National Winner (University of Wales Press - Land of the Living)

459 Pages·2000·1.14 MB·English

by  Emyr Humphreys

THE LAND OF THE LIVING
VOLUME SIX
National Winner
Emyr Humphreys was born in the Welsh seaside resort of Prestatyn
and educated at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth,
where he began to develop his lifelong interest in Welsh literature,
language and politics. He has worked as a teacher in London, as a
radio and television drama producer, and as a lecturer in drama at
the University of Wales, Bangor.
A highly acclaimed novelist, Emyr Humphreys has won the
Somerset Maugham Award and the Hawthornden Prize. He has
published books of poetry, and his Collected Poems appeared in
1999. He is a productive and greatly respected television dramatist
and has produced works of non-fiction in both English and Welsh.
His recent novel, The Gift of a Daughter, was awarded the Arts
Council of Wales Book of the Year Prize in 1999.
THE LAND OF THE LIVING
VOLUME SIX
N a t i o n a l
W i n n e r
EMYR HUMPHREYS
UNIVERSITY OF WALES PRESS • CARDIFF • 2000
© Emyr Humphreys, 1971
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 0–7083–1651–4
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without clearance from the University of
Wales Press, 6 Gwennyth Street, Cardiff, CF24 4YD.
www.wales.ac.uk/press
All characters in this publication are fictitious, and any resemblance to real
persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
First published in Great Britain by Macdonald & Co., 1971
Reprinted by Sphere Books, 1990
The right of Emyr Humphreys to be identified as author of this work has
been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
Published with the financial support of the Arts Council of Wales
Cover design by Olwen Fowler,The Beacon Studio
Typeset at University of Wales Press
Printed in Great Britain by Dinefwr Press, Llandybïe
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The Land of the Living
Diffygiaswn pe na chredaswn weled daioni yr Arglwydd yn
nhir y rhai byw.*
The seven volumes of this series observe a mainly chronological
order. It reads as follows:
i. Flesh and Blood
ii. The Best of Friends
iii. Salt of the Earth
iv. An Absolute Hero
v. Open Secrets
vi. National Winner
vii. Bonds of Attachment
* Author’s note:
This is the penultimate verse of Psalm 27: ‘I had fainted unless I had
believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.’ It was the
word ‘diffygiaswn’ that attracted me, and I took it to mean that the poet
would give up without the hope of a meaningful destiny for his people. I am
aware that the word has been omitted in more recent translations: but it
remains apposite to a sequence of stories drawn from the life of a society
under siege.
Part One
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1
HE TWO GIRLS WERE OUT OF BREATH AS THEY CLIMBED THE THIRD
Tflight of stairs and the smaller one cursed aloud as she caught
her heel in the loose linoleum. From the landing of the second
floor a large man wearing an MA gown, with close-cropped red
hair and gold-rimmed spectacles, watched their ascent, grinning
cheerfully and pressing down his double chins.
‘We are looking for Mr P. C. More,’ the first girl said.
‘Then you’ve come to the right place!’
The large man appeared to have the extensive leisure necessary
for going about looking for amusing situations. He spoke with a
rich and amiable West Country accent.
‘In fact I shall guide you there,’ he said. ‘A personally conducted
tour. Mind how you go now. This building isn’t too safe. And I’m
not joking. But never mind, my dears, the building programme is
well in hand. Even now the plaster is drying on the walls of my new
room.’
He was about to knock on a door which had been painted
crimson in the hope that this would brighten a dingy corridor. In a
small brass frame a visiting card gave the name P. C. More,
Department of Social Analysis. He turned to look at the two girls and
made a roguish face.
‘Are you sure you wouldn’t prefer to come and see me? Next
door. Pure Mathematics. Much more exciting.’
He wriggled his eyebrows confidently and won a smile from the
taller of the two girls.The other was still examining the state of her
heel. He tapped the door and opened it wide enough to put in his
head.
‘Hello there, P.C.,’ he said. ‘Take off your helmet. Two friendly
females approaching! Are you at home to visitors of the fair sex?
Because if not, they can travel another couple of yards and I will
entertain them in my mathematical boudoir.Together we will make
a volumetric analysis of the Blue Grotto of Illicit Love!’
‘What do they want?’
With guilty speed the solitary young don was putting away a
small bellows he had been using to blow away the film of soot
3