The Museum of Doubt (30 page)

Gordon laughed. Bruce joined in. You should have seen his face when I came in twirling the nightstick, he said. So for kicks, I say: Assume the position! And he goes down on the floor and curls up, hands over his head. I say: Not the fetal position! But he wouldn’t get up. Just kept banging against my toecap with his ribs.

He’ll learn.

Of course he will. Make a man of him. Or something. What can you do when the army’s given up the job?

It was my fire.

Gordon! Bruce leaned over his brother’s face. I told you not to say that. Listen, some more bad news. Mary’s been taken into the Royal Ed. We didn’t have a choice. After we took Kenneth away the second time she turned up at the station in her karate pyjamas, striking martial arts poses at the desk sergeant. She wouldn’t be told.

Mm, said Gordon.

Sure they’ll let her out soon enough. You don’t want to be cooking your own meals.

Aye, said Gordon. What about Smithie?

He’s dead, Gordon.

Oh aye. The two brothers said nothing for a few moments. Bruce lit his cigarette. The flame of the detective’s lighter
appeared for a fraction of a second before Gordon went blind. The world turned black.

Gordon, he heard Bruce saying. What’s the matter?

I’ve gone blind.

You’ve got your hands over your eyes. Bruce pulled Gordon’s fingers away and the world reappeared. Bruce flicked the lighter again. Blind.

Hn, grunted Bruce, making Gordon see again. He waved the lighter a few times in Gordon’s face and watched with interest as his brother slapped his hands violently over his eyes, then twisted his head away from the flame.

It was my fire, said Gordon. It turned on me. It was fucking horrible.

Gordon, Gordon, said Bruce, waving the lighter to and fro across his brother’s face, noting that, when the flame was very close, he not only covered his eyes, but began to whimper. Gordon, are you afraid of fire? That’s not good. Only animals are afraid of fire. Can you hear me? I said only animals are afraid of fire.

JAMES MEEK was born in London in 1962 and grew up in Dundee. He has published three novels,
Mcfarlane Boils The Sea
(1989),
Drivetime
(1995) and
The People’s Act of Love
(2005), and one other collection of short stories,
Last Orders
(1992).
The Museum Of Doubt
(2000) was shortlisted for a Macmillan Silver Pen award. Meek also contributed to the acclaimed Rebel Inc. anthologies
Children
Of Albion Rovers
(1996) and
Rovers
Return
(2001).

He has worked as a newspaper reporter since 1985. He lived in the former Soviet Union from 1991 to 1999. He now lives in London, where he writes for the
Guardian,
and contributes to the
London Review of Books
and
Granta.
In 2004 his reporting from Iraq and about Guantanamo Bay won a number of British and international awards.
The People’s Act of Love
has been translated into twenty languages.