dropped open. The other Drools looked at him expectantly. He cleared his throat.
‘Madam – knows – about solar engines?’ he began, diffidently now.
‘Madam does,’ Peggy said. ‘Madam installed the engine. Madam built the boat.’
Casper looked the other Drools. They looked back at him.
‘Madam – built the boat?’ he echoed.
‘Madam did,’ Peggy said. ‘With madam’s own two hands. And a bit of help from madam’s friends.’
And she stuck her hands out so he could get a look at them and admire the calluses.
‘Ah,’ Casper said. ‘I see –’
Some replacement parts were on the dock side. Peggy started picking through them and holding them up.
‘Madam –’ Casper wanted to stop her.
‘Here we are. New coil. That’ll do it. Hand me that screwdriver and the ratchet thing.’
‘Madam, this is a Drool’s job –’
‘And don’t get in the way now –’
Casper and the five Drools beside him watched silently as Peggy replaced the alternator coil.
‘OK. Martin, go and turn the key and look at the charge meter.’
He disappeared for all of half a minute.
‘It’s all working,’ he said. ‘Full reading. Full charge.’
‘Right. Here’s your tools back. Tell me what I owe you for parts and labour, and I think we’re done and on our way.’
Casper never took his eyes off her. There was something in that look, as if he could cheerfully have killed her.
‘How much do I owe you? You know?’
‘Of course, madam, of course. But Mr Reynold let me know in advance that all works should be charged to his account. It just requires a signature from you.’
‘We pay our own way. What’s the damage?’
Before Casper could say anything further, she plucked the bill from his hands.
‘What?’
Casper looked defiant but uncomfortable.
‘I could buy a new boat for this.’
‘Madam is maybe not familiar with the price of solar panels –’
‘No. Madam is very familiar. And not only that, Madam knows a rip-off when she sees one. And madam is not paying this. Gemma, go and get my purse from the strongbox.’
Down I went, got the purse, then back onto the deck. Peggy took out a note worth a hundred International Currency Units.
‘Keep the change,’ she said, and handed it to Casper.
‘But the bill says –’
‘I can see what the bill says, and one thousand twelve hundred Units is a little pricey for new panels costing fifty. The other fifty’s for your labour. I regard the additional thousand you have down here for the work as also excessive. So there’s your money. I’ll thank you for your time and trouble. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we’ll be on our way.’
Peggy held the money out for him to take. Reluctantly, he took it.
‘Now, you just write Paid there on that bill. OK? Then everything’ll be settled and we’ll be gone.’
I didn’t think he would agree to do it, but he felt in his coat pocket for a pen. He clicked it open. He smiled at Peggy humourlessly and without warmth.
‘Madam really doesn’t understand how things are done here –’ he began.
‘Yes, I do,’ Peggy said. She pointed to the top of the hill. ‘They have the money. But you have the knowledge. So you rob them blind. And because they don’t know any better, they go on paying. And you’re building yourself a brand- new house, there on the corner of the shanty town. And, little by little, you’re moving up the hill, Mr Casper. Is that not right?’
Casper smiled more broadly and with a little more warmth, unabashed to have been discovered, pleased to have his cleverness revealed.
‘And one day, correct me if I’m wrong, but one day, sooner or later – and probably sooner, I’m guessing, though I don’t really know why –’
‘Gut instinct, madam?’ Casper gave a sardonic, tight-lipped smile.
‘Possibly so. But one day soon, something will happen – some incident – some tipping point – and the people with the knowledge on this island are going to take over from the ones who are ignorant. And I wouldn’t be surprised if one twilight time – if you get night-time here –’
‘We do indeed, madam,’ Casper said, and he indicated a satellite island that had come in to orbit between the island of Ignorance and the sun. ‘Our satellite isle. We call it Bliss.’
‘One twilight time, when the international police patrol ships are nowhere to be seen, it wouldn’t surprise me to see a whole crowd of people flocking up that hill, up to those fine villas, carrying torches and firebrands – and then, well … topsy-turvy, I think, Mr Casper. Would that be right?’
The smile didn’t go; it remained on his face, fixed and friendly.
But, ‘I think that might be right, madam,’ he said, in all but a whisper. ‘Madam is a wise old lady.’
‘No. Not wise. Just not ignorant,’ Peggy said. ‘Thank you for your help, Mr Casper. If it’s all right with you, we’ll be on our way.’
‘Be my guest, madam.’
‘Then we’ll say goodbye.’
He didn’t have to let us go. He could easily have stopped it. There were dozens of Drools milling around the har
bour. It wouldn’t have taken much to prevent us. But he let us sail. And soon there was safe, unbridgeable space between us. We could easily have catcalled and thumbed our noses. But, for some reason, that felt like the last thing you wanted to do.
As we sailed out into open space, we saw the satellite isle of Bliss come between Ignorance and the sun, and night-time came to them there, and the darkness leaked up around the island, and the villas and the town disappeared from view, swallowed by night.
But then, the strangest thing happened. Lights appeared. Small, flickering lights; a few at first, and then more and more, as if people were lighting matches, only these lights didn’t burn out. They appeared to congregate, to gather together and then to move, in a kind of procession, and to rise as they went, as if marching through the main street of the town of Ignorance and going up into the hills.
And then there was the far, far sound of voices calling, but so far away it was like the sound of distant rain falling into a lake. And then the small flames ignited into larger ones, which were taken by the wind, and soon the hills were on fire.
And we watched the flames, and the villas burning, and we didn’t say a word to each other, not one single word, until I couldn’t bear the silence any longer and I had to speak the thoughts that were going through my mind.
‘So ignorance is bliss, is it –?’
‘And knowledge is power, Gemma,’ Peggy said. ‘Knowledge is power.’
She came and stood between us, and put her arms around us both. And we stood and watched the houses burning, and we heard the distant shouts and cries for help, though there was nothing we could do to help anyone. And then she gently, very gently, turned our heads away.
8
martin again
MARTIN SPEAKING AGAIN (GEMMA GETS A REST):
Sometimes, back on Peggy’s island, I’d find something lying around – like a metal rod or an old stick or something – and I’d pretend it was a gun, and go shooting things up. Peggy saw me doing so once, and said, ‘Martin, where did you get that from?’
‘Picked it up, Peggy,’ I said. ‘It was lying on the shore.’
You get all kinds of stuff drifting in on the solar tide. I found some money once, paper notes. I gave them to Peggy and she locked them away for the future.