God's Country

Part Fifty-Two

'But the Bible speaks against it, and because the Bible speaks against it, we allow rampant sin including homosexuality and lying, and to me lying is just as bad as homosexuality, and we've allowed this sin to run rampant in our nation.'

Reggie White

Alistair Forbes did not leak to Gavin Williams. It was time for a change. He could not afford anything to get back to him and he had used Williams three times before. He did not go to Meadvale for Christmas either. Instead, politely refusing his invitation from David Harrington, he went home. In Manchester, he knew all sorts of people. Mostly unsavoury to be fair but they had their uses. He provided one such acquaintance with a single A4 sheet of paper, available from all good stores, with the writing printed out on the sort of laser printer most people had at home. More or less totally untraceable. It detailed the names of the potential defectors and a brief description of their intentions.

He briefly considered a second leak concerning Henderson's daughter. But he decided to save that one for a rainy day. He then joined his parents for the festivities. He suspected the food would have been better at Broomwaters, but he liked to slum it once in a while and his mother served a decent roast turkey. It reminded him where he had come from, and why he worked hard to make sure he never went back there. He did find it rather amusing to imagine his cousins and their ghastly children earning God's love in time, but he stayed only as long as politeness demanded before driving back to London to get himself an alibi before the leak emerged. His own decision to join the Reformists was looking better and better by the day and he needed to make sure he was whiter than white. He thought of himself as the conductor of the orchestra, doing the things his pious colleagues could not contemplate. It was quite ironic really. The party stood on a platform of decency, honesty and transparency but they would win because he was prepared to do the real dirty work in the shadows. He would be the real catalyst for social change and no one else would ever know.

'The Bible is a wonderful source of inspiration for those who don't understand it.'

George Santayana

Inside the crowded parish church, Samantha Fitzgerald sat quietly beside her ever doting mother, staring at the future. She had got used to the other members of the congregation since they had started going again, and she could clearly see how things were changing around her like a spreading disease. It had all started as an annoying joke. Just like her, girls were forced back to church to stop the schools withdrawing their precious places. Most people ended up making an effort of sorts, because the alternatives were unpalatable. Everyone had to dress modestly but most tended to do the absolute minimum required of them, even when the Church started handing out free items, such as the new school uniforms. No one really went too far. Muzzles and mittens were still quite rare, even though the Pastors tried to encourage people to go further all the time.

Mrs Fitzgerald was actually one of the first to take those huge steps, blaming Samantha's own attitude, but she was not the only one by any means. Every Sunday there seemed to be more but Christmas was definitely a sea change. The first day proper of the new single sex Church schools was just days away and more people than ever had noticeably taken another visible step towards piety. She guessed she was not the only one who had found some rather unwelcome presents beneath the Christmas tree. There were so many blobs of velvet sitting around her, she had to identify the men first and guess who the women and girls were sitting beside them. It did not make her feel better exactly, but she was a little reassured that her parents were not the only ones going insane.

Mr and Mrs Fitzgerald were clearly quite well thought of by the Pastors. Their apparent eagerness to follow strict Church lore was recognised, encouraged and rewarded at every opportunity by kind words and public approval. Samantha was clearly an issue, but the way they were dealing with her seemed to earn them general appreciation, and the whole family were given tickets for the Cathedral the following Sunday. Services at the Cathedral were so busy that the Pastor's had to issue tickets to one of four services that took place every Sunday morning and they were in very short supply. It was considered a huge honour to be invited like that, and Mrs Fitzgerald could hardly believe their good fortune. She celebrated when they got home by settling Samantha in the lounge. Her daughter could spend an hour or two whilst lunch was cooking listening to Pastor Michael, covered with a blanket so that the rest of the family could not distract her. Samantha really needed to concentrate more than ever if they were going to the Cathedral for a main service. Mrs Fitzgerald really felt that she was starting to make progress.