Hungry Moon (10 page)

^FOURTEEN

^{On Sunday Mann called a rally at the cave. Geraldine heard hymns as she picked flowers behind the bookshop. At that distance she found the hymns moving; they made the town sound like a church. They felt appropriate as she strolled with Jeremy to the far end of the town, to the church where Jonathan's grave would be.}

^{That had to be what her vision meant, the gravestone she'd seen in the moonlight, the stone with Jonathan's name. She'd gazed at it until the cold had driven her away, but it hadn't changed or vanished. It was real, or would be. She would make it real.}

^{She'd wanted to tell Jeremy her vision when she'd run home in the moonlight, but Benedict had been tinkering with the alarm. The next morning she'd wakened anxious to see Jonathan's grave in Sheffield - she didn't know what she might find there. But when they'd driven to Sheffield that evening, the gravestone was still there.}

^{Jonathan had been telling her he didn't want to be so far away. He wanted to be buried in Moonwell. She'd gone to the superintendent of cemeteries and stifled her impatience with all the paperwork, tried not to feel too disappointed that Jonathan might not be in Moonwell in time for his birthday. Jeremy assumed that she wanted the grave moved so that she could visit it more easily, and she didn't enlighten him: he might ask questions that she didn't want to ask herself, make Jonathan feel threatened. Besides, he was worrying about Diana Kramer, worrying that he'd made the situation at the school worse for her by speaking up.}

^{They were passing the school now on their way to the churchyard. 'Don't worry, she's going to see her union next week,' she said, and took his hand as they approached the church.}

^{The newly oiled gate opened silently. Geraldine remembered the silence and the moonlight, the feeling that the light had turned into white ice. She laid the flowers at the edge of the new graves, where Jonathan's would be. 'Be seeing you, Jonathan,' she murmured, and Jeremy squeezed her hand.}

^{That made her feel secretive, unfair to him. Her doubts preoccupied her all the way home through the deserted town, and he didn't try to make her talk. She was still debating with herself halfway through dinner, when Andrew knocked at the door. 'My mum says I have to give this back,' he told her, and fled.}

^{It was a book of fairy tales illustrated by Maurice Sendak. 'What's wrong with it?' Jeremy wondered, leafing through unhappily. 'I can't see anything even Godwin Mann could object to.'}

^{'We'll find Andrew something else tomorrow,' Geraldine said, to cheer him up. But the next day was when Godwin Mann came to the shop.}

^{It was almost Monday lunchtime, and they hadn't had a customer. They'd spent the morning rearranging some of the display, moving books about the Peaks to the table by the door, children's books to the far end of the shop. They'd hardly finished when June and another woman marched in. 'Tell them what you told me,' June said, then faltered. 'They've hidden them, hidden the children's books.'}

^{‘I can see it.' Her companion, a lanky young woman with grey hair straggling out of a hairband, strode up the aisle between the tables. 'This is what I meant. They don't let children read this where I come from.'}

^{She'd grabbed Maurice Sendak's
In the Night Kitchen.
June cried out in disgust at the page she was displaying.}

^{'I thought that kind of thing was supposed to be against the law.'}

^{'What kind of thing, June?' Geraldine asked quietly.}

^{'Children exposing themselves. And you gave a book by this man to our Andrew. If I'd known what you were up to I'd never have let him near you.'}

^{'Now, June, this isn't like you,' Jeremy said. 'The little boy in the book has a penis, that's all. Little boys do have them.'}

^{'Maybe, but they don't show them to people, not in our town.' June's eyes narrowed. 'How come you know so much about little boys? I've often wondered why you were so interested in Andrew.'}

^{'I know about them because I used to be one.'}

^{Geraldine couldn't contain herself. 'We've been showing interest in Andrew because he needed someone to, June, and it's about time you realized.'}

^{'The only people he needs are his parents,' June said furiously, and fell silent as Godwin Mann strode into the shop.}

^{He looked paler than ever, his face pared down, cheekbones thrusting forward as if his skin were being stretched by his struggle to arrive wherever he was going. 'Look what they're selling to children, Godwin,' June's companion cried. 'They've books like this where the altar should be.'}

^{"Thank God I was called here in time.' Mann sank to his knees in front of the children's books. 'Forgive them, O Lord, for they don't know what they're doing. Jeremy and Geraldine aren't bad people, they don't mean to drive You out of Your house . . .'}

^{Jeremy stooped to him. 'Don't think I'm rude, but this isn't a church any more, it's a bookshop.'}

^{Mann gazed heavenward. 'Nobody has the right to cast You out of a house You've been invited into, least of all one that was built for You.'}

^{'It's not just a bookshop, actually, it's our home. You can see the deeds if you like.'}

^{'We can see the evidence of your deeds right here, Jeremy.' Mann crossed himself and stood up, looking saddened. 'There's no more time for argument. Time is running short. Won't you invite God back into His house and into your lives?'}

^{'Time's running short for what?' Geraldine said.}

^{The evangelist looked suddenly wary. T should like to tell you, but not until you've asked God back into His house.'}

^{'Then we'll do without knowing,' Jeremy said.}

^{Mann glanced at him, then made for the door. 'If you won't let God's love reach you, perhaps you won't be able to ignore your neighbours.' He stood on the pavement and called out, more loudly than he had at the rally. 'Come and see the devil's church. Come and see the evil that's been festering in your midst.'}

^{'Damned fool,' Jeremy muttered. 'As for you, June, if you're ashamed of how you used to carry on that's your affair, but you shouldn't take it out on us. I'd appreciate it if you'd just go away now.'}

^{'I've nothing to be ashamed of since I've been forgiven. You can't get rid of me that easily, nor these people either.'}

^{Several of their neighbours had come out of houses or shops and were converging on the bookshop. 'What's the row?' the baker, a balding man with floury eyebrows, said.}

^{"They're trying to make out we're a dirty bookshop, Mr Mellor,' Geraldine said, forcing a laugh. 'I'll bet you didn't realize that was the sort of place you buy your wife her books.'}

^{'Why should anyone want to make that out?'}

^{'Because every foothold you leave for evil in your town gives it more strength,' Mann said behind him. 'Now that we're winning it has to be more determined than ever. Why else do you think there was a fire on the moor?'}

^{June brought Mr Mellor the Sendak picture book. 'This is the sort of thing they sell to children. This is what we let into our town because we didn't listen to Mrs Scragg.'}