Fourteen.
CH:
Twelve… Nearly thirteen.
VV:
Do you go to the Pure Life school as well?
BM:
Did do. I’ve been going to an ordinary school for a year now.
CH:
I’ll be starting an ordinary school in the autumn.
BM:
You think there’s something odd about us, don’t you? It’s always the same. What is it you’re trying to find out?
CH:
We’re having a fab time here at Waldingen.
VV:
So I’ve gathered. I suppose it must be hard, going to school in the Other World?
CH:
We have to learn what to do in the Other World as well. How to behave.
BM:
But I don’t think we should talk about that with you either.
VV:
Have you been told what you may and may not talk to me about?
[Silence. A warning look from the elder girl at the younger, if he remembered correctly.]
CH:
No…
VV:
You don’t sound sure.
BM:
Nobody’s told us anything. But we know anyway.
VV:
I see. But there must be some girls who aren’t enjoying the camp as much as you seem to be doing?
BM:
Everybody’s having a great time.
VV:
Everybody?
BM:
Why are you asking? Obviously somebody might get a bit sad now and again. Is that so odd?
CH:
I know everybody thinks it’s great here. What we are doing and learning is important.
VV:
Can you tell me a bit about the three basic principles, prayer, purity and self-denial?
CH:
Those are the basic principles, sort of. That’s what everything is based on.
VV:
What is meant by purity?
CH:
You have to be pure when you meet your God, but I think BM:
You don’t understand all this. If you’re not a member of the church, you shouldn’t start asking lots of questions.
VV:
Do you have to be naked in order to be pure?
CH:
Yes… No.
BM:
No, you don’t have to be, and anyway it’s nothing to do with you.
VV:
Do you have visitors?
BM:
No, it’s not good to have visitors when we’re busy learning.
VV:
But you phone home now and then, I suppose?
CH:
We don’t phone, because BM:
We write letters. That’s just as good.
VV:
So you’re not allowed to use the telephone?
CH:
I suppose we might be, but we don’t.
VV:
What’s the name of the girl who was only here at the beginning?
CH:
Eh? What do you mean by that?
BM:
I think you should stop being so rude. You are accusing us of lots of things you have no idea about. It’s cowardly of you to attack us like this.
VV:
Why don’t you have any boys in your church?
BM:
Of course we have boys in the Pure Life, but not at this camp. They have one of their own. I don’t think we want to talk to you any more now.
[Five seconds of silence. The sound of chairs scraping.]
VV:
All right. Let’s leave it at that. Run away and wash your souls, and tell that Yellinek to look up Isaiah 55:8.
BM:
Eh?
VV:
There’s a book called the Bible. I thought you were familiar with it.
CH:
Isaiah?
VV:
Yes, 55:8. So, off with you now, and wash yourselves clean!
He stopped the tape and slumped back onto the pillows. Lay there motionless for several minutes, searching for a way of putting into words the emotions careering around inside him.
Or a metaphor at least.
But there was nothing. Nothing occurred to him, and no thoughts crystallized in his brain. Only the word ‘impotence’, which was beginning to feel like an old acquaintance by this time. A disconsolate, ancient relative
